Since the Israeli occupation and partly annexation of the Palestinian Territories (as well as the Syrian Golan Heights) 1967, the Middle East conflict is a key obstacle to a peaceful and prosper development of the entire region. At the same time the occupation of the Palestinian Territories is the root cause of a wide range of violations against human rights and humanitarian law. Although the international community produced a number of peace plans to settle the conflict, none of the current plans, supported by the international community and the Middle East Quartett of UN, USA, Russia, and EU, are tackling the problems of the deteriorating human rights and humanitarian situation on the ground. No just and lasting peace will be achieved in the region unless a political solution is not in violation of the international human rights.
In a joint effort a group of internationally renewed experts of international law, conflict resolution, history, human rights, and humanitarian law from Israel, Palestine, Europe and the USA have evaluated the preconditions of reintroducing human rights into the international political discourse on the Middle East Conflict in this indispensable book.

The Editor:
Stefan August Lütgenau, historian, active in international human rights protection and development cooperation, convener of the working group on Israel, Palestine and Palestinians of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network.