A class on the Arab-Israeli conflict, Jewish Israeli and Palestinian societies from the late 19th century, and regional and global settings. Due to the contentious nature of its subject, we pay considerable attention to historiographic debates and primary sources. We discuss the formation of two national yet internally stratified societies; the range of relations between the two societies, their unequal socio-political development and evolving perceptions of, and behavior towards, each other until 1948; the lasting effects of violence and traumas; Israelis’ and Palestinians’ socio-political development after 1948; the post-1948 conflicts between Israel, Arab states and the Palestinians, including the PLO, and its wider setting; and the peace initiatives and treaties that started in the 1970s and peaked in the early 1990s. The course peaks in a diplomacy/war simulation game, of the period 1971-1973.
- Teacher: Andrea Pizzinato
- Teacher: Cyrus Schayegh