With Mike currently away with family, this is another great episode where Shana and Matt talk about:

• The history and controversy surrounding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including the Green Line, Areas A, B and C, and how the Oslo Accords divided the territory.

• Why hundreds of thousands of Israelis live beyond the Green Line and the different political, religious and economic reasons behind the settlements.

• The differences between Zionism and religious Zionism, and how Jewish historical and religious connections to the land influence the settlement debate.

• The 1947 UN partition plan, the creation of Israel, the 1948 war and how those events shaped the borders and political realities that exist today.

• The complicated history of Palestinians, Jordanians and Israelis in the region, including the question of whether the absence of a historic sovereign Palestinian state determines modern questions of sovereignty and political rights.

• The role of religion and history in the conflict, including access to Jerusalem's holy sites and why the city remains so important to Jews, Christians and Muslims.

• The Law of Return, the Holocaust, Jewish displacement and the different ways Israelis and Palestinians understand the history of displacement and belonging.

• Whether Israel can negotiate the future while continuing to change the reality on the ground through settlement policy, and why understanding the nuance and history behind these issues is so important.

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