“Basic” and “unbiased” are not words one associates with books on politics and history (and certainly not a region as polarizing and controversial as the Middle East!), unless you look at school textbooks, and even there the authors present a certain perspective, as bland and inoffensive as they can make it.
If you’re trying to understand the ENTIRE history of the Middle East, you have your work cut out for you, because the roots of the present conflicts have their origins in both antiquity and the medieval eras. Even if you’re just trying to understand the last hundred years or so, you’ll need to wade through a few books.
I suggest perhaps first checking out these recommendations from Juan Cole, a respected historian and blogger who often writes about the Middle East and its related issues and politics. He has a short list of general works posted here.
If you want something fast and dirty, then this book, Arabs and Israel For Beginners by Ron and Susan David (somewhat pro-Palestinian) is a good introduction, but to really understand what’s going on, check the bibliography at the end of the book to find more in-depth, scholarly, and serious works on the region. Many of these books will give you a glimpse at the complexity of the issues, and the various interpretations by historians, political scientists, statesmen, and partisans.
While I think it’s important to discuss what’s happening in the region and why things have happened as they have, it’s a topic akin to abortion: there is no middle ground, everyone has an opinion, and just about everyone is inflexible in their perspective. I think the best you can do is to just educate yourself as much as you can.