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PS102
Israel-Palestine Fall 05
“Topics of Emphasis” from the text: A Concise History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Bickerton and Klausner
Introduction
 “Arab-Israeli Conflict” vs “Palestinian-Israeli Conflict”
 Who are the Arabs and Jews?
 Anti-semitism, Orientalism
 Judaism and Islam: contrasts and commonalties
 Shia and Shiites
 Jihad
Chapter 1
 Palestine under the Ottoman Empire
 The Arabs of Palestine
 “village patriotism”
 Eretz Israel
 Jews in 19th Century Palestine
 Modern Zionism
 “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”
 Herzl, the Dreyfus Affair, the Zionist Congress, the Jewish National Fund, Baron Rothschild
 Secularism
 Jews and Arabs in Palestine prior to World War I
 Document 1-3 Herzl
 Document 1-4 The Basel Declaration
Chapter 2
 The Hussein-McMahon Correspondence
 The Sykes-Picot Agreement
 The Balfour Declaration
 Postwar Settlement
 The British and French Mandates
 Jews, Arabs and the Mandate
 The Arab Rebellion 1936-39
 Peel Commission Report
 The 1939 White Paper
 Document 2-5, British support for Zionism
 Document 2-10, Peel Commission Proposes Partition
 Document 2-11, 1939 White Paper
Chapter 3
 “gun Zionism”
 displaced persons and Palestine
 postwar British and American policy
 Palestine and the UN
 UNSCOP
 Plans for Partition (UNGA resolution 181)
 Arab and Jewish response to the partition plan
 Document 3-5
Chapter 4
 Who was David Ben-Gurion?
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Declaration of the state of Israel
The 1948 war (following the UN partition plan)
Chapter 5
 the 1956 war
 Why did it happen?
 Who was involved?
 What was the US role?
 What were the results?
 Nasser
Chapter 6
 The US and Soviet roles in the Middle East in the 1950s
 Eisenhower Doctrine
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The rise of the Palestinian organizations in the 1960s (PLO and Fatah)
 The 1967 war
 Why did it happen?
 Who was involved?
 What was the US role?
 What were the results?
 UN Resolution 242 (Document 6-3)
Chapter 7
 “no peace, no recognition, no negotiations”
 The PLO after 1967 (strongest parties, most radical parties)
 Arafat
 PLO and King Hussein
 Rogers Plan
 Sadat
 His relationship with Moscow
 His priorities concerning Israel
 The 1973 war
 Why did it happen?
 Who was involved?
 What was the US role?
 What were the results?
 Arab oil embargo
 Document 7-1 PN Covenant
 Document 7-2 UNSC Resolution 338
Chapter 8
 Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy
 West Bank and Gaza
 Camp David Accords
 Documents 8-4, 8-5 re: Camp David
 Document 8-6 Likud’s stance on the settlements
Chapter 9
 Israeli invasion of Lebanon
 Why did Israel do this?
 How did this “war” end?
 What were the consequences of this invasion?
 The role of the American Jewish Lobby: AIPAC
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the Intifada: When and why did it start?
Chapter 10
 The impact of the Gulf War on the Arab-Israeli situation
 The Madrid Peace Conference: participants, goals, successes, failures
 Hamas threat to the PLO
 September 1993 Israeli-PLO Accord (the start of the “Oslo peace process”)
 the Declaration of Principles
 The exchange of letters: Documents 10-3, 10-4
 The Declaration of Principles in Document 10-8
Chapter 11
 Peace between Jordan and Israel
 Oslo process (continued)
 Rabin’s assassination
 Arafat and the Islamists
 Netanyahu’s victory (why did the Israelis “shift” from Rabin’s peace movement to Netanyahu’s hard line?)
Chapter 12
 The al-Aqsa Intifada
 Sharon’s election
Conclusion
 “Outstanding issues in the conflict”
Additional issues to study for Part 1 of the final exam (which may or may not be covered in the book)
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All maps from the late 1800s to today. You will have to explain the historical context of the maps and
identify areas on the maps.
The settlements: Why are they the source of so much tension? Why have the Israelis continued to build
them? How many settlements have been built and when were they built? (I only expect very rough
numbers.)
You must understand the role of the city of Jerusalem in the Arab-Israeli conflict: the changing maps, the
various arguments, the city’s changing status, etc.
The Oslo peace process: What was agreed upon? Why did the Oslo Accords fail?
The Road Map to peace: What are the goals? Have they been met? What have been the main obstacles?
Why did Bush get involved in this peace process?
Why is the US so tightly allied with Israel?
Finally, anything that we discussed in class can be used as exam material.