Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor is a book focused on one of the most divisive social and political issues in the contemporary world: the Israel/Palestine conflict. While the book attempts to be fair and evenhanded, it is not intended as a dispassionate overview of both sides. Rather, it comes from a voice on one side of the conflict, speaking directly to the other side. The author, Yossi Klein Halevi, primarily intends to explain the Israeli narrative and open a bridge-building dialogue with those on the Palestinian side. Halevi grew up in the United States and emigrated to Israel in the 1980s, after which he undertook several efforts to learn about and engage the positions and perspectives of his Palestinian neighbors.

Since Halevi is a religious Jew and Israeli citizen, his ideological context necessarily includes a sense of sympathy with the perspectives on the Israeli side and a religious viewpoint on the conflict. Israeli society is complex and encompasses many different perspectives, and Halevi attempts to act as a guide to the entire spectrum, from the liberal Jews who yearn for a two-state solution to the religiously motivated settler movement who are building communities in the West Bank.