This article explores the ways in which Palestine is envisioned, and its representation constructed, in contemporary video games. At the same time, capitalizing on Bogost’s notion of “procedurality”, this article discusses the potential and limitations of various game genres for modeling complex historical, social, and political realities. It focuses particularly on the ways in which the Arab-Israeli conflict is mediated and its perception and evaluation subsequently shaped by these games. By doing so, this article analyzes how the (re)constructions of reality as provided by the video games’ graphical, textual, and procedural logic, serve parallel – albeit contradictory – political and ideological interpretations of real-world events. On a more general level, this article aims to further develop the game genres’ critique by focusing on two contrasting, but equally signifi cant and simultaneous, aspects of video games – the persuasive power of procedurality and the inherent limitations thereof.

My friend Shawn Clybor has tipped me off to a new game related to the current Middle-Eastern affairs. Raid Gaza! is a simple flash game submitted to user-contributed portal Newgrounds by an anonymous author on 30 December 2008, only three days after the Israeli Defense Forces launched airstrikes on Gaza as a part of "Operation Cast Lead." The game itself is clearly engaged and takes a critical stand against the justification of Israeli military actions. The player controls the Israelis and defends the town of Sderot against Palestinian Qassam rockets.