Rollins College Hamilton Holt School Spring 2016 The Politics of Israel and Palestine 10966 - INAF 311
Professor: Stephen Day Contact: [email protected] Location: Cornell Hall, Room 134 Cell phone: (407) 284-7787 Time: Monday 6:45 pm - 9:15 pm
This course addresses one of the most contentious issues in international affairs. This has been true for more than sixty years, since 1948 when the state of Israel was formed after the Holocaust in the second World War. We will primarily focus attention on events following a breakdown of the Oslo Peace Accords in the 1990s and renewed fighting in 2000 after President Clinton’s failed Camp David summit. Yet our readings cover a broader sweep of history, beginning in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when the Ottoman Empire collapsed as the Zionist movement gained strength. It is essential to comprehend developments during this formative period of time, in order to understand the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The politics of Israel-Palestine is a great topic for academic analysis because there is a vast amount of scholarship on the subject. This semester we will read three of the best books available. In addition, there are a number of “recommended” books that help provide a more complete account of Israel-Palestine, including historical documents, chronologies of events, and profiles of key political figures. Some recent scholarship evokes strong reactions among those unfamiliar with the newest research findings. There is no way to sugar-coat the implications of this scholarship for the modern Middle East. Students should bear in mind this course deals with international affairs where the focus is politics, not religion. We rarely address our topic from a religious perspective because the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians can not truly be understood in terms of the sacred or divine, but rather the profane world of politicians, their ambitions, faults, and prejudices. The goal of this course is to understand the Israel-Palestine conflict, not from a cross- point of two “evenly weighted” perspectives, but a “realist” view of why the conflict exists, and why peacemaking consistently fails. It is a mistake to think there is only one Israeli perspective and one Palestinian perspective. The two can not be counterposed in black and white terms where only one side is right and the other side is wrong. On both sides of the conflict, there are multiple perspectives because the Israeli and Palestinian communities have multiple factions and divided leaderships. The most contentious conflicts are frequently within one community. This is important to grasp for a “realist” understanding of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Course texts:
Avi Shlaim, The Iron Wall: Israel & the Arab World, W. W. Norton & Company, 2001. ISBN-10: 0393321126 ISBN-13: 978-0393321128 $24.95 Rashid Khalidi, The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle, Beacon Press, 2006. ISBN-10: 0807003085 $17.00 Miko Peled, The Generalʼs Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine, Just World Books, 2012 ISBN-10: 193598215X ISBN-13: 978-1935982159 $20.00 Readings:
The weekly assigned readings appear in the course schedule below. These are drawn from the required texts for purchase in the campus bookstore. Students should complete the readings before the date of each class meeting, so we may discuss the readings on that date. In addition to the assigned readings the professor lists “recommended” readings that should be read by those seeking advanced knowledge of the subject.
Short Paper Assignments:
Throughout the semester students will complete three short writing assignments. These are due in Weeks 4, 8, and 14, as shown in the schedule below (check the dates marked with asterisks *** along the right margin of the course schedule). Questions will cover reading assignments in preceding weeks; and the professor will provide each question at least one class period before the assignments are due. These papers are expected to be 3 pages in length (standard font, double-spaced), and they should be submitted electronically before class on the day they are due. Late penalties of a half letter grade apply for papers submitted after the start of class. Papers not submitted before midnight of the due date will receive a full letter grade deduction.
Presentations:
During Weeks 6 and 14 students will give presentations on topics of their choice, as long as they relate to events in Israel-Palestine from 1947-1967 in Week 6, and 1990-2016 in Week 14. Topics must be confirmed a week in advance. Presentations are made in teams of 3-4 students, and all may rely on required and/or recommended texts listed in the Course Schedule.
Final Exam:
The final exam is comprehensive, covering all the required reading material. The exam will include one long essay question, dealing with a general subject explored during the semester, plus an additional short essay question, relating to important course concepts. The grading emphasis on the final exam is the studentʼs writing clarity, organization of ideas, and development of a persuasive argument.
Grading:
All components of the course, including attendance, will count towards the final grade. The final grade is calculated according to the following percentages:
Attendance and participation: 30% Three short papers: 30% Presentations: 10% Final exam: 30%
The percentage for attendance/participation is broken down on a 3:2 ratio. Attendance is calculated on an overall scale, while participation is evaluated by the professor in terms of how well the student joins in class discussions (actively or passively), question/answer sessions, and other in-class activities.
Since this course covers a hotly contested political issue, it is important to show respect for other points of view during class discussions. Demonstration of a lack of respect or an inability to engage in constructive conversation will negatively impact a student’ s participation score.
If a student misses 3 or more class sessions, then this may lead to a deduction of one quarter, one half, or all of the attendance score. If more than 5 classes are missed, then the full attendance/participation score may be deducted. It is important to arrive at class on time, and stay until the class is over. If this is not possible, then please let the professor know the reason.
Academic Honor Code
Membership in the student body of Rollins College carries with it an obligation, and requires a commitment, to act with honor in all things. Because academic integrity is fundamental to the pursuit of knowledge and truth and is the heart of the academic life of Rollins College, it is the responsibility of all members of the College community to practice it and to report apparent violations. The following pledge is a binding commitment by the students of Rollins College: • The development of the virtues of Honor and Integrity are integral to a Rollins College education and to membership in the Rollins College community. Therefore, I, a student of Rollins College, pledge to show my commitment to these virtues by abstaining from any lying, cheating, or plagiarism in my academic endeavors and by behaving responsibly, respectfully and honorably in my social life and in my relationships with others.
This pledge is reinforced every time a student submits work for academic credit as his/her own. Students shall add to all papers, quizzes, tests, lab reports, etc., the following handwritten abbreviated pledge followed by their signature: “On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this work.” Material submitted electronically should contain the pledge; submission implies signing the pledge.
Equal Opportunity Policy
Rollins College is committed to equal access and does not discriminate unlawfully against persons with disabilities in its policies, procedures, programs or employment processes. The College recognizes its obligations under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to provide an environment that does not discriminate against persons with disabilities.
If you are a person with a disability on this campus and anticipate needing any type of academic accommodations in order to participate in your classes, please make timely arrangements by disclosing this disability in writing to the Disability Services Office at (Box 2613) - Thomas P. Johnson Student Resource Center, 1000 Holt Ave., Winter Park, FL, 37289 or call 407-646-2354 for an appointment. Course Schedule
Week One January 11 Introduction: The End of Oslo Peace Accords, 2000-01
Required: Malley & Agha, “Camp David: The Tragedy of Errors” http://www.nybooks.com/articles/14380
Recommended: Susan Sontag, "Quest for Mideast peace: How and why it failed," New York Times, !!!!!July 26, 2001 !!!Clayton Swisher, The Truth about Camp David: Untold Story, Nation Books, 2005 NO CLASS, Monday, January 18 for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday
Week Two January 25 Origins of Europeʼs Zionist Movement & Violence in Palestine
Required: Shlaim, The Iron Wall, Prologue, pp. 1-27 Khalidi, The Iron Cage, Preface & Introduction, Ch. 1, pp. 1-30
Recommended: Arthur Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea, Doubleday & Co., 1959 !!!Fromkin, A Peace to End All Peace, Henry Holt & Co., 1989 !!!Benny Morris, Righteous Victims: History of Zionist-Arab Conflict 1881-2001, Vintage 2001 !!!Tom Segev, One Palestine, Complete: Jews & Arabs Under British Mandate, Picador 2001 !!!Meron Benvenisti, Sacred Landscape, Univ. of California Press, 2002; Chapters 1-4
Week Three February 1 Palestine Under British Rule and its Failed Independence
Required: Khalidi, The Iron Cage, Chs. 2-3, pp. 31-104
Recommended: Alexander Scholch, Palestine in Transformation 1856-1882: Studies in Social, Economic and Political Development, Institute of Palestine Studies, 1993 Gershon Shafir, Land Labour and Origins of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, 1882-1914 !!!May Seikaly, Haifa: Transformation of Arab Society, 1918-1939, I B Tauris, England, 1995 !!!Yaacov Ro'i, "The Zionist Attitude to the Arabs, 1908-1914," Middle Eastern Studies, !!!!Vol. 4, No. 3, April 1968, pp. 198-242. !!!Rashid Khalidi, "Palestinian Peasant Resistance to Zionism Before World War I," in Said & !!!!Hitchens, eds., Blaming the Victims, Verso, 1988.
Week Four February 8 Palestinian Politics Before & After “The Nakba” Required: Khalidi, The Iron Cage, Chs. 4, pp. 105-139
Recommended: Avi Shlaim & Eugene Rogan War for Palestine: Rewriting History of 1948 Cambridge 2001 !!!Nur Masalha, The Palestine Nakba: Decolonizing History, Zed Books, 2012. !!!Walid Khalidi, ed., All that Remains, the Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948, Institute for Palestine Studies, Washington, DC, 1991.
Week Five February 15 Israelʼs Creation in 1947-48 and Expulsion of the Palestinians
Required: Shlaim, The Iron Wall, Chs. 1-2, pp. 28-94. *** 1st Short Paper Due 2/15 *** Recommended: Gabriel Piterburg, The Returns of Zionism: Myths, Politics, and Scholarship, Verso 2008 !!!Tom Segev The Seventh Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust, Henry Holt & Co., 1991 !!!Shlaim and Rogan, War for Palestine: Rewriting History of 1948, Cambridge, 2001. !!!Ilan Pappe, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, One World Publications, 2007 !!!Rosemarie Esber, Under the Cover of War: The Zionist Expulsion of the Palestinians, !!!!Arabicus Books, 2008 !!!Avi Shlaim, Collusion Across the Jordan: King Abdallah, Zionist Movement !!!Yitzhak Rabin, The Rabin Memoirs, University of California Press,1996 or later
Week Six February 22 The First Years of Israeli State Formation & Suez War *** Class Presentations *** Required: Shlaim, The Iron Wall, Chs. 3-4, pp. 95-185
Recommended: ! David Ben Gurion, Recollections, Macdonald Unit, London, England, 1970 David Ben Gurion, Israel: A Personal History, New English Library, 1972. !!!Golda Meir, A Land of Our Own, Putnam, 1973. !!!Roger Louis and Roger Owen, Suez 1956, the Crisis and its Consequences, Clarendon !!!!Press, Oxford, England, 1989 !!!Clive Jones & Emma Murphy, Israel: Challenges to Identity, Democracy, Routledge, 2002
SPRING BREAK February 27-March 6, 2016
Week Seven March 7 Israelʼs Military Actions Leading to June 1967 War
Required: Shlaim, The Iron Wall, Chs. 5-6, pp. 186-264
Recommended: Norman Finkelstein, Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict, Verso, 2003 !!!Richard B. Parker, "The June War: Whose Conspiracy?," Journal of Palestine Studies, !!!!21:4, Summer 1992, pp. 5-21. !!!Richard B. Parker, The Six Day War: A Retrospective, Univrsity Press of Florida, 1996 !!!Michael Oren, Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East, !!!!Presidio, 2003 !!!Dershowitz, The Case for Israel, John Wiley and Sons, 2003
Week Eight March 14 The Arab Counter-Attack in October 1973 *** 2nd Short Paper Due 3/14 *** Required: Shlaim, The Iron Wall, Ch, 7, pp. 283-324
Recommended: Zeev Schiff, October Earthquake: Yom Kippur 1973, Transaction Books, 2013 Richard B. Parker, The October War, University Press of Florida, 2001
Week Nine March 21 The Israeli-Egyptian Peace Accord, Camp David I
Required: Shlaim, The Iron Wall, Chs. 8-9, pp. 325-383 Peled, The Generalʼs Son, Intro & Chs. 1-2, pp. 13-49
Recommended: William Quandt, Peace Process, University of California Press, 2001 !!!Charles D. Smith, Palestine & the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Bedford/St. Martins Press !!!Madiha Rashid al-Madfai, Jordan, the United States, and the Middle East Peace Process, 1974-1991, Cambridge University Press, 1993. Week Ten March 28 Personal Account of Israelʼs Post-1967 Years & Lebanon War
Required: Peled, The Generalʼs Son, Ch. 3-6, pp. 51-109 Shlaim, The Iron Wall, Ch. 10, pp. 384-423
Recommended: Zeev Schiff and Ehud Yaari, Israelʼs Lebanon War, Touchstone, 1985 Robert Fisk, Pity the Nation, Nation Books, 2002 !!!Bayan N. al-Hout, Sabra and Shatilla: September 1982, Pluto, 2004
Week Eleven April 4 Political Paralysis, Stonewalling, Arafat and the PLO
Required: Shlaim, The Iron Wall, Chs. 11-12, pp. 424-501 Khalidi, The Iron Cage, Ch. 5, pp. 140-181
Recommended: Helena Cobban, The Palestinian Liberation Organization, Cambridge UP, 1984 !!!Naseer Aruri, Dishonest Broker: US Role in Israel & Palestine, South End Press, 2003
Week Twelve April 11 The 1990s Oslo Peace Accords and “Peace Process”
Required: Shlaim, The Iron Wall, Ch. 13, pp. 502-30; Ch. 14, all; Ch. 15, pp. 564-588, Epilogue
Recommended: Mahmoud Abbas, Through Secret Channels: The Road to Oslo, Garnett, 1995 !!!Muhammed Heikal, Secret Channels: The Inside Story of Arab-Israeli Peace Negotiations, !!!!Harper Collins, 1996. !!!David Makovsky, Making Peace with the PLO: The Rabin Government's Road to Oslo, !!!!Westview Press, 1996. !!!Edward Said, Peace and its Discontents: Gaza-Jericho, 1993-1995, Vintage, 1995. !!!Rashid Khalidi, Brokers of Deceit: How the US Has Undermined Peace, Beacon, 2014 !!!Dennis Ross, The Missing Peace: Inside Story, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005 !!!Dennis Ross and David Makovsky, Myths, Illusions & Peace, Penguin Press, 2010
Week Thirteen April 18 Personal Reflections on Becoming a Peace Diplomat
Required: Peled, The Generalʼs Son, Chs. 7-15, pp. 113-213
Recommended: Hanan Ashrawi, This Side of Peace, Simon & Schuster, 1995 !!!Naim S. Ateek, Justice and Only Justice, Orbis Books, 1989 !!!Tanya Reinhart, Israel/Palestine: How to End the War of 1948, Seven Stories Press, 2002 !!!John McCarthy, You Canʼt Hide the Sun: A Journey through Israel & Palestine, Random !!!!House, 2012
Week Fourteen April 25 One State, or Two States *** 3rd Short Paper Due 10/15 *** *** Class Presentations *** Required: Peled, The Generalʼs Son, Ch. 16, pp. 215-221 Khalidi, The Iron Cage, Ch. 6, pp. 182-217
Recommended: Ali Abunimah, One Country: A Bold Proposal, Henry Holt & Co., 2006
FINAL EXAM May 2, 2016