It's hard to pinpoint an exact reason for the permeation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict throughout Western discussions in the decades beyond the 1970s. However, there are likely a few explanations one can point to historically:

• The United Nations began to elevate the issue as Soviet-aligned states began to see Israel as a convenient punching bag for attacking the West, and also in an attempt to gain favor with the Muslim world. Resolutions were passed to condemn Israel at almost every occasion, so much so that it was one of the reasons the United States originally left UNESCO under President Reagan (among other complaints, such as complaints of pro-Soviet bias). Indeed, even conferences regarding women's rights were used to pass resolutions condemning Zionism as racism at UN fora.

• The United States became increasingly supportive of Israel in the 1970s, and saw it as an increasingly important and stable ally in the Middle East. This support, and subsequent aid in later years, led some Americans to focus on the conflict. A series of high-profile incidents also led some Americans to become more aware of the conflict, such as the assassination of Sen. Robert Kennedy by Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian who disliked Kennedy's support of Israel. Other incidents, like the subsequent Munich Olympics Massacre, were widely watched worldwide, and this was compounded by things like the hijackings of European flights by Palestinian groups.

• The Camp David Accords, and in general US involvement as it increased in the Middle East, helped Americans also become more familiar with the conflict, as it remained in the headlines in that way. For decades, it has been considered the conflict that, if it could be solved, might lead to a more stable Middle East, and which would also be a huge boost to any American President who could solve it.

• The First Intifada (and the Second, but that is within the past 20 years) also helped bring home a lot of the conflict. The First Intifada was widely covered by media because it was widespread, involved numerous protests, riots, and became increasingly violent, and because it helped change the perception. Media outlets sought and found extremely emotional pictures and videos, showing Palestinians throwing rocks at tanks for example, which was a fascination to American viewers.

In short, the development of the conflict coupled with American support for Israel, as well as American involvement in the conflict in an attempt to solve it, has led to Americans becoming more interested in it. Given that it has historically been disproportionately focused on by UN bodies, typically at the expense of Israel, it is unsurprising that Americans saw news about it and formed opinions, though the number of people with opinions has always been lower than assumed.

In fact, when Gallup polled the question in 1988, more than 27% of respondents had no opinion on who they preferred between Israelis and Palestinians. In 1994, 41% of respondents had no opinion on whether or not they favored a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. Given that people typically do not prefer to say they have no opinion on an issue that is in the news, those are actually fairly high percentages, which have gone down (hopefully this is within the 20 year rule) over the years due to even more media coverage during the Second Intifada's violence.