新高中歷史學與教策略﹕蔡茹茵老師
Major conflicts after WWII and attempts to make peace
Conflicts between Israel and the Arabs
By TSOI Yu-yan
YWCA Hioe Tjo Yoeng College
I.
Background
(a) The topic will be covered in the first term of Secondary Five.
(b) There are 40 students who have had a basic understanding of the definition of nationalism in
Secondary Four.
(c) Each lesson lasts for 35 minutes. There may be single or double lessons.
(d) There are differences in learning abilities within the class. The higher achievers are better in
data comprehension and analysis, and English proficiency. It will be more difficult for the
lower achievers in the study of such a rich and complicated topic.
(e) Both approaches of direct instruction by teachers and enquiry by students will be adopted.
Strategies such as source-based learning and reading to learn will be used.
II. Teaching targets
(a) Knowledge acquired
(i) By the end of the lessons, students will be able to explain the different reasons for the
conflicts between Israel and the Arabs, describe the development of these conflicts in
the second half of the 20th century, and assess the role played by the United Nations in
settling them.
(ii) Students will be able to tell the impacts of the rise and development of nationalism.
(iii) It is hoped that students will learn to appreciate the efforts made by the powers and the
United Nations to promote peace in the Middle East.
(iv) Teacher may further enhance the higher achievers’ understanding of the relative
importance of the causes of and the share of responsibilities for these conflicts.
(b) Skills attained
(i) Students will be able to use historical sources, accounts and arguments to analyze the
cause-and-effect relationship between events that made up the history of Arab-Israeli
conflicts.
(ii) Students will learn how to interpret the conflicts through the concept of change and
continuity, to analyze different interpretations and to respect others’ opinions, and to
build one’s argument.
(iii) Students’ ability to comprehend and analyze data can also be enhanced.
(iv) It is expected that students will be able to develop learning skills such as identification,
association, comprehension, inference, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
(v) Other generic skills such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking and problem
solving skills can also be developed.
Arab-Israeli Conflicts / Page 1 of 9
新高中歷史學與教策略﹕蔡茹茵老師
III. Teaching strategies
(a) Reasons for the unstable conditions of the Middle East
(1-2 periods)
(i) Assign individual or pair work in class to finish Task 1.
(ii) Teacher has to try to enable students to acquire the techniques that can help them read
Sources A to D with understanding, locate and use information.
(iii) Students present their ideas.
(iv) Teacher concludes the reasons why the Middle East always draws the world’s attention.
(v) Note: teacher should remind students that the sources show recent figures and
situations.
(b) Origins of the conflicts between Israel and the Arabs (1 period)
(i) Adopt the “think-pair-share” method.
Ask each student to think silently about the question in Task 2.

Then ask students to pair up and exchange thoughts.

The pairs then share their responses with other pairs or with the whole class.

Finally, teacher draws a conclusion of the validity of the claims on the land.
(ii) Teacher has to facilitate students to see the issue from a wider and different perspective.
(c) Development of the Arab-Israeli conflicts (3 periods)
(i) Ask students to form groups of five (i.e. the base group), each member being assigned
the roles of the Arabs, Israelis, two foreign countries and the UN officials respectively.
(ii) Ask students to read and try to understand the course of the five Arab-Israeli wars with
the help of the textbook.

(iii) Then group students together by the roles assigned to them, forming the expert group.

Students then find out the attitudes they had, actions taken, reasons behind and
effects brought about.
(iv) Students then move back to their base group.

They take turns to present the ideas and make up ‘the whole story’.

Fill out the table in Task 3.
(v) Teacher concludes the roles of different identities in causing or mediating the Arab-Israeli
conflicts.
(d) Responsibilities for the Arab-Israeli conflicts (3 periods)
(i) Divide the class into three groups: two opposing teams and a team of adjudicators.
(ii) Teacher explains the procedures and rules of debate.
(iii) Students learn to take different roles in the group, collect data and prepare for the class
debate.
(iv) Adjudicators give comments.
(v) Teacher makes conclusion.
Arab-Israeli Conflicts / Page 2 of 9
新高中歷史學與教策略﹕蔡茹茵老師
Task 1: Why is the Middle East so unstable?
With reference to the following sources, and using your own knowledge, explain why the
Middle East posed a threat to world peace.
(The sources are extracted from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7375994.stm)
SOURCE A
Israel in 2008
SOURCE B
Religions in Israel in 1947 and 2007
Arab-Israeli Conflicts / Page 3 of 9
新高中歷史學與教策略﹕蔡茹茵老師
SOURCE C
Fatalities from 29 Sep 2000 to 31 Mar 2008 intifada
SOURCE D
Palestinian refugees in Dec 2006
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Arab-Israeli Conflicts / Page 4 of 9
新高中歷史學與教策略﹕蔡茹茵老師
Task 2: Origins of the conflicts between Israel and the Arabs
Who should have the claim on the land, the Arabs or the Israelis? Explain your answer
with reference to the table below and the information in your textbook.
Year
Major Event
10th century BC
The Jews set up their Kingdom of Israel in Canaan.
6th century BC
The Kingdom of Israel collapsed.
1st-2nd centuries AD
The Jews were ruled by the Romans and most of them were expelled from
Palestine. Since then they wandered, were persecuted and discriminated
against.
7th century
The Arabs moved into Palestine and regarded Palestine as their homeland.
1518
The Ottoman Empire occupied Palestine.
19th-20th centuries
The Arabs living in Palestine wanted to expel the Turks. The Jews who
had been driven out hoped to return to their homeland (the Zionist
Movement).
1914
The British fought against the Turks during the First World War and wanted
help from the Arabs and the Jews.
1917
The Balfour Declaration (The British government supported the Jews to build
up their own country in Palestine.)
1919
The Turks were defeated in WWI, and Palestine became a mandate of
Britain.
The 1930s-1940s
Many Jews in Europe and other parts of the world migrated to Palestine due
to Hitler’s anti-Jewish policy.
1947
The United Nations suggested dividing Palestine into Arab and Jewish
states.
May 14, 1948
Despite the opposition from both sides and the intensified Arab-Israeli
conflicts, the Jews proclaimed the Republic of Israel. Ben Gurion became
the first prime minister.
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Arab-Israeli Conflicts / Page 5 of 9
新高中歷史學與教策略﹕蔡茹茵老師
Task 3 Development of the Arab-Israeli conflicts
Fill in the table below.
Palestinian War
(1948-49)
Suez Crisis
(1956-57)
Six Day War
(1967)
Yom Kippur War
(1973)
Israeli invasion of
Lebanon (1982)
How the rise of
nationalism led to
wars?
How the founding
and expansion of
Israel caused
conflicts?
How the
sympathy for the
Palestinians
resulted in wars?
How the powers’
interests
complicated the
problem?
Why there was
foreign
intervention?
What roles the
powers and the UN
played in settling
the conflicts?
Who won all the
five wars?
Why?
In what ways
their conflicts
threatened world
peace?
Arab-Israeli Conflicts / Page 6 of 9
新高中歷史學與教策略﹕蔡茹茵老師
Task 4 Responsibilities for the Arab-Israeli conflicts
Conduct a debate on the responsibilities for the conflicts between the Arabs and the Israelis.
Motion: “Israel had the greater share of responsibility for the Arab-Israeli conflicts.”
Arab-Israeli Conflicts / Page 7 of 9
新高中歷史學與教策略﹕蔡茹茵老師
Suggested answers
Task 1

The territorial conflicts in the Middle East posed a threat to world peace. Source A
shows that Israel was surrounded by five Arab states, namely Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria
and Lebanon. They refused to recognize the new Israeli state established in 1948,
thus leading to five Arab-Israeli wars up to 1982.

Religious dispute shown in Source B was another reason. In the period 1947-2007,
more and more Jews moved into Israel(from 33.2% to 75.8%) while the number of
Muslims decreased (from 58% to 16.5%).
Together with Christians, there were
frequent conflicts between Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Since the end of the Second World War, the Zionist Movement of the Jews who wanted
to re-build their own country began to develop rapidly.
They came into conflicts with
the Arabs as the latter also strove for a strong Arab state.

Despite the attempts made by the international organizations such as the United
Nations in the 20th century, Arab-Israeli conflicts continued to cause serious fatalities
from 2000 to 2008 as shown in Source C.

Source D shows the problem of Palestinian refugees which was resulted from the Israeli
War of Independence.
Israel occupied a large part of Palestine and forbade the
Palestinians to return to their homes.
Up to Dec 2006 there were a total number of
4,448,429 refugees in regions including Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and Gaza
Strip.

In addition, the Middle East is rich in oil resources, which is one of the most important
energy in today’s world. The Middle East became the most important oil-supplying
region as some large oil fields were discovered after the Second World War.
The
political instability of the region will have great impact on the global economy.
Task 2
Israelis

Arabs
It was the Jews who first set up their

th
Though the Jews set up their kingdom
kingdom in the region in the 10
in the region first, the kingdom
century
collapsed early in the 6th century BC.
BC.
They
considered
Palestine their homeland.

Since then they even settled down in
other areas of the world.

The Jews returned to their ‘promised

The Arabs moved into Palestine early
land’, Canaan (present-day Palestine),
in the 7th century BC after the collapse
granted by God as stated in the Bible
of the Kingdom of Israel. They ruled a
to re-establish their own country.
huge empire which extended from
Spain to India.
So, they regarded
Palestine as their homeland.
Arab-Israeli Conflicts / Page 8 of 9
新高中歷史學與教策略﹕蔡茹茵老師
Task 3
Palestinian War
(1948-49)
How the rise of
nationalism led to
wars?
How the founding
and expansion of
Israel caused
conflicts?
How the
sympathy for the
Palestinians
resulted in wars?
complicated the
Egypt and Syria
The PLO adopted
nationalism
refugees wanted
Arabs set up the
wanted to get
guerrilla warfare
(al-Fatat)
to take revenge
PLO in 1964.
back the land
and took terrorist
they had lost.
action.
on Israel.
The Jews created
the state of Israel
in May 1948.
They drove the
Arabs back and in
Feb 1949, they
gained more land
than the UN plan.
The UN suggested
dividing Palestine
into Jewish and
Arab states in
1947
Israel entered
Israel invaded
Egypt and
Egypt, captured
occupied Sinai
Gaza Strip and
Peninsula.
Sinai Peninsula.
/
Nassar (Egypt)
/
five wars?
Why?
In what ways
their conflicts
threatened world
peace?
/
The US and the
Israel.
military support
 The USSR
to Israel and the
interests of Br &
supported the
Arabs
Fr. They then
Arab states.
respectively.
/
/
joined with Israel
The UN arranged
a ceasefire and
stationed a
peacekeeping
force.
Who won all the
 Br, Fr and the
/
Suez Canal which
What roles the
the conflicts?
/
USSR gave
to attack Egypt.
/
invaded Lebanon.
/
US supported
affected the
/
The Israeli forces
nationalized the
intervention?
played in settling
Israeli invasion of
Lebanon (1982)
The Palestinian
Why there was
powers and the UN
Yom Kippur War
(1973)
Many Palestinian
problem?
foreign
Six Day War
(1967)
Zionism Vs Arab
How the powers’
interests
Suez Crisis
(1956-57)
Br, Fr and the US
The UN (US and
International
arranged a
USSR) arranged a
pressure forced
ceasefire.
ceasefire.
Israel to withdraw
from Lebanon.
 Israel won all the five wars.
 They were militarily superior (well-equipped due to Western aid, good strategy, fought fiercely).
 They had higher education level (higher literacy, more well-educated.
 They were economically more well off.
 There were five major wars fighting for several years which caused great damage and casualties.
 There was also the involvement of the great powers.
 Since the oil supplies might be cut off in case of the wars between the Arabs and the Jews, the great
powers might intervene. Their conflicts became more complicated.
 The terrorism used by the Palestinians posed a serious threat to Israel, and those Western countries
that backed Israel.
Task 4 Free response.
Arab-Israeli Conflicts / Page 9 of 9