I've been involved in Israeli-Palestinian peace and co-existence efforts since the first intifada (1987), and easily the most frequent question I'm asked concerning the conflict (well, second to: "Why hasn't that ended yet?") is: "What books should I read?"

And so, this column.

I'll be here once a week - on Fridays, in the hope that your weekend might allow you to go to the library or bookstore - to recommend books concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

These won't necessarily be brand-new books (though some will), and I certainly won't be trying to suggest that I agree with every word in every one of them. But they will be good, useful books, books that provide the kind of context and nuance that's hard to find in the 24 hour news cycle.

"But why," you ask yourself, "should I trust you?" Excellent question!

Let me introduce myself:

I'm a Midwestern American born and bred. I first lived in Tel Aviv in 1982, and then went back in 1984, staying in Israel for the next 14 years, making aliya and reporting for foreign news organizations out of Israel and the Palestinian Authority for about half of that time.

I returned to the states in 1998 to pursue my masters degree in Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago, and since graduating in 2001, have stayed in the Chicago area, my Jerusalem-born and -bred husband and I unwilling to move back in the wake of Israel's crackdown during the second intifada. In that time, I've studied and written extensively about the contemporary Middle East in general and Israel/Palestine in particular - not least, writing book reviews.

One of my goals with this column, though, will be to keep the posts short - a quick bite, rather than lengthy exegesis - and so here I am, having introduced the idea and myself, almost out of space. So my first recommendation will be brief, and easy.

For a basic, highly-readable introduction to the conflict:

City of Oranges - Adam Le Bor (2007). Le Bor tells the story of the conflict through the lens of the social history of the city of Jaffa, and achieves what is (in my reading experience) the highly unusual feat of consistently showing compassion for both sides and both national narratives. I really like this book because it relates the history of a bloody clash of nationalisms as a human tale - and, of course, that's what it is. City of Oranges is light on jargon and the pre-digested sound-bites and talking points we've all already heard, and heavy on the lived reality of two peoples who both fight each other, and live side-by-side.

Emily L. Hauser is an American-Israeli  freelance writer who has studied and written about the contemporary Middle East since the early 1990s, and is an active member of a Chicago-area Conservative congregation. She blogs at Emily L. Hauser In My Head and can be followed on Twitter. She also crossposts at Angry Black Lady Chronicles (despite being only an Angry Lady and not at all Black) and atheist-interfaith blog NonProphet Status. All recommendations are entirely her own.