Around 20 percent of Israeli citizens are Arabs, but they hold only a tiny fraction of management jobs. Israel's president is leading the call for more Arab executives.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is 81, a heavy smoker and has a history of health problems. He was elected more than a decade ago, and it's not clear how he would be replaced.
Shimon Peres spent his final years as a grandfatherly figure, using social media to urge young Israelis toward his optimistic vision of peace. They liked him — but some were skeptical of his message.
Like many founding fathers of Israel, he was born in Eastern Europe. After the Soviet Union collapsed, he returned in 1992 searching for his old family home.
Peres served as prime minister three times, launched the country's nuclear program and won the Nobel Peace Prize. But his grandest goal, an Israel at peace with its Arab neighbors, eluded him.
When an Israeli family was ambushed in their car in the West Bank, two Palestinians came to their aid. One is paying a price now, seen as aiding the enemy.
Peres, 93, suffered a stroke and was taken to a Tel Aviv hospital. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 for his role in negotiating an interim peace agreement between Israel and the PLO.
NPR examined more than a decade of data detailing Israeli and Palestinian fatalities. From February 2005 to September 2015, there were only four months with no deaths from conflict-related violence.