The Arab-Israeli Conflict (MES 75000)

The Graduate Center, City University of New York Spring 2011 Wednesdays, 6:30-8:30pm, Room 6494 Professor Dov Waxman Phone: 212-817-8701 Email: dwaxman@gc.cuny.edu Office: Room 5202.02 (Department of Political Science) Office Hours: Wednesdays 1:30-5:30pm Course Description: This course aims to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the history, politics, and diplomacy of the Arab-Israeli conflict. By examining the origins of the conflict, its development over time, the key events that have shaped it, and the various actors involved, students will gain a greater appreciation for the complexities and dynamism of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The course will cover the conflict from the emergence of Zionism and Arab-Palestinian nationalism up to the present day. Although the course examines the entire Arab-Israeli conflict, particular emphasis will be given to the Israeli-Palestinian dimension of the conflict. Course Learning Goals: At the end of this course you will be able to: Explain the emergence of Zionism and Palestinian nationalism. Understand the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Discuss the impact of the major Arab-Israeli wars of 1948, 1967, and 1973 upon the development of the conflict. Discuss the effect of the rise of Islamism and Jewish fundamentalism on the conflict. Analyze the role of outside actors in the conflict, especially the United States. Explain why the Oslo peace process collapsed and why there is still no peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Understand the final status issues that must be settled for a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Course Text: You can purchase the book below through the Graduate Centers virtual bookstore, which is affiliated with Amazon. To access this, go to: www.gc.cuny.edu/bookshop. Click on the Affiliation with Amazon.com logo and you can then order the books through Amazon. The Graduate Center gets 5% of all sales conducted this way. Mark Tessler, A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, second edition, 2009).

Course Requirements: Participation: All students should actively participate in class meetings. In order to properly do this you must come to class having done all of the assigned readings. Response papers: Each week, you must submit a short (1-2 page) response to the assigned readings. These papers will be graded collectively at the end of the semester. Research Paper: You must write a research paper (of 20-25 double-spaced pages). Your papers should draw on academic literature beyond the assigned readings and must be properly referenced (footnotes or endnotes, and bibliography). You choose a subject to research and write about, but I must approve all topics. Grading: Participation: 10% Response Papers: 30% Research Paper: 60% Total: 100%
Letter Grading System:

90-100 = A 80-89 = A70-79 = B+ 60-69 = B 50-59 = B40-49 = C+ 30-39 = C 20-29 = C15-19 = D+ 10-14 = D 0-9 = F I reserve the right to make adjustments to this system to take into account the overall performance of the class. Course Policies Classroom Conduct: All class discussion must be conducted in a scholarly manner, free of diatribes and invective. Students are expected to demonstrate an appropriate level of respect despite what might be deep disagreements. This is particularly important because certain issues are closely intertwined with some individuals political and religious beliefs. Plagiarism: Plagiarism is a serious offense and will not be tolerated. My policy is to give a failing grade (F) to any assignment that has been plagiarized.

Schedule of Topics and Readings:

Week 1 (Feb 2) Week 2 (Feb 9) Introduction Zionism

Tessler, A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, ch.1. Alan R. Taylor, Zionism and Jewish History, Journal of Palestine Studies 1, 2 (1972): 3551. Anita Shapira, Land and Power: The Zionist Resort to Force, 1881-1948 (Oxford University Press, 1992), pp. 3-52. Week 3 (Feb 16) Arab and Palestinian Nationalism

Tessler, A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, ch.2. Rashid Khalidi, Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness (Columbia University Press, 1997), pp. 145-175. Muhammad Y. Muslih, The Origins of Palestinian Nationalism (Columbia University Press, 1988), pp. 69-87. Week 4 (March 2) The Early Years of the Conflict: The British Mandate

Tessler, A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, chs. 3, 4. Rashid Khalidi, The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood (Beacon Press, 2006), pp. 9-64. Ran Aaronsohn, Settlement in Eretz Israel - A Colonialist Enterprise? Critical Scholarship and Historical Geography, Israel Studies 1, 2 (Fall 1996). Week 5 (March 9) The 1948 War and its impact

Tessler, A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, ch.5 Avi Shlaim, The Debate about 1948, in Ilan Papp (ed.), The Israel/Palestine Question (Routledge, 1999), pp. 171-192. Rashid Khalidi, The Palestinians and 1948: The underlying causes of failure, in Eugene Rogan and Avi Shlaim (eds.), The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948 (Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp. 12-36. Benny Morris, Revisiting the Palestinian Exodus of 1948, in Rogan and Shlaim (eds.), The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948, pp. 37-59. Avi Shlaim, Israel and the Arab Coalition in 1948, in Rogan and Shlaim (eds.), The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948, pp. 79-103. Ahmad H. Sadi, Catastrophe, Memory, and Identity: Al-Nakbah as a Component of Palestinian Identity, Israel Studies 7, 2 (2002): 175-198. Week 6 (March 16) The 1967 War and its impact

Tessler, A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, chs. 6, 7. Moshe Gat, Nasser and the Six Day War, 5 June 1967: A Premeditated Strategy or an Inexorable Drift to War? Israel Affairs 11, 4 (2005): 608-635. Michael Oren, Six Days of War (Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 305-327. Gershom Gorenberg, The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements 1967-77 (Times Books, 2006), pp. 99-162. Week 7 (March 23) The 1973 War and its impact

Tessler, A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, ch. 8. Avi Shlaim, The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World (W.W. Norton, 2001), chs. 7, 8, 9. Kenneth W. Stein, Continuity and Change in Egyptian-Israeli Relations, 19731997, Israel Affairs 3, 3-4 (1997): 296-320. Week 8 (March 30) The Lebanon War and the First Intifada Tessler, A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, chs. 9, 10, 11. Laetitia Bucaille, Growing Up Palestinian: Israeli Occupation and the Intifada Generation (Princeton University Press, 2004), ch. 1. Laura Zittrain Eisenberg, Israels Lebanon Policy, MERIA Journal 1, 3 (1997). Week 9 (April 6) The Oslo Peace Process

Tessler, A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, ch. 12. Dov Waxman, The Pursuit of Peace and the Crisis of Israeli Identity: Defending/Defining the Nation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), chs. 3, 4. Louis Kriesberg, The Relevance of Reconciliation Actions in the Breakdown of IsraeliPalestinian Negotiations, 2000, Peace and Change 27, 4 (2002): 546-571. Ron Pundak, From Oslo to Taba: What Went Wrong? Survival 43, 3 (2001): pp. 31-46. Jeremy Pressman, Visions in Collision: What Happened at Camp David and Taba? International Security 28, 2 (2003): 5-43. Arie Kacowicz, Rashomon in the Middle East: Clashing Narratives, Images, and Frames in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Cooperation and Conflict 40, 3 (2005): 343-360. Week 10 (April 13) The Second Intifada

Tessler, A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, epilogue. Jeremy Pressman, The Second Intifada: Background and Causes of the IsraeliPalestinian Conflict, Journal of Conflict Studies (Fall 2003): 114-141. Alan Dowty and Michelle Gawerc, The Intifada: Revealing the Chasm, MERIA Journal 5, 3(2001): 38-48. Rema Hammami and Salim Tamari, The Second Uprising: End or New Beginning, Journal of Palestine Studies (Winter 2001). Robert J. Brym and Bader Araj, Suicide Bombing as Strategy and Interaction: The Case of the Second Intifada, Social Forces 84, 4 (2006): 1969-1986. Week 11 (April 27) The Impact of Religion on the Conflict

Laurence S. Hanauer, The Path to Redemption: Fundamentalist Judaism, Territory, and Jewish Settler Violence in the West Bank, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 18, 4 (1995): 245-270. David Newman, From Hitnachalut to Hitnatkut: The Impact of Gush Emunim and the Settlement Movement on Israeli Politics and Society, Israel Studies, 10, 3 (2005): 192219. Samantha M. Shapiro, The Unsettlers, The New York Times Magazine (February 16, 2003): 42-48. Beverley Milton-Edwards, The Ascendance of Political Islam: Hamas and consolidation in the Gaza Strip, Third World Quarterly 29, 8 (2008): 15851599. Meir Litvak, The Islamization of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: The Case of Hamas, Middle Eastern Studies 34, 1 (1998): 148-163. Menachem Klein, Hamas in Power, Middle East Journal 61, 3 (2007): 442-459. Week 12 (May 4) Resolving the Conflict: The Debate among Israelis

Shlomo Brom, From Rejection to Acceptance: Israeli National Security Thinking and Palestinian Statehood (U.S. Institute of Peace, 2007). Efraim Inbar, The Rise and Demise of the Two-State Paradigm, Orbis 53, 2 (2009): 265-283. Ian S. Lustick, Abandoning the Iron Wall: Israel and The Middle Eastern Muck, Middle East Policy 15, 3 (2008): 30-56. Dov Waxman, From Controversy to Consensus: Cultural Conflict and the Israeli Debate Over Territorial Withdrawal, Israel Studies 13, 2 (2008): 73-96. Week 13 (May 11) Resolving the Conflict: The Debate among Palestinians

Asad Ghanem, The Bi-National State Solution, Israel Studies 14, 2 (2009): 120-133. Khalil Shikaki, Willing to Compromise: Palestinian Public Opinion and the Peace Process (U.S. Institute of Peace, 2006). Khalil Shikaki, Fatah Resurrected, The National Interest (November/December 2009): 4-17. Gawdat Bahgat, The Arab Peace Initiative: An Assessment, Middle East Policy (Spring 2009): 33-39. Week 14 (May 18) The Future of the Conflict

No readings (final papers due in class).