Government 248
The Arab-Israeli Dispute
SPRING 2003
Donna Robinson Divine
Government 248 focuses on the hundred years’ war between Arabs and Jews over the establishment of a Jewish state in the Middle East. The readings cover the many complicated confrontations, battles, negotiations that have shaped the scope and content of the struggles for land, power, national survival and historical representation. The syllabus is multi-disciplinary insofar as it draws on works of history, sociology, international relations, and literature. It subscribes to no single view of the conflict but rather presents the diverse perspectives of the people engaged in these encounters and attempts to explain why people have felt the struggle worth risking lives and fortunes.
Three analytical papers—three to five pages
Participation in oral debate
Take-home final exam
Hammond, Atlas of the Middle East
Kanafani, Men in the Sun
Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Mishal and Sela, The Palestinian Hamas
A supplemental packet of readings assigned for the course is available for purchase from Copycat Printers, Pleasant Street, Northampton
Week of January 28: Defining the Dispute: Land and People
Edward W. Said, excerpts from The Question of Palestine
Hillel Halkin, “Whose Palestine”
Benjamin Z. Kedar, “Masada: The Myth and the Complex”
Fawaz Turki, “The Future of a Past: Fragments from the Palestinian Dream”
Amos Oz, “The Meaning of Homeland” [reserve]
Week of February 4: Zionist Claims and Strategies
Shlomo Avineri, excerpts from The Making of Modern Zionism
Charles D. Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict , pp. 1-37
Walter Laqueur and Barry Rubin, eds. The Israel-Arab Reader , Documents 1, 3, and 4 [reserve]
Week of February 11: Arab Nationalism and Palestinian Political Consciousness
Walter Laqueur and Barry Rubin, eds. The Israel-Arab Reader Document 2 [reserve]
Rashid Khalidi, excerpts from Palestinian Identity
Issa Khalaf, excerpts from Politics in Palestine
Charles D. Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict , pp. 38-67
Week of February 18: Imperialism, Colonialism and Nationalism During The British Mandate
Walter Laqueur and Barry Rubin, eds. The Israel-Arab Reader , Documents 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and Part II [reserve]
Issa Khalaf, “The Effect of Socioeconomic Change on Arab Societal Collapse in Mandate Palestine”
Charles D. Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict , pp. 68-124
Week of February 25: The First War: Independence and Exile
Charles D. Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict , pp. 125-151
Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins, O Jerusalem , pp. 243-343 [reserve]
Walter Laqueur and Barry Rubin, eds. The Israel-Arab Reader , Documents 26, 27, 30, 31
Laurie Brand, excerpts from Palestinians in the Arab World
Ghassan Kanafani, Men in the Sun
Films: Jerusalem 1948
Episodes of “Be-Amud ha-Esh”
MICHAEL DORAN, “ISRAEL BETWEEN AMERICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST” NEILSON BROWSING ROOM
Weeks of March 4 and 11: Regional and World Politics: Confronting the Arab States in the Context of Global Politics
Charles D. Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict , pp. 151-284
Rex Brynen, “Palestine and the Arab State System: Permeability, State Consolidation and the Intifada ”
Hallie Lerman, excerpts from Crying for Imma [reserve]
Weeks of March 25 and April 1: Israeli-Palestinian Confrontations
Charles D. Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict , pp. 290-325
Walter Laqueur and Barry Rubin, eds. The Israel-Arab Reader , pp. 510-527; 529-546; 573-589
Shaul Mishal and Reuben Aharoni, excerpts from Speaking Stones
Zahira Kamal, “The Development of the Palestinian Women’s Movement in the Occupied Territories”
Shaul Mishal and Avraham Sela, The Palestinian Hamas , pp. 1-82
Week of April 8: Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations: Prospects and Problems
Yezid Sayigh, excerpts from Armed Struggle and the Search for a State
Julia Trottier, “Water and the Challenge of Palestinian Institution Building”
Jad Isaac, “A Sober Approach to the Water Crisis in the Middle East”
Alan Dowty and Michelle Gawere, “The Intifada: Revealing the Chasm”
Shaul Mishal and Avraham Sela, The Palestinian Hamas , pp. 83-171
Shibley Telhami, “Camp David II: Assumptions and Consequences” [reserve]
Glenn E. Robinson, “Israel and the Palestinians: The Bitter Fruits of Hegemonic Peace”
Hussein Agha, Robert Malley, “Camp David: The Tragedy of Errors”
Dennis Ross, Gidi Grinstein, “Camp David: An Exchange”
Lt. Col Jonathan D.H. “Understanding the Breakdown of Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations”
Shlomo Avineri, “Middle Israel: Beyond the Debacle”
Week of April 15: Fields of Dreams, Territories of Fear
Yezid Sayigh, “Arafat and the Anatomy of a Revolt
Jacob Shamir and Khalil Shikaki, “Determinants of Reconciliation and Compromise Among Israelis and Palestinians”
Gal Luft, “the Palestinian H-Bomb”
Michael R. Fischbach, “The United Nations and Palestine refugee Property Compensation”
Ruth Lapidoth, “Some Legal Aspects of the Palestinian Refugee Question”
Yossi Alpher, “No Common Vocabulary”
Ghassan Khatib, “Where Peace is Possible”
Shlomo Brom, “They Still Don’t Understand”
Rema Hammami, “The Mask Will Fall Too Late”
Week of April 29: The Land and National Identity
Hebrew Poems
Aryeh Sivan, “To Live in the Land of Israel”
“Unpleasantness During a Memorial Service”
“Concerning the Rehabilitation of the Disabled from the Wars of Israel
Eitan Kalinski, “1936-1986”
Haim Gouri, “Like Beirut”
Arab Poems:
Mahmoud Darwish, “Poems of the Land”
“ Psalm 9”
“We Went to Aden”
Waleed al-Halees, “Days in the Life of a Palestinian Boy”