The Israel-Palestine conflict is one of the world's most polarizing confrontations. Its current
phase Israel's temporary occupation of the West Bank Gaza and East Jerusalem turns a half
century old in June 2017. In these timely and provocative essays Gershon Shafir asks three
questions-What is the occupation why has it lasted so long and how has it transformed the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict?-in order to figure out how we got here what here is and where
we are likely to go. He expertly demonstrates that at its fiftieth year the occupation is
riven with paradoxes legal inconsistencies and conflicting interests that weaken the
occupiers' hold and leave the occupation itself vulnerable to challenge.
