A new study examined Israeli and Palestinian textbooks and found bias, but not dehumanizing language about the conflict. Three experts who worked on the study talk about the findings.

Avner Dorman is a composer of musical spices, perfumes and toxins in a figurative sense. His music is piquant — vivid, present, spicy. Read a profile of the Israeli-born composer and hear him introduce many of his key works. 

Israeli warplanes launched an attack on a convoy in Syria early Wednesday morning in what was believed to be a strike targeting a convoy carrying weaponry intended for Hezbollah's militia. Isabel Kershner, reporter for our partner The New York Times, explains what's behind the attack.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, discusses his endorsement of Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense and offers his analysis of the recent re-election of Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel.

Director Dror Moreh talks about his new documentary, “The Gatekeepers,” nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Six former heads of the Shin Bet, Israel’s Secret Service, reflect on their successes and failures to maintain security in the midst of shifting politics and imperatives of the “peace process.” Each man weighs in candidly on topics from preemptive strikes to confronting terrorists. “The Gatekeepers” opens at Lincoln Plaza February 1 and at Film Forum February 20.

Herman Wouk, appearing in this 1955  Books and Authors Luncheon, contests what he perceives as the common view of his being "a conformist." 

Today is election day in Israel, the end of a contentious campaign season on fraught political territory. Israeli singer-songwriter Idan Raichel explores his country's politics through his music, and explains how he hopes to reach Israel's neighbors through song. 

Our most important reaction should be rationally taking steps that will stop these kinds of attacks in the short term, and better security in our schools should be the first step.

Twenty years ago this month, Palestinians and Israelis managed to come together in secret talks that concluded with the Oslo Accords the following September. Ron Pundak served as chief negotiator for Israel throughout the Oslo peace process. He says that when talks began in December 1992, Israelis and Palestinians "never thought it would take so long, or that the hurdles would be so huge."

Yasser Arafat, former chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, died after a mysterious, month-long illness in a French military hospital, eight years ago. Today French, Swiss, and Russian scientists will exhume Arafat's body in Ramallah.

Was Arafat poisoned? How will Arafat's exhumation affect the tenuous peace in the Middle East? Charles Glass is a Middle East expert, journalist and broadcaster. He discusses the investigation, and Arafat's legacy.

Israel and Hamas reached a cease-fire agreement that took effect at 9 p.m. local time (2p.m. Eastern). Both Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Amr formally announced the deal after negotiations took place in Cairo. The conflict has been escalating for the last week, with news of overnight air strikes on Gaza and a bus bombing in Tel Aviv earlier today preceding the announcement. Daniel Kurtzer, a former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Egypt, explains the significance of the cease-fire.

Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon joins The Takeaway from the BBC's offices in Washington D.C. to share his perspective. He's also the former Israeli Ambassador to the United States.

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The U.S. secretary of state continued Wednesday with efforts to wring an elusive truce deal from Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas rulers, after earlier attempts to end more than a week of fighting broke down amid a furious spasm of violence.

Palestinians and Israelis in the New York area are keeping a close eye on the unfolding events in the Middle East.

As Hamas and other groups in Gaza continue to launch rockets into Israel, and the Israeli Defense Forces bomb Gaza, in turn, it's hard to remember that there have been moments of reconciliation, and promises of peace, between Arabs and Israelis. William Quandt, who helped negotiate the Camp David Accords, and Robert Malley, who worked in President Clinton's National Security Council during the Oslo Accords, both have experience negotiating Middle East peace.