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COMM 158
REPRESENTATIONS OF THE ISRAELI / PALESTINIAN CONFLICT*
Spring, 2014
Tuesdays / Thursdays 5:00 - 6:20
Warren Lecture Hall, Room 2208
Gary Fields
Office Hours: Wednesday 2:00 – 3:00 or by appt.
Course Description
The conflict between the state of Israel and the people inside and outside of Israel known as Palestinians is arguably the most intractable conflict in the world today. At the core of this conflict lie contrasting visions about the nature and identity of territory in the region, and who rightfully belongs to the land. Such differences about territorial belonging have created divergent narratives about the causes of the conflict, and vigorous debates regarding its perpetrators and victims. At issue in these debates are different interpretations of both present and past, and different understandings of responsibility for the conflict. This course is a critical engagement with these debates, and how these competing discourses reflect different representations of the conflict. In addition, this course seeks to provide students with a rigorous immersion into the nature of argument and issues of “objectivity” and “point of view.” It is intended to give voice to a broad range of perspectives on this conflict, many of which are too often silenced, while challenging students to understand the structure of the arguments at the core of one of the most impassioned issues of our time.
Course Format
This format for the course will be an interactive seminar / lecture. Students will look at the International Section of the New York Times on Tuesdays and Thursdays and take note of any articles on those days dealing with the Israeli / Palestinian conflict. The course is taking place at a potentially decisive moment in the so-called “peace process” and we will be mindful of that fact. Consequently, sessions will begin with a 5-10 minute “news of the day” segment in which students will be invited to share topical events relating to the course material. Questions about previous sessions will follow, to be followed, in turn, by the topic scheduled for that particular day. Occasionally, the class will view a film or video collectively. Due to the politically-charged nature of the material in the course, it is mandatory that participants in the class engage with the class material, with the instructor, and with each other in a respectful manner. Those who are unable to comply with this requirement, or those who have come to the class in order to promote a political agenda related to the conflict, should consider options other than this course.
Course Requirements
Participants are expected to attend all sessions and to complete the readings prior to each session. There will be two written assignments, one a midterm of 5 pages, the second, a final paper of 9-10 pages. There may be one unannounced quiz. Each student will also be responsible for one oral presentation on course material for a session or week. Evaluation will be based on a combination of the two written assignments (75%), the quiz 5%), and class participation which incorporates the oral presentation (20%).
The sessions for the course will be organized as follows:
* Please note that this syllabus is subject to change.
WEEKLY SCHEDULE
Week 1 Prelude to Conflict
4/1 “Objectivity” and Divergent Narratives
Bronner, Ethan (2009). “The Bullets in my In-Box.” New York Times. January 25, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/weekinreview/25bronner.html?pagewanted=print
Gush Shalom (2005). Truth Against Truth: A Completely Different Look at the Israel / Palestinian Conflict [pp. 1-8. http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/downloads/truth/Truth%20Against%20Truth%20-%20English
4/3 Prelude to Conflict
Benin, Joel and Haajar, Lisa (2014). Palestine Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Primer. Washington DC: Middle East Research and Information Project. [pp. 1-3]
http://www.merip.org/sites/default/files/Primer_on_Palestine-Israel%28MERIP_February2014%29final.pdf
Tessler, Mark (2009). A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Bloomington: Indiana University Press [pp. 1-5].
Gelvin, James L. (2005). The Israel Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [pp. 1-13].
Said, Edward (1978). The Question of Palestine. New York: Random House [pp. 3-15].
Week 2 Palestinians, Zionists and the Colonizing Impulse
4/8 Coveting Zion: Anti-Semitism and the Roots of Jewish National Aspirations
Zerubavel, Yael (1995). Recovered Roots: Collective Memory and the Making of Israeli National Tradition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press [13-22].
Shlaim, Avi (2001). The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World. New York: W.W. Norton [1-16]
Smith, Charles (2013). Palestine and the Arab Israeli Conflict. 8th Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins [pp. 28-33].
Herzl, Theodor (1896). The Jewish State (1896); [Read Excerpts from Charles Smith 47-48].
Ha’am, Ahad (1891). “Truth from the Land of Israel.” [Read pp. 154-155, 160-162].
https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/israel_studies/v005/5.2dowty.pdf
4/10 From Coveting to Colonizing: Territorial Ambitions of Zionism and Its Impacts
Smith, Charles (2013). Palestine and the Arab Israeli Conflict. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins [pp. 33-43].
Shafir, Gershon (1996). Zionism and Colonialism: A Comparative Approach.. Israel in Comparative Perspective. Michael N. Barnett, ed. New York: State University of New York Press. [227-242]
Golan, Arnon (2001). “European Imperialism and the Development of Modern Palestine: Was Zionism a Form of Colonialism?” Space and Polity. Vol. 5 (2): 127-143. [Read pp. 130-132, 140-141].
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13562570120104445
Khalidi, Rashid (1995). Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness. New York: Columbia University Press [pp. 96-111].
Magnes, Judah and Buber, Martin (1947). Arab-Jewish Unity. Westport: Hyperion Press [pp. 9-15].
Balfour Declaration (1917). Review drafts and final text of the Balfour Declaration (1917) from Smith, Charles (2013). Palestine and the Arab Israeli Conflict. [pp. 93-94].
Week 3 Independence or Nakba? Debates on 1948 and the Palestinian Refugee Problem
4/15 Reversing Myths: The Revisionist Interpretation of 1948
Ben-Ami, Shlomo (2007). Scars of War, Wounds of Peace: The Israeli-Arab Tragedy. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson [pp. 1-21]. Watch the first 5 minutes of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-FLIBkTg8g
Shlaim, Avi (2001). The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World. New York: W.W. Norton [pp. 16-27].
Rogin, Eugene L. and Shlaim, Avi (2002). The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [1-7 and maps].
Morris, Benny (2002). Revisiting the Palestinian Exodus of 1948. The War for Palestine. Eugene L. Rogan and Avi Shlaim, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [37-59].
Masalha, Nur (1991). “A Critique of Benny Morris,” Journal of Palestine Studies Vol. 21 (1): 90-97.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2537367.pdf
4/17 Landscape: Remapping the Land of Palestine after 1948
Benvenisti, Meron (2000). Sacred Landscape. The Buried History of the Holy Land Since 1948. Berkeley: University of California Press [pp. 1-9, 11-14, 20-27, 37-46, 229-233].
First Assignment Distributed
Week 4 The Only Democracy in the Middle East? Citizenship and the Israeli State
4/22 Jewish and Democratic? Citizenship in Israel
Forman, Geremy and Kedar, Alexandre (2004). “From Arab Land to ‘Israeli Lands’: The Legal Dispossession of Palestinians Displaced by Israel in the Wake of 1948.” Environment and Planning D. Volume 22 (6): 809-830.
http://www.envplan.com/epd/fulltext/d22/d402.pdf
Shafir, Gershon and Peled, Yoav (2002). Being Israeli: The Dynamics of Multiple Citizenship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [pp. 110-136; Read electronic version on UCSD library website]
4/24 The “Ethnocratic” State: Separation, Difference and Debate over “Apartheid”
Peteet, Julie (2009). “Beyond Compare.” Middle East Report. No. 253. Vol. 39 (4): pp. 16-25.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/27735324.pdf
Munear, Yousef (2012). “Not all Israeli Citizens are Equal.” New York Times. (May 23, 2012).
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/24/opinion/not-all-israeli-citizens-are-equal.html?_r=2&
Goodman, Hirsch (January 31, 2014). “Losing the Propaganda War.” New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/01/opinion/sunday/how-israel-is-losing-the-propaganda-war.html?_r=0
Levy, Gideon (October 23, 2012). “Most Israeli Jews Wouldn’t give Palestinians vote if West Bank was annexed.” Haaretz.
Week 5 Lords of the Landscape: Law, Occupation, and Settlement
4/29 Realizing Zion: The Legal Foundations of Israeli Settlement Beyond Israel
Film: The Law in these Parts
Gorenberg, Gershom (2007). Occupied Territories: The Untold Story of Israel’s Settlements. London: I.B Tauris. [34-41, 48-53, 99-107].
Hajjar, Lisa (2005). Courting Conflict: The Israeli Military Court System in the West Bank and Gaza. Berkeley: University of California Press. [53-56, 58-64].
Halper, Jeff (2006). The 94 Percent Solution: Israel’s Matrix of Control. Middle East Report. No. 216.
http://www.merip.org/mer/mer216/94-percent-solution
B’tselem (2002). Land Grab: Israel’s Policy of Settlement in the West Bank. [pp. 7-8, 11-19, 37-41, 47-51, 91-116]. http://www.btselem.org/Download/200205_Land_Grab_eng.pdf
Gorali, Moshe (2003). “Legality is in the Eye of the Beholder.” Haaretz.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/business/legality-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder-1.101181
5/1 Settlers and Settlements: Occupation on the Ground
Weizman, Eyal (2007). Hollow Land: Israel’s Architecture of Occupation. London: Verso [87-108, 122-133].
Shehadeh, Raja (2008). Palestinian Walks: Forays into a Vanishing Landscape. New York: Scribner [“Introduction” and “Walk 2”]. http://www.profilebooks.co.uk/title.php?titleissue_id=450
See also the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDMPt0Bn-T0&NR=1
Goldberg, Jeffrey (2004). “Among the Settlers: Will They Destroy Israel.” The New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/05/31/040531fa_fact2_a?printable=true Levy, Gideon (October 23, 2012). “Most Israeli Jews Wouldn’t give Palestinians vote if West Bank was annexed.” Haaretz.
Dunsky, Marda (2008). Pens and Swords: How the American Media Report the Israeli Palestinian Conflict. New York: Columbia University Press [pp. 129-132, 149-158]]
Week 6 Terrorism and Conflict
5/6 Is it Possible to Understand Terrorism?
Film: Paradise Now
Beinin, Joel (2003). “Is Terrorism a Useful Term in Understanding the Middle East and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict?” Radical History Review no. 85 (winter 2003): 12-23. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/radical_history_review/v085/85.1beinin.pdf
Ben Ami, Shlomo, and Finkelstein. Debate on Terrorism, Torture and Human Rights.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5cYaCWfWNY&feature=related [Pt. 4; Begin watching at 8:15 and continue with parts 5 & 6] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQUXuixbYdU&NR=1 [Pt. 5]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEa8JBlCnx8&feature=related [Pt. 6]
Allen, Lori (2002). “There are Many Reasons Why: Suicide Bombers and Martyrs in Palestine” Middle East Report. No. 223 (Summer 2002), pp. 34-37. http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/1559462.pdf?acceptTC=true
Haas, Amira (April 1, 2013). “Israeli Crackdown on Palestinian Mobility Began Well Before Suicide Bombings.”
Haaretz. http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/passover/israeli-crackdown-on-palestinian-mobility-began-well-before-suicide-bombings.premium-1.512752
5/8 The Wall: Response to Terrorism and Resistance?
Film: Budrus
Netanyahu, Benjamin, (2004). “Why Israel Needs a Fence.” New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/13/opinion/why-israel-needs-a-fence.html
Israeli Ministry of Defense (2007). [View the video and the various aspects on the website]
http://www.securityfence.mod.gov.il/pages/eng/default.htm
United Nations (2008). The Humanitarian Impact of the West Bank Barrier [pp. 4-8, 14-22].
http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/Barrier_Report_July_2008.pdf
“The Fence.” 60 Minutes (December 21, 2003).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nmsPCMz_P8&NR=1
Carter, Jimmy (2006). The Wall as a Prison. Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. New York: Simon and Shuster. [pp. 189-216].
Week 7 The U.S. and the “Peace Process:” What Went Wrong?
5/13 Peace: Mantras, Mythology, and Media Representations
Reinhart, Tanya (2002). Israel / Palestine: How to End the War of 1948. New York: Seven Stories Press [pp. 21-60].
Malley, Robert and Agha, Hussein (August 9, 2001). Camp David: The Tragedy of Errors. New York Review of Books. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2001/aug/09/camp-david-the-tragedy-of-errors/?page=1
Ben-Ami, Shlomo and Finkelstein, Norman (2007). Debate on Peace Process
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-FLIBkTg8g [Pt. 1]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbDMam_jGVk&feature=related [Pt. 2]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_j2XH4tOK4&feature=related [Pt. 3]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5cYaCWfWNY&feature=related [Pt. 4]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQUXuixbYdU&NR=1 [Pt. 5]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEa8JBlCnx8&feature=related [Pt. 6]
Dunsky, Marda (2008). Pens and Swords: How the American Media Report the Israeli Palestinian Conflict. New York: Columbia University Press [pp. 66-70, 113-128]
5/15 Peace Process (cont’d): The Controversy over the Israel Lobby
Khalidi, Rashid (2004). The United States and Palestine. Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America’s Perilous Path in the Middle East. Boston: Beacon Press [pp. 118-151].
Mersheimer, John and Walt, Stephen (2006). “The Israel Lobby.” London Review of Books.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html
Massing, Michael (2006). “The Storm over the Israel Lobby.” New York Review of Books. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19062
Netanyahu, Benjamin (May 24, 2011). Speech Before U.S. Joint Session of Congress.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BaMLlnb_KI [What is he saying at 23:40 and after and especially 33:30?]
Week 8 Gaza: Epicenter of the Conflict
5/20 Prelude to Conflict in Gaza
Roy, Sara (2007). Failing Peace: Gaza and the Palestinian / Israeli Conflict. London: Pluto Press. [294-321].
Usher, Graham (1995). “What Kind of Nation? The Rise of Hamas in the Occupied Territories.” Race and Class. Vol. 37 (2): 65-80. http://rac.sagepub.com/content/37/2/65.full.pdf+html
Charter of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) (1988). http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2538093.pdf
5/22 Operation Cast Lead and Debate over the Goldstone Report
Wright, Lawrence (November 9, 2009). “Captives: What Really Happened During the Israeli Attacks.” New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/11/09/091109fa_fact_wright?currentPage=all
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2010). Gaza: The Israeli Perspective
http://www.mfa.gov.il/GazaFacts/FAQ/Background/israel-gaza-faq-the-background.htm
United Nations (2009). Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict [Read Executive Summary, pp. 1-38] http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/docs/UNFFMGC_Report.pdf
Goldstone, Richard (2009). Interview on Bill Moyers Journal. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10232009/watch.html
Goldstone, Richard, (2011). “Reconsidering the Goldstone Report on Israel and War Crimes.” Washington Post.
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-04-01/opinions/35207016_1_drone-image-goldstone-report-israeli-evidence
Horowitz, Adam et al., (April 14, 2011). “The Goldstone Affair.” The Nation. http://www.thenation.com/article/159952/goldstone-affair#
Eldar, Akiva (2011). “What Exactly Did Goldstone Retract From his Report on Gaza?” Haaretz (April 12, 2011). http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/what-exactly-did-goldstone-retract-from-his-report-on-gaza-1.355454
Week 9 Can the Conflict End?
5/27 Two States for Two People? Or One state for All?
Video: “Is Peace out of Reach?” 60 Minutes Broadcast January 25, 2009.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7XtT91yO6g
Judt, Tony (2003). “Israel: The Alternative.” New York Review of Books. Vol. 50 (16).
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16671
Ibish, Hussein (2009). What’s Wrong with the One-State Agenda? Why Ending the Occupation and Peace with Israel is Still the Palestinian National Goal. Washington: American Task Force on Palestine. [pp. 16-51, 61-72, 76-103]. http://www.americantaskforce.org/sites/default/files/HusseinBook(SinglrPages)2.pdf
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2007). Two States for Two People http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/The+Israel-Palestinian+peace+process+Two-state+vision.htm
5/29 Boycott! The Conflict Comes Home
Guest Speaker: Curtis Marez, UCSD Department of Ethnic Studies / President, American Studies Assn.
BDS Movement Call (July 9, 2005). http://www.bdsmovement.net/call
Barghouti, Omar (2012). The Cultural Boycott: Israel Vs. South Africa. The Case for Sanctions Against Israel. Andrea Lim, ed. London: Verso [pp. 25-38].
Gordon, Neve (2009). “Boycott Israel.” Los Angeles Times. August 20, 2009
http://articles.latimes.com/print/2009/aug/20/opinion/oe-gordon20
Schmidt, Peter (January 5, 2014). “Backlash Against Israel Boycott Throws Academic Association on Defensive.”
New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/06/us/backlash-against-israel-boycott-throws-academic-association-on-defensive.html
Summers, Larry (2013). Interview with Charlies Rose on ASA Vote. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW__sylpHJM
Bisharat, George (January 30, 2014). “Applause for the Academic Boycott of Israel. Chicago Tribune.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-01-30/opinion/ct-academic-boycott-of-israel-oped-0130-20140130_1_academic-boycott-double-standard-israeli-academic-institutions
Week 10 The Arab Spring and Israel / Palestine: What Future?
6/3 Upheaval in The Arab World and the Israeli / Palestinian Conflict
Guest Speaker: Professor Farid Abdul Nour, SDSU Department of Political Science
6/5 Final Thoughts
Websites of Interest