THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT
JS110 / PS 182 Sec 27
Spring 2006
Brown University, Wed
(Junior -Senior Seminar for Political
Science and Jewish Studies major)
Professor Kenneth W. Stein
Office hours: Wed
Office: Prospect House 205
401-863-1576
Course Summary:
This is an advanced survey of the Arab-Israeli conflict’s history, politics, and diplomacy. Divided at 1948-49, the first half of the course deals with the conflict’s social, political, ideological, and diplomatic origins; the second half with the period since, focusing on Israeli and Palestinian national emergence, Arab-Israeli wars, the subsequent diplomacy from each, and the impact of American, European, and Cold War engagement upon the conflict’s unfolding. Integral to the course are analyses of documents associated with the conflict's 100-year plus history.
Required books:
Bickerton, Ian and Carla Klausner. A Concise History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Prentice Hall, Fourth Edition), 2002, ISBN 0-19-090303-5.
Quandt, William B. Peace Process American Diplomacy and The
Arab-Israeli Conflict Since 1967 (Brookings/University of
Stein, Kenneth W. Heroic
Diplomacy: Sadat, Kissinger, Carter, Begin and the Quest for Arab-Israeli Peace
(
Khalaf, Issa. Politics
in
Documents Packet- History Politics, and Diplomacy of the Arab-Israeli Conflict,
Course Grading:
This
class meets once a week. There will be
class discussion for each topic on the syllabus. Class participation is essential. Each student will write two papers, a 25-page
research paper of the student’s choosing, and one 10-page paper on an assigned
topic. A written in-class mid-term examination will be given on
short paper - 20% - “The Camp David II Accords”
mid-term examination - 20% - Question: “Discuss the Arab-Israeli conflict to December 1949”
class participation - 20%
research paper - 40%
Course Guidelines:
For the short paper, each student will be asked to analyze the same
topic: the July 2000, Camp David II Summit. Students will use Israeli,
Palestinian, American, and other sources.
Each student will use the same source material, but will work
independently of one another. The source material consists of more than 500
pages of primary source materials translated from Arabic, Hebrew, and English
as assembled by the instructor. The short paper should be no longer than
12-pages in length, including endnotes
and bibliography. It is due on
1. Why was the summit convened in July 2000 and not earlier/later?
2. What were the expectations of each side prior to the summit?
3. How was the summit conducted?
4. Who was responsible for the summit’s collapse?
For the long research paper, the
topic will be chosen in consultation with the professor. The bibliography (minimum of nine journal articles
and six books) for the research paper is due in class on
The final paper is due on
In writing both the short and long papers (described below), the following presentation format must be used. Every paper must be typed, double-spaced (for the long paper, no more than a 6500 words—approximately 25-pages), and paginated with endnotes/footnotes and bibliography following. For a stylistic outline of how the notes and bibliography are to be arranged and presented in the research paper, see the Chicago Manual of Style. For guidance of acceptable citation style, arrangement of the endnotes and bibliography, please use the same style employed in Stein, Kenneth W. Heroic Diplomacy: Sadat, Kissinger, Carter, Begin and the Quest for Arab-Israeli Peace. Please note that the abbreviated citation method (Stein, p.2) used in the body of a paper in political science and scientific papers is not an acceptable format. Use either endnotes or footnotes.
For the research paper, students may not use source material from web-based origins; in other words, research papers in this course must be completed with the use of scholarly books and journals. These journals may be secured on-line of course, but blogs, organization web-sites, chat-rooms etc., may not be used. In special cases newspapers may be used. Primary source use is encouraged.
Class sessions will be a combination of lecture and discussions. Class attendance is mandatory! For each class session, students will be assigned readings from original sources from the documents packet, and they are expected to read the source material before classes. Students are expected to participate actively in all class discussions.
Important class assignment dates:
February 1 - material distributed for first paper
February 22 – short paper due
March 1 - topic and bibliography for research paper due
March 15 - mid term examination
April 26 - research paper due
CLASS ASSIGNMENTS
January 25
Course introduction- What is political culture?
Arab and Jewish political cultures
February 1
Origins of the Conflict, Zionism, and Arab Nationalism in
Pre- and Post-World War I
Discussion
Theme: Promise or Perfidy or Both?
B&K, pp. 1-44.
DP, pp. 1-21.
*Dawn,
C. Ernest. “The Rise of Arabism in
*
*Mandel,
Neville J. “Ottoman Policy and Restrictions on Jewish Settlement in
Discussion Theme: A look at the 2006 Palestinian elections
February 8
The
B&K, pp. 44-67.
Khalaf, pp. 1-44.
DP, pp. 25-48.
*Horowitz,
Dan and Moshe Lissak. “Ideology and Politics in the Yishuv,” The
*Mattar,
Philip. "The Mufti of
*Nashif,
Taysir. "Palestinian Arab and Jewish Leadership in the Mandate
Period," Journal of
*Porath, Yehoshua. "Social Aspects of the Emergence of the Palestinian Arab National Movement," Society and Political Structure in the Arab World, 1973, pp. 93-144.
*Stein, Kenneth W. "Palestine's Rural Economy, 1917-1939," Studies in Zionism, Vol. 8, No. 1 (1987), pp. 25-49.
Discussion Theme: The dual obligation and institutional partition
February
15
The
B&K, pp. 68-115.
Khalaf, pp. 45-158.
DP, pp. 55-83.
*
*Shapira, Anita. “Conclusion: The Birth of the State,” Land and Power: The Zionist Resort to Force, 1881-1948 (Oxford University Press, 1992), pp. 353-370, 414-415.
Discussion Theme: Was there a Jewish state in 1939-1945?
February 22
The End of the Mandate, Armistice Negotiations, Israeli Nation-Building, and status of the Palestinian Arab National Movement
Short paper is due
Khalaf, pp. 161-230.
DP, pp. 84-165.
*Khalidi, Rashid. “ The Palestinians and 1948 the underlying causes of failure,” in Eugene L. Rogan and Avi Shlaim (ed.) The War for Palestine Rewriting the History of 1948, (Cambridge University Press), 2001, pp. 12-36.
*Morris, Benny. "Origins of the Palestinian Refugee Problem," in Laurence J. Silberstein (ed.), New Perspectives on Jewish Studies (New York: New York University Press, 1991), pp. 42-56.
*Shapira, Anita, “History, Memory,
and Identity,” in Stuart A. Cohen and Milton Shain, (eds.),
*Teveth, Shabtai. "Charging
*Morris, Benny. “Revisiting the Palestinian
Exodus of 1948,” in Eugene L. Rogan and Avi Shlaim, eds.
The War for
*Shlaim, Avi. "The Debate about 1948," The International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 287-304, 1995.
*Stein, Kenneth W. “One Hundred Years of Social Change: The Creation of the Palestinian Refugee
Problem,” in Laurence J. Silberstein (ed.), New Perspectives on Israeli
History: The Early Years of the State,
Discussion Theme: Historiograhy and the narratives (holocaust, refugees, responsibility, memory)
March
1
Great
Power Interests in the
B&K, pp. 116-159.
Quandt, pp. 1-52.
DP, pp. 166-178.
*Horowitz, Dan. “The Israeli
Concept of National Security,” in A. Yaniv (ed.), National Security and
Democracy in
*Safran, Nadav. "
*Rabinovich, Itamar. "The
Suez-Sinai Campaign: The Regional Dimension, " in S. I. Troen and M.
Shemesh (eds.), The Suez-Sinai Crisis, 1956: Retrospective and Reappraisal
(
Discussion Theme: Open
March
8
Attempted and Failed Diplomacy, 1967-1973
B&K, pp. 160-171.
Quandt, pp. 55-129.
Stein, Heroic Diplomacy, pp. 1-73.
*Ajami, Fouad. "The End of Pan-Arabism," Foreign Affairs
(Winter 1978-1979), pp. 355-373.
Quandt, pp. 55-129.
Discussion Theme: UNSC Resolution 242
March 15
The October 1973 War and its aftermath
Mid-term examination last 90 minutes of class
Stein, Heroic Diplomacy, pp. 74-96.
March
22
Disengagement Agreements to the Egyptian-Israeli Treaty
B&K, pp. 171-209.
Quandt, pp. 130-242.
Stein, Heroic Diplomacy, pp. 97-228.
DP, pp. 179-262.
Theme: How negotiations work.
March 29 Spring break
April
5
The
1980s: The Decade of Not Getting Together: Reagan-Shultz, Shamir, Assad,
Hussein, and Arafat;
B&K, pp. 210-243.
Quandt, pp. 245-318.
DP, pp. 263-297.
*Garfinkle, Adam. "Getting it
Right?
*Stein, Kenneth. "Continuity
and Change in Egyptian-Israeli Relations, 1973-1997,"
Discussion Theme: A look at the 2006 Israeli elections
Paper topic summaries: five minutes each; succinct, grouped discussions;
sources, thesis, and findings (8)
1. 5.
2. 6.
3. 7.
4. 8.
April
12
The
1990s - The Gulf
War, The Madrid Peace Conference: was
B&K, pp. 244-279.
Quandt, pp. 321-378.
Stein, Heroic Diplomacy, pp. 229-268.
DP, pp. 298-396.
*Indyk, Martin. "Peace Without the PLO," Foreign
Policy (Summer 1991), pp. 30-38.
Paper topic summaries: five minutes each; succinct, grouped discussions; sources, thesis, and findings (10)
1. 6.
2. 7.
3. 8.
4. 9.
5 10.
April
19
Intifadah II, Bush administration and the Arab-Israeli Conflict
B&K, pp. 280-312.
Quandt, pp. 379-396.
Stein and Lewis, pp. 8-39.
DP, pp. 397-453.
* Ajami, Fouad. “The Sentry's
Solitude, ” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 80, No. 6
(November/December 2001), pp. 2-17.
*Garfinkle, Adam. "
*Salame, Ghassan. "Inter-Arab Politics: Return of Geography," in William B. Quandt (ed.), The Middle East, Ten Years After Camp David (1988), pp. 319-353.
*Sayigh, Yezid. “Arafat and the Anatomy of a Revolt,” Survival, Volume 43, No. 3 (Autumn 2001), pp. 47-60.
Paper topic summaries: five minutes each; succinct, grouped discussions;
sources, thesis, and findings (10)
1. 6.
2. 7.
3. 8.
4. 9.
5 10.
April
26
Arafat’s Legacy-Sharon’s inheritance
Research papers are due today
DP, pp. 454-end.
Theme: American Foreign Policy toward the conflict and region: compatible?
* Ajami, Fouad. “The Sentry's Solitude, ” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 80, No. 6 (November/December 2001), pp. 2-17.
*Makovsky,
David. “
*Rabe, Hans-Joachim.
*Rhynhold, Jonathan. “
*Samuels, David. “In
a ruined country; how Yasir Arafat destroyed
If you want your research paper returned, please provide a self-addressed stamped envelope when you turn in your paper.
Research Paper topics to be
considered:
Origins and Varieties of Zionism
Emergence of Palestinian Arab nationalism: prospects and
pitfalls
The Economy or Economies of
Palestinian Arab attitudes toward the Zionists and
Zionism, 1940-1949
Zionist Attitudes toward the Arabs in
The Arab Revolt, 1936-1939: Cause and Effects
Intervention of Arab states
in the Palestine Question, 1936-1949
Was a bi-national state viable?
Jewish Paramilitary Organizations in Palestine-Irgun,
Stern Gang
Origins and Development of Palestinian Nationalism- to
1949 or to the present
Political Influence of American Jews on the
Novels and the emergence of modern
Illegal Jewish Immigration to
Partition Controversies 1937 and 1947: a comparison
The
1929-1931 Period: critical turning point in development of the Jewish National
Home
Zionist Influence
on American politics to 1949 or to the present
Islamic influence on Palestinian national identity
American Foreign Policy toward the
The Politics of the Palestinian Arab Refugees: Who, Why,
When, Is there a solution?
Organization
and development of the Jewish community in
Organization and development of the Palestinian community
in
The conflict reflected in Hebrew literature
Palestinian Arab literature and the conflict
The conflict reflected in Arab literature
Economic and social causes for the Palestinian collapse
and Zionist success to 1949
Bunche, Kissinger, Carter, and Baker: a comparative look
at mediators and negotiations
Why the
European politics and a Palestinian-Israeli settlement
Comparing the Arab revolt (1936-39) and the first and
second Palestinian intifadah
The
Ben-Gurion, Begin, Rabin, and
The UN and the conflict: panacea or pain?
A comparisons of international
The Palestinian issue in the minds of the Arab world,
1979-2005
The Palestinian question in inter-Arab politics,
1945-1993
Prospects and problems in Palestinian self-determination
Are there viable alternatives to a two state solution?
Social and economic variables constraining a
Palestinian-Israeli settlement
Ideological diversity in Palestinian nationalism
Demography and the conflict’s future
Making the case for Israel