Arab-Israeli conflict

The Arab-Israeli conflict attracts a disproportionate amount of attention in the news media, international politics and law, and the socio-cultural sphere, despite the fact that numerous other inter-ethnic tensions have generated far higher casualties and involve more significant players on the global scene. This course examines the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict in an attempt to place it in its historical context, while tracing its developments from multiple angles in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of the complex dynamic that constitutes ‘the conflict’. We will conclude the class by looking at several contemporary dimensions of the conflict, including the potent forces of radical and political Islam, the involvement of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the continued evolvement of Israeli and Palestinian identities.

This course represents a combination of a lecture and seminar approaches and individual participation in class dialogues is critical. Most classes include a discussion period for conversation about required reading. Each student will have the opportunity to present a brief review of a text, after which he/she will lead a discussion. At the end of this course, it is hoped that students will have not only a better understanding of the Arab-Israeli conflict, but have developed better research skills, practiced critical thinking and reading, and gained experience collecting and presenting information clearly.

Course grades will be assigned on the basis of several elements:

1. in-class quizzes (15% total)—a map quiz and five 5-minute quizzes (lowest grade dropped) on critical terms (e.g., Balfour Declaration, Chaim Weizmann, Palestine Liberation Organisation);
2. pop reading quizzes (10%)—short, random multiple-choice quizzes on major themes of assigned readings;
3. mid-term paper (20%)—take-home essay on an assigned topic, using only the class readings as sources (5 pages);
4. final research paper (30%)—each student will write a research paper (about 15 pages) on a topic of their choice relating to the course and making use of literature (at least 6 sources) not assigned as part of the class reading;
5. class participation (25%)—contribution to in-class and online discussions and attendance, critical to a successful experience (students with over three absences lose their entire participation grade; each additional two absences result in a letter-grade penalty off of the overall course grade), including also a discussion article presentation, where each student presents at least one required reading, emphasising its core argument and leading a class discussion about it.

This division of factors aims to give all students a fair chance at a good grade by avoiding too much emphasis on one examination method. Nevertheless, since a large share of the grade (25%) derives from participation and the discussion presentation, this means that you must attend and participate in class to get a good grade. The key to good participation is reading the assigned texts, so come prepared!

Each student has the opportunity to submit up to two extra credit response papers to contemporary news articles on the Arab-Israeli conflict. In order to receive credit, you must read and submit an article from a newspaper (not a web log!), along with your thoughts on the article (one page). Other extra credit opportunities will be announced periodically throughout the semester; students will be allowed a maximum of five total extra credit opportunities during the term. You are also strongly encouraged to follow Middle East news during (and after!) the semester. Some mainstream newspaper sources:

• Yediʿot Aḥaronot (Israel; centre)
• Haaretz (Israel; left)
• Jerusalem Post (Israel; centre-right)
• Israel Hayom (Israel; right)
• Globes (Israel; financial)
• ash-Sharq al-Awsaṭ (London)
• Jordan Times (Jordan)
• al-Ahram Weekly (Egypt)
• Arab Times (Kuwait)
• Khaleej Times (UAE)
• New York Times (US; left)
• Wall Street Journal (US; financial; right)
• Christian Science Monitor (US; centre)

Recommended texts for further readings

The following texts are recommended for those interested in doing further reading on the subject. These books are not required for purchase.

Readings from course textbooks appear in small caps. All other readings include full bibliographical citations and are available electronically on the class Desire2Learn website. It is highly recommended that you prepare in advance by downloading and/or printing all online readings at the beginning of the course, so that you can concentrate on reading them over the semester. While ‘recommended reading’ are not obligatory, they may be useful when preparing research papers (those with an asterisk (*) are highly encouraged). Primary source readings are noted below.

I. Introduction and background

1. Introduction to the Middle East and the Arab-Israeli conflict

Required reading:

• Dowty, Israel/Palestine, 1–12.
• Examine the class primer (always review relevant materials and bring the primer to each class).

Recommended reading:

• Bernard Lewis, Semites and anti-Semites: An Inquiry into conflict and prejudice (New York City: W W Norton, 1999), 42–57.

2. Jews and Arabs in history

Required reading:

• Morris, Righteous victims, 3–13.
• Tessler, History, 1–24, 69–96.
• Bernard Lewis, Semites and anti-Semites: An Inquiry into conflict and prejudice (New York City: W W Norton, 1999), 117–139.

Recommended reading:

• Raymond P Scheindlin, A Short history of the Jewish people (New York City: Oxford University Press, 1998), 1–49.
• Albert Hourani, A History of the Arab peoples, 2^nd ed. (Belknap Press, 2010), 7–37.

3. Zionism and Arabism in the age of nationalism

Map quiz

Required reading:

• Morris, Righteous victims, 14–36.
• Lev Pinsker, Selection from ‘Auto-emancipation’, in Israel in the Middle East: Documents and readings on society, politics, and foreign relations, pre-1948 to the present, ed. Itamar Rabinovich and Jehuda Reinharz, 2^nd ed. (Waltham: Brandeis University Press, 2007), 12–16. [Primary source]
• Readings from the Bilu Group, Theodor Herzl, First Zionist Congress, Nagīb ʿĀzūrī, and Sir Henry McMahon in Laqueur & Rubin, eds., Israel-Arab Reader, 3–12. [Primary source]
• Readings from ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān al-Kawākibī and Sharīf Ḥusayn, in Sylvia Kedourie, ed., Arab nationalism: An Anthology (Berkeley: University of California Press), 78–80, 89–93. [Primary source]

Recommended reading:

• Tessler, History, 24–68, 96–122.
• Said Aly, Feldman, & Shikaki, Arabs and Israelis. 7–12.
• Dowty, Israel/Palestine, 21–42, 47–60.
• Shlomo Avineri, The Making of modern Zionism: The Intellectual origins of the Jewish state, (New York City: Basic Books, 1981), 3–13, 73–87.
• George Antonius, The Arab awakening: The Story of the Arab national movement (New York City: Capricorn Books, 1965), 35–60.
• Bassam Tibi, Arab nationalism: Between Islam and the nation-state, transl. from German by Marion Farouk-Sluglett and Peter Sluglett, 3^rd ed. (New York City: St Martin’s Press, 1997), 75–122.
• Muhammad Muslih, ‘Arab politics and the rise of Palestinian nationalism’, Journal of Palestine Studies 16.4 (Summer 1987), 77–94 (DOI 10.2307/2536721).
• C Ernest Dawn, ‘The Rise of Arabism in Syria’, Middle East Journal 16.2 (Spring 1962), 145–168.

4. Ottoman communities

Required reading:

• Morris, Righteous victims, 37–66.
• Neville J Mandel, ‘Turks, Arabs and Jewish immigration into Palestine, 1882–1914’, in Middle Eastern Affairs, ed. Albert Habib Hourani, vol. 4 (London: Chatto and Windus, 1965), 77–108.
• Yuval Ben-Bassat, ‘Conflicting accounts of early Zionist settlement: A Note on the encounter between the colony of Reḥovot and the Bedouins of Khirbat Duran’, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 40.2 (June 2013), 139–148 (DOI 10.1080/13530194.2013.790290).

Recommended reading:

• Tessler, History, 123–145.
• Dowty, Israel/Palestine, 12–21, 42–46, 60–71.
• Isaiah Friedman, ‘The System of Capitulations and its effect on Turco-Jewish relations in Palestine, 1856–1897’, in Palestine in the late Ottoman period: Political, social, and economic transformation, ed. David Kushner (Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 1986), 280–293.
• Moshe Maʿoz, ‘Changing relations between Jews, Muslims, and Christians during the Nineteenth Century, with special reference to Ottoman Syria and Palestine’, in Jews, Turks, Ottomans: A Shared history, Fifteenth through the Twentieth Century, ed. Avigdor Levy, 1^st ed. (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2002), 108–118.
• Mim Kemal Oke, ‘The Ottoman Empire, Zionism, and the question of Palestine (1880–1908)’, International Journal of Middle East Studies 14.3 (August 1982), 329–341 (DOI 10.1017/S0020743800051965).

5. Arabs in Zionist thought

Quiz #1

Required reading:

• Gershon Shafir, Land, labor and the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 1882–1914 (Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1996), 187–220.
• Alan Dowty, ‘“A Question that outweighs all others”: Yitzhak Epstein and Zionist recognition of the Arab issue’, Israel Studies 6.1 (Spring 2001), 34–54. [Primary source]
• Readings from Fayṣāl and Chaim Weizmann, in Laqueur & Rubin, eds., Israel-Arab Reader, 17–18. [Primary source]

Recommended reading:

• * Israel Kolatt, ‘The Zionist movement and the Arabs’, in Essential papers on Zionism, ed. Jehuda Reinharz and Anita Shapira (New York City: New York University Press, 1996), 617–647.
• Yaʾakov Roi, ‘The Zionist attitude to the Arabs 1908–1914’, Middle Eastern Studies 4.3 (April 1968), 198–242 (DOI 10.1080/00263206808700102).
• Neville J Mandel, ‘Attempts at an Arab-Zionist entente: 1913–1914’, Middle Eastern Studies 1.3 (April 1965), 238–267 (DOI 10.1080/00263206508700015).

II. The Mandate of Palestine: Jews and Arabs under British dominion

6. The Emergence of the Mandate of Palestine

Required reading:

• Morris, Righteous victims, 67–88.
• Jehuda Reinharz, ‘The Balfour Declaration in historical perspective’’, in Essential papers on Zionism, ed. Jehuda Reinharz and Anita Shapira (New York City: New York University Press, 1996), 587–616.
• Readings from Sir Henry McMahon, British and French governments, British Foreign Minister Lord Arthur Balfour, and League of Nations, in Laqueur & Rubin, eds., Israel-Arab Reader, 11–16, 25–36. [Primary source]

Recommended reading:

• Tessler, History, 145–165.
• Said Aly, Feldman, & Shikaki, Arabs and Israelis. 12–16.
• Mayir Vereté, ‘The Balfour Declaration and its makers’, Middle Eastern Studies 6.1 (January 1970), 48–76 (DOI 10.1080/00263207008700138).
• Mark Levene, ‘The Balfour Declaration: A Case of mistaken identity’, English Historical Review 107.422 (January 1992), 54–77.
• D Z Gillon, ‘The Antecedents of the Balfour Declaration’, Middle Eastern Studies 5.2 (May 1969), 131–150 (DOI 10.1080/00263206908700124).

7. Zionist and Arab socio-political development

Required reading:

• Said Aly, Feldman, & Shikaki, Arabs and Israelis. 18–21.
• Tessler, History, 185–195, 210–218 (skim pp. 195–210, 218–233).
• Ran Aaronsohn, ‘Settlement in Eretz Israel—A Colonialist enterprise? “Critical” scholarship and historical geography’, Israel Studies 1.2 (Fall 1996), 214–229.
• Taysir Nashif, ‘Palestinian Arab and Jewish leadership in the Mandate period’, Journal of Palestine Studies 6.4 (Summer 1977), 113–121.

Recommended reading:

• Gershon Shafir, ‘Zionism and colonialism: A Comparative approach’, in The Israel/Palestine question, ed. Ilan Pappé (London/New York City: Routledge, 1999), 81–96.
• S Ilan Troen, Imagining Zion: Dreams, designs, and realities in a century of Jewish settlement (New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 2003), 62–81.
• Ran Aaronsohn, ‘Baron Rothschild and the initial stage of Jewish settlement in Palestine (1882–1890): A Different type of colonization?’, Journal of Historical Geography 19.2 (April 1993): 142–156 (DOI 10.1006/jhge.1993.1010).

8. Rising communal tensions and British responses

Quiz #2

Required reading:

• Dowty, Israel/Palestine, 72–81.
• Said Aly, Feldman, & Shikaki, Arabs and Israelis. 15–18, 21–25.
• Avraham Sela, ‘The “Wailing Wall” riots (1929) as a watershed in the Palestine conflict’, The Muslim World 84.1–2 (January–April 1994), 60–94 (DOI 10.1111/j.1478-1913.1994.tb03589.x).
• Readings from Ramsay MacDonald, Peel Commission, the British government, and the Jewish Agency, in Laqueur & Rubin, eds., Israel-Arab Reader, 36–51. [Primary source]

Recommended reading:

• * Morris, Righteous victims, 88–160 (especially pp. 128–160.
• Tessler, History, 233–246.
• Erik Freas, ‘Hajj Amin al-Husayni and the Haram al-Sharif: A Pan-Islamic or Palestinian nationalist cause?’, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 39.1 (April 2012), 19–51 (DOI 10.1080/13530194.2012.659446).
• Bernard Wasserstein, ‘Patterns of communal conflict in Palestine’, in Essential papers on Zionism, ed. Jehuda Reinharz and Anita Shapira (New York City: New York University Press, 1996), 671–688.

9. Towards the partition of Palestine

Required reading:

• Morris, Righteous victims, 161–189.
• Dowty, Israel/Palestine, 81–92.
• Readings from the Biltmore Programme, the Arab Office, and the United Nations, in Laqueur & Rubin, eds., Israel-Arab Reader, 55–62, 65–77. [Primary source]

Recommended reading:

• Tessler, History, 246–268.
• Said Aly, Feldman, & Shikaki, Arabs and Israelis. 33–39.
• Joseph Heller, ‘“Neither Masada—Nor Vichy”: Diplomacy and resistance in Zionist politics, 1945–1947’, International History Review 3.4 (October 1981), 540–564 (DOI 10.1080/07075332.1981.9640261).
• Anita Shapira, ‘The Concept of time in the partition controversy of 1937’, Studies in Zionism 6.2 (1985), 211–228 (DOI 10.1080/13531048508575882).
• Amitzur Ilan, ‘Withdrawal without recommendations: Britain’s decision to relinquish the Palestine Mandate, 1947’, in Zionism and Arabism in Palestine and Israel, ed. Elie Kedourie and Sylvia G Haim (London/Totowa, New Jersey: Frank Cass, 1982), 183–209.

III. States at war: Israel and its neighbours, 1948–1967

10. The 1948 War

Required reading:

• Said Aly, Feldman, & Shikaki, Arabs and Israelis. 46–84.
• Dowty, Israel/Palestine, 92–103.
• Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian refugee problem revisited, 2^nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 588–601.
• Readings from the Provisional Government of the State of Israel, United Nations, and the State of Israel, in Laqueur & Rubin, eds., Israel-Arab Reader, 81–87. [Primary source]

Recommended reading:

• * Morris, Righteous victims, 189–258 (skim pp. 223–245).
• Tessler, History, 269–315.
• Benny Morris, 1948: A History of the first Arab-Israeli war (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), 392–420.
• Benny Morris, ‘The Causes and character of the Arab exodus from Palestine: The Israel Defence Forces Intelligence Branch analysis of June 1948’, Middle Eastern Studies 22.1 (January 1986), 5–19 (DOI 10.1080/00263208608700647).

11. Remembering and debating the 1948 War

Quiz #3

Required reading:

• Avi Shlaim, ‘The Debate about 1948’, in Making Israel, ed. Benny Morris (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 2007), 124–146.
• Mordechai Bar-On, ‘Remembering 1948: Personal recollections, collective memory, and the search for “what really happened”’, in Making Israel, ed. Benny Morris (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 2007), 29–46.
• Avi Shlaim, ‘Israel and the Arab coalition in 1948’, in The War for Palestine: Rewriting the history of 1948, ed. Eugene L Rogan and Avi Shlaim (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 79–103.
• Rashid I Khalidi, ‘The Palestinians and 1948: The Underlying causes of failure’, in The War for Palestine: Rewriting the history of 1948, ed. Eugene L Rogan and Avi Shlaim (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 12–36.
• Efraim Karsh, ‘Were the Palestinians expelled?’, Commentary 110.1 (July 2000), 29–34.
• Maoz Azaryahu and Arnon Golan, ‘Photography, memory, and ethnic cleansing: The Fate of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, 1948—John Phillips’ pictorial record’, Israel Studies 17.2 (Summer 2012), 62–76.

Recommended reading:

• * Alon Confino, ‘Miracles and snow in Palestine and Israel: Tantura, a history of 1948’, Israel Studies 17.2 (Summer 2012), 25–61.
• * Alon Kadish and Avraham Sela, ‘Myths and historiography of the 1948 Palestine War revisited: The Case of Lydda’, Middle East Journal 59.4 (Autumn 2005), 617–634.
• * Avraham Sela, ‘Arab historiography of the 1948 War: The Quest for legitimacy’, in New perspectives on Israeli history: The Early years of the State, ed. Laurence Jay Silberstein (New York City: New York University Press, 1991), 124–154.
• Benny Morris, ‘The New historiography: Israel confronts its past’, in Making Israel, ed. Benny Morris (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 2007), 11–28.
• Assaf Likhovski, ‘Post-post-Zionist historiography’, Israel Studies 15.2 (Summer 2010): 1–23.

12. Security, revolt, and war in the 1950s

Required reading:

• Said Aly, Feldman, & Shikaki, Arabs and Israelis. 85–117.
• S Ilan Troen, ‘The Protocol of Sèvres: British/French/Israeli collusion against Egypt, 1956’, Israel Studies 1.2 (Fall 1996), 122–139. [Primary source]

Recommended reading:

• Morris, Righteous victims, 259–301.
• Tessler, History, 330–378.
• Dowty, Israel/Palestine, 103–112.

13. The 1967 War

Required reading:

• Said Aly, Feldman, & Shikaki, Arabs and Israelis. 118–155.
• Michael B Oren, ‘The Revelations of 1967: New research on the Six Day War and its lessons for the contemporary Middle East’, Israel Studies 10.2 (Summer 2005), 1–14.
• Readings from Gamāl ʿAbd an-Nāṣir, Abba Eban, and the United Nations, in Laqueur & Rubin, eds., Israel-Arab Reader, 89–93, 96–98, 102–110, 116. [Primary source]

Recommended reading:

• Morris, Righteous victims, 302–346.
• Dowty, Israel/Palestine, 113–125.
• Tessler, History, 378–422.
• * Michael B Oren, Six days of war: June 1967 and the making of the modern Middle East (Oxford/New York City: Oxford University Press, 2002), 305–327.
• * Fouad Ajami, ‘The End of pan-Arabism’, Foreign Affairs 57.2 (Winter 1978–1979), 355–373.
• Joel S Migdal, ‘Changing boundaries and social crisis: Israel and the 1967 War’, in War, institutions, and social change in the Middle East, ed. Steven Heydemann (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), 174–199.

14. The Rise of the Palestinian resistance movement

Mid-term paper due.

Required reading:

• Morris, Righteous victims, 363–386.
• Tessler, History, 422–445.
• Readings from the Palestine Liberation Organisation, the Palestinian National Council, and FaTaḤ, in Laqueur & Rubin, eds., Israel-Arab Reader, 93–96, 117–121, 130–131. [Primary source]

Recommended reading:

• Morris, Righteous victims, 347–363.
• Tessler, History, 445–499.

IV. Changing dynamics and first steps towards peace, 1970–2000

15. War and peace in the 1970s

Research paper proposal due

Required reading:

• Morris, Righteous victims, 444–493.
• Dowty, Israel/Palestine, 125–137.
• Readings from Ḥāfiẓ al-Asad, Anwar as-Sādāt, the United Nations, the Agranat Commission, the Palestine Liberation Organisation, the Egypt-Israel peace treaty, and the Arab League, in Laqueur & Rubin, eds., Israel-Arab Reader, 143–152, 163–166, 207–215, 227–229. [Primary source]

Recommended reading:

• Morris, Righteous victims, 387–443.
• Tessler, History, 499–531.
• Charles S Liebman, ‘The Myth of defeat: The Memory of the Yom Kippur War in Israeli society’, Middle Eastern Studies 29.3 (July 1993), 399–418 (DOI 10.1080/00263209308700958).

16. War and protest in the early 1980s

Required reading:

• Morris, Righteous victims, 494–560.
• Readings from Menaḥem Begin and the Kahan Commission, in Laqueur & Rubin, eds., Israel-Arab Reader, 254–257, 269–274. [Primary source]

Recommended reading:

• Tessler, History, 533–678.
• Dowty, Israel/Palestine, 137–141.

17. Protest and revolt in the late 1980s

Required reading:

• Said Aly, Feldman, & Shikaki, Arabs and Israelis. 231–268.
• Dowty, Israel/Palestine, 142–148.
• Kenneth W Stein, ‘The Intifada and the 1936–39 uprising: A Comparison’, Journal of Palestine Studies 19.4 (Summer 1990), 64–82.
• Readings from the Palestine Liberation Organisation Executive Committee, Palestinian leaders, the Unified National Command of the Intifāḍah, and King Ḥusayn of Jordan, in Laqueur & Rubin, eds., Israel-Arab Reader, 314–321, 338–341. [Primary source]

Recommended reading:

• Morris, Righteous victims, 561–610.
• * Tessler, History, 679–754.
• Mark A Tessler, ‘The Intifada and political discourse in Israel’, Journal of Palestine Studies 19.2 (Winter 1990), 43–61.
• Mordechai Bar-On, ‘Israeli reactions to the Palestinian uprising’, Journal of Palestine Studies 17.4 (Summer 1988), 46–65.

18. Dialogue and negotiation in the 1990s

Quiz #4

Required reading:

• Said Aly, Feldman, & Shikaki, Arabs and Israelis. 306–330.
• Dowty, Israel/Palestine, 149–163.
• Readings from the Oslo Accords, Bill Clinton, Yitzhak Rabin, Yāsir ʿArafāt, and the Israel-Jordan peace treaty, in Laqueur & Rubin, eds., Israel-Arab Reader, 413–428, 477–486, 521–522. [Primary source]

Recommended reading:

• * Morris, Righteous victims, 611–651.
• * Said Aly, Feldman, & Shikaki, Arabs and Israelis. 269–305.
• * Tessler, History, 755–794.
• Avraham Sela, ‘Politics, identity and peacemaking: The Arab discourse on peace with Israel in the 1990s’, Israel Studies 10.2 (Summer 2005), 15–71.

19. The Collapse of the Oslo Accords

Required reading:

• Morris, Righteous victims, 652–675.
• Dowty, Israel/Palestine, 163–176.
• Shlomo Ben-Ami, ‘So close and yet so far: Lessons from the Israeli-Palestinian peace process’, Israel Studies 10.2 (Summer 2005), 72–90. [Primary source]
• Readings from Bill Clinton, Ehud Barak, and Yāsir ʿArafāt, in Laqueur & Rubin, eds., Israel-Arab Reader, 551–560, 573–580. [Primary source]

Recommended reading:

• * Said Aly, Feldman, & Shikaki, Arabs and Israelis. 331–396.
• * Tessler, History, 794–827.
• * Khalil Shikaki, ‘Palestinians divided’, Foreign Affairs 81.1 (January–February 2002), 89–105.
• Raphael Cohen-Almagor, ‘The Failed Palestinian–Israeli peace process 1993–2011: An Israeli perspective’, Israel Affairs 18.4 (October 2012), 563–576 (DOI 10.1080/13537121.2012.717389).
• Ariel BenYishay, ‘Palestinian economy, society, and the Second Intifada’, Middle East Review of International Affairs 6.3 (September 2002), 42–52.

VI. Disengagement, stalemate, and beyond, 2000–present

20. Disengagement and conflict with Lebanon and Gaza

Required reading:

• Dowty, Israel/Palestine, 177–219.
• Neill Lochery, ‘The Politics and economics of Israeli disengagement, 1994–2006’, Middle Eastern Studies 43.1 (January 2007), 1–19 (DOI 10.1080/00263200601079591).
• Asher Susser, ‘Laqueur & Rubin, eds., Israel-Arab Reader, 591–597. [Primary source]

Recommended reading:

• * Said Aly, Feldman, & Shikaki, Arabs and Israelis. 397–406.
• * Tessler, History, 827–847.
• * Barry M Rubin, ‘Israel’s new strategy’, Foreign Affairs 85.4 (July–August 2006), 111–125.
• Eyal Zisser, ‘The Israeli–Syrian–Lebanese triangle: The Renewed struggle over Lebanon’, Israel Affairs 15.4 (October 2006), 397–412 (DOI 10.1080/13537120903198670).
• Jonathan Rynhold, ‘Israel’s fence: Can separation make better neighbours?’, Survival 46.1 (Spring 2004), 55–76 (DOI 10.1080/00396330412331343663).
• David Makovsky, ‘Middle East peace through partition’, Foreign Affairs 80.2 (March–April 2001), 28–45.
• Jonathan Spyer, ‘Lebanon 2006: Unfinished war’, Middle East Review of International Affairs 12.1 (March 2008), 1–13.

21. Israeli, Palestinian, and Arab stalemate

Required reading:

• Emanuele Ottolenghi, ‘Why Palestinians and Israelis are not ready for peace’, Survival 46.1 (Spring 2004), 41–54 (DOI 10.1080/00396330412331343653).
• Eyal Zisser, ‘Trends in Middle East politics and their implications for Israel’, Israel Affairs 12.4 (October 2006), 684–697 (DOI 10.1080/13537120600889910).
• Hussein Sirriyeh, ‘Is there a Palestinian civil war? The Concept and the impact’, Israel Affairs 17.2 (April 2011), 247–258 (DOI 10.1080/13537121.2011.547277).
• Ronald R Krebs, ‘Israel’s bunker mentality: How the occupation is destroying the nation’, Foreign Affairs 90.6 (November–December 2011), 10–18.
• Yosef Kuperwasser and Shalom Lipner, ‘The Problem is Palestinian rejectionism: Why the PA must recognize a Jewish state’, Foreign Affairs 90.6 (November–December 2011), 2–9.
• Yossi Klein Halevi, ‘Can the center hold? Understanding Israel’s pragmatic majority’, Foreign Affairs 91.1 (January–February 2012), 168–172.

Recommended reading:

• * Said Aly, Feldman, & Shikaki, Arabs and Israelis. 406–441.
• Efraim Inbar, ‘Israel’s Palestinian challenge’, Israel Affairs 12.4 (October 2006), 823–842 (DOI 10.1080/13533310600890141).

22. ḤaMĀS, Ḥizb-Allāh, and radical Islam in the Arab-Israeli conflict

Required reading:

• Meir Litvak, ‘The Islamization of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: The Case of Hamas’, Middle Eastern Studies 34.1 (January 1998), 148–163 (DOI 10.1080/00263209808701214).
• Beverly Milton-Edwards, ‘The Ascendance of political Islam: Hamas and consolidation in the Gaza Strip’, Third World Quarterly 29.8 (December 2008), 1585–1599 (DOI 10.1080/01436590802528739).
• Eyal Zisser, ‘Hizballah and Israel: Strategic threat on the northern border’, Israel Affairs 12.1 (January 2006), 86–106 (DOI 10.1080/13537120500381893).
• Efraim Karsh, ‘The Long trail of Islamic anti-Semitism’, Israel Affairs 12.1 (January 2006), 1–12 (DOI 10.1080/13537120500381554).
• Readings from ḤaMĀS and Ḥasan Nasr-Allāh, in Laqueur & Rubin, eds., Israel-Arab Reader, 341–349, 603–606. [Primary source]

Recommended reading:

• * Yezid Sayigh, ‘Hamas rule in Gaza: Three years on’, Middle East Brief 41 (March 2010), 1–8.
• * Beverly Milton-Edwards, ‘Political Islam and the Palestinian–Israeli conflict’, Israel Affairs 12.1 (January 2006), 65–85.
• * Ziad Abu-Amr, ‘Hamas: A Historical and political background’, Journal of Palestine Studies 22.4 (Summer 1993), 5–19.
• Daniel Byman, ‘How to handle Hamas: The Perils of ignoring Gaza’s leadership’, Foreign Affairs 89.5 (September–October 2010), 45–62.
• Andrea Nüsse, ‘The Ideology of Ḥamās: Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist thought on the Jews, Israel and Islam’, in Studies in Jewish-Muslim relations, ed. Ronald L Nettler, (Chur, Switzerland: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1993), vol. 1, 97–125.
• Emmanuel Sivan, ‘Islamic fundamentalism, antisemitism, and anti-Zionism’, in Anti-Zionism and antisemitism in the contemporary world, ed. Robert S Wistrich (New York City: New York University Press, 1990), 74–84.

23. Iran and the Arab-Israeli conflict

Required reading:

• Rouhollah K Ramazani, ‘Iran and the Arab-Israeli conflict’, Middle East Journal 32.4 (Autumn 1978), 413–428.
• Gawdat Bahgat, ‘The Islamic Republic and the Jewish State’, Israel Affairs 11.3 (July 2005), 517–534 (DOI ).
• David Menashri, ‘Iran, Israel and the Middle East conflict’, Israel Affairs 12.1 (January 2006), 107–122 (DOI 10.1080/13537120500381901).
• Zeʾev Schiff, ‘Israel’s war with Iran’, Foreign Affairs 85.6 (November–December 2006), 23–31.
• Readings from Maḥmūd Aḥmadī-nezhād, in Laqueur & Rubin, eds., Israel-Arab Reader, 601–602, 613–614. [Primary source]

Recommended reading:

• * Trita Parsi, ‘Israel and the origins of Iran’s Arab option: Dissection of a strategy misunderstood’, Middle East Journal 60.3 (Summer 2006), 493–512.
• * Uri Bialer, ‘The Iranian connection in Israel’s foreign policy—1948–1951’, Middle East Journal 39.2 (Spring 1985), 292–315.
• Elie Rekhess, ‘The Iranian impact on the Islamic Jihad Movement in the Gaza Strip’, in The Iranian Revolution and the Muslim world, ed. David Menashri (Boulder: Westview Press, 1990), 189–206.

24. Israeli and Palestinian identities

Quiz #5

Required reading:

• Meir Litvak, ‘A Palestinian past: National construction and reconstruction’, History & Memory 6.2 (Fall–Winter 1994), 24–56.
• Yael Zerubavel, Recovered roots: Collective memory and the making of Israeli national tradition (Chicago/London: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 3–36.
• Mohammed S Dajani Daoudi and Zeina M Barakat, ‘Israelis and Palestinians: Contested narratives’, Israel Studies 18.2 (Summer 2013), 53–69.

Recommended reading:

• * S Ilan Troen, Imagining Zion: Dreams, designs, and realities in a century of Jewish settlement (New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 2003), 141–159.
• * Ahmad H Saʾdi, ‘Catastrophe, memory and identity: Al-Nakbah as a component of Palestinian identity’, Israel Studies 7.2 (Summer 2002), 175–198.
• Rashid I Khalidi, Palestinian identity: The Construction of modern national consciousness (New York City: Columbia University Press, 2010), 177–210.
• Tamar Hermann, ‘Zionism and Palestinian nationalism: Possibilities of recognition’, Israel Studies 18.2 (Summer 2013), 133–147.

25. Open topic class

Research paper due

Required reading:

• Dowty, Israel/Palestine, 220–266.

26. Whither the conflict?

Required reading:

• Said Aly, Feldman, & Shikaki, Arabs and Israelis. 442–459.
• Asʾad Ghanem, ‘The Bi-national state solution’, Israel Studies 14.2 (Summer 2009), 120–133.
• Ehud Yaʾari, ‘Armistice now: An Interim agreement for Israel and Palestine’, Foreign Affairs 89.2 (March–April 2010), 50–62.
• Ilan Peleg and Paul Scham, ‘Historical breakthroughs in Arab-Israeli negotiations: Lessons for the future’, Middle East Journal 64.2 (Spring 2010), 215–233 (DOI 10.1353/mej.0.0136).
• Howard Morley Sachar, ‘Enforcing the peace: How the great powers can resolve the Israeli-Palestinian impasse’, Foreign Affairs 90.1 (February 2011), 14–18.

Recommended reading:

• Morris, Righteous victims, 676–694.
• * Nathan Witkin, ‘The Interspersed nation-state system: A Two-state/one-land solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict’, Middle East Journal 65.1 (Winter 2011), 31–54 (DOI 10.1353/mej.2011.0009).
• * Ghada Karmi, ‘The One-state solution: An Alternative vision for Israeli-Palestinian peace’, Journal of Palestine Studies 40.2 (Winter 2011), 62–76.
• * Rachel Fish, ‘Bi-nationalist visions for the construction and dissolution of the State of Israel’, Israel Studies 19.2 (Summer 2014), 15–34 (DOI 10.1353/is.2014.0023).
• Omri Arens and Edward Kaufman, ‘The Potential impact of Palestinian nonviolent struggle on Israel: Preliminary lessons and projections for the future’, Middle East Journal 66.2 (Spring 2012), 231–252 (DOI 10.1353/mej.2012.0064).
• Robert M Danin, ‘A Third way to Palestine: Fayyadism and its discontents’, Foreign Affairs 90.1 (January–February 2011), 94–109.