What caused the drastic, rapid reversal from the Oslo Accords, the historic handshake between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn, the euphoria of peace that gripped many, and the Nobel Peace Prize that was awarded to the architects of the peace, into long years of violence and war? This book presents a comprehensive sociological and political explanation of Israel's policies toward the Palestinians, from the attempts at peace and the Oslo Accords in the early 1990s to the Second Intifada of 2000 to 2005 and the violent conflicts that followed. It defines the conflicts as a "new war," which differs in its basic characteristics and premises from conventional wars. It also explains the causes, trajectory, and results of this war, maintaining that the character of the war itself reflected internal conflicts that evolved inside Israel and led to diversionary politics on the part of the Israeli leadership.