The Israel-Palestine conflict is the central issue of today’s world
and has been for over 100 years. The Case for Palestine
presents persuasive reasons why we cannot ignore this issue and
also pretend to be concerned about the world or its people.

Paul Heywood-Smith’s interest in the Arab–Israeli conflict
commenced in London in 1973 at the time of the Yom Kippur War. He was then a young lawyer imbued with the values derived from the fight against apartheid and opposition to the Vietnam War. His
thesis is that the conflict is the defining conflict of our time, and
has had that status for at least sixty years. It is behind the rise of
militant Islam. It was the impetus for 9/11 and 7/7.

Heywood-Smith argues that it is the responsibility of all adult and
thinking members of the world community to inform themselves of
the background to the conflict and the current issues associated
with its resolution. It is not good enough for thinking people to say to themselves ‘it’s too hard’. Nor is it good enough to say: ‘I am not anti-Semitic; I must support Israel.’