NEJS 145A
History of the State of Israel
Spring 2017
Prof. Rachel Fish
Class Meetings: Monday, Wednesday and Thursday: 9:00-9:50 AM
Room: Mandel Center for the Humanities, Schusterman Center for Israel Studies Conference Room
Email:
Office hours: Thursday 12-2 PM, and by appointmentin Schusterman Center for Israel studies located in the Mandel Center for Humanities, 3rd floor, Office # 316
Course Description:
We will examine the historical background to the establishment of Israel from the founding of the first colonies at the end of the nineteenth century through the Oslo Accords of 1994 and to an assessment of the present moment. We will use a variety of approaches utilizing methods and materials based in political, cultural and social history.
The readings include a rich and diverse mix of primary sources such as official documents and private diaries as well as key scholarly articles, short stories, music and films. There is a text that provides background information for much of the course. Detailed information on the readings and other materials will be found in the syllabus.
Note that many of the articles are intended as recommendations for undergraduate. If a student is interested in pursuing a topic deeper, the syllabus may offer a reasonable starting point for that inquiry. Graduate students will have some additional readings and requirements. Details will be provided on the syllabus and in class.
Requirements and Evaluation:
Class attendance is required.
Composition of Grade:
1. Three posts in LATTE on readings throughout the course.
(one on a primary source, one on a secondary reading, one on an artistic creation from a film or Hebrew literature. Due by February 27, March 30, April 27. Between 4-6 paragraphs for each post.) 30 points
2. An in class presentation presenting the themes of the readings and raising relevant questions about the topic and the arguments presented by the authors. 20 points
3. In-Class Midterm Wednesday, March 9 20 points
4. Final Exam- Take home 30 points
n.b.: I will meet with graduate students separately to discuss possibilities for adapting the course for their needs.
Student Responses: Throughout the course students will be asked to respond to ideas, questions, statements, and readings on the course LATTE site. Students must post three times during the course. These posts are meant to serve as a tool that allows for academic inquiry and self-reflection. Some of these responses will be shared during class participation.
I will review all of the posts and they will be graded according to the rubric guide explanation on page 3 of the syllabus.
How to ask good questions (for LATTE posts):
- What is the author’s mainargument(s)? Do you see a hole in his/her logic, an inconsistency in his/her reasoning?
- What evidence does the author use to make his/her argument? Think about the kinds of sources employed (personal experiences, scientific studies, books, scholarly journals, popular news articles, interviews, artwork, films, etc.). Do you find these convincing, what other sources would convince you? What different sources might contradict the argument here?
- What perspective does the author represent? Does the text reflect just one perspective or are alternative voices included or otherwise considered? Always ask, who would disagree with this? Why?
- Consider the writing style of the text, such as voice, word choice, and tone. Who is the intended audience? Does the writing style add to or detract from the argument, point to specifics.
- How does this text compare to others with which you are familiar? What new material is presented, what is left out, and why is this important?
LATTE Post Grading Rubric:
Out of 10 possible points
0 points = No posting
5 points = The student completed the assignment, but the intellectual quality of the comment is very low. The student has misunderstood the assigned readings and the posted comment is essentially incorrect or so vague as to be potentially made up without having done the reading.
6 points = The student has exhibited a minimum effort to complete the assignment. Questions or comments suggest that the student did not read carefully enough to understand what the assigned reading was saying. Comments are not quite accurate and very short.
7 points = The student is on the right track. He or she clearly understands the reading. At the same time, the student exhibits a surface level engagement by summarizing or commenting on the most obvious parts of the text.
8 points = The student has clearly understood the assigned reading and made an interesting comment about it. There is evidence that the student is beginning to think about connections between this text and other important ideas.
9 points = The student has clearly understood the reading and offers critical, insightful comments on the reading. He or she has captured a truly significant component of the central argument, or a main shortcoming in the author’s logic or evidence. The student makes a powerful connection between the text he or she is commenting on and other texts or ideas discussed in class or found on-line. Post is well written and engaging.
10 points = The student demonstrates a mastery of the assigned text and offers a comment or question that pushes the rest of the class to consider something new about this text. The student makes a direct connection between the assigned reading and another text in a way that tells us something new about one or both texts. The student clearly understands not only a selected quote or small component of the overall text, but also clearly understands the argument the text is making and why this text is significant in the overall history we are discussing. The student has taken the time to fully develop his or her thoughts in a clear, but concise writing style that effectively conveys the student’s rigorous thinking.
Adapted from Dr. Zoe Burkholder, Montclair State University
How to Post Weekly Responses in LATTE
Many people like to compose their forum posts, labels, and other text-heavy entries in Microsoft Word or other word processing program. Benefits to composing in a word processing program:
- Superior Grammar and Spell Check capabilities
- Ability to save a draft
- No risk of a dropped connection during composition
However, on many platforms,the word processor’s formatting code will be copied over and can create errors and other complications. Word formatting code is incompatible with the LATTE formatting code.This incompatibility has been known to corrupt courses, causing sections to disappear and other unusual behavior. If you have composed your labels in Word, you may experience difficulty importing from past courses or other losses of functionality.
Solution to Remove Unwanted Formatting Code
Step 1:Type your post in the word processing program (e.g. MS Word), regularly saving your work.
Step 2:Perform Spelling and Grammar Check.
Step 3:Open a plain text editor (e.g. WordPad (PC), Notepad (PC), TextEdit (Mac)).
Step 4:Copy the text in the word processing program and paste it into the plain text editor. The plain text editor will strip the word processor's formatting from the text.
Step 5:Copy the text from the plain text editor and paste it into the LATTE window.
Step 6:Apply any text formatting (font color, bold, italics, etc.) in the LATTE window.
Note: The LATTE editor (not visible in Safari) has a "Clean Word HTML" button. However, this button does not work reliably. Use the solution detailed above.
Course Website:
You must regularly check the course website for further information on requirements and for downloading of required and optional reading materials.
Syllabus:
1. Wed. Jan 18:Introduction to the course. Review of syllabus. Student introductions and profiles. Israeli History evaluative assessment.
Thur. Jan. 19: Introduction to Zionism: European Background. Begin with a reading of Israel’s Declaration of Independence and place it in historical perspective. We will then proceed to sketch of the variety Zionist ideologies and the conflicts between them.
Readings:
- Rabinovich and Reinharz [R&R], Declarations and Charters:
# 22 Proclamation of the State of Israel (May 14, 1948);
# 68: Palestine Liberation Organization: The Palestine National Charter
# 117: Hamas: The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement
-Basic Zionist documents:
- Leo Pinsker: Auto-Emancipation (1882) [R&R #2 ]
- The Bilu: Manifesto (1882) [R&R # 1]
2. Mon. Jan 23: Varieties of Jewish nationalism and anti-nationalism:
Readings: “The Emergence of Zionism; A Secular and Humanist Narrative,” Jacob Lassner and S. Ilan Troen, Jews and Muslims in the Arab World; Haunted by Pasts Real and Imagined (2007), chapter 9 [will be placed via LATTE on the course website]
Documents:
- R&R # 3, 4, 5, 18
- Max Nordau: Jewry of Muscle [on website]
- The Mizrahi: Manifesto [on website]
- Agudat Israel: Founding Program [on website]
- Ha-Shomer Ha-Zair: Our World View [on website]
Wed. Jan 25 and Thur. 26:Strategies in building the Yishuv: Zionist colonization compared with European colonialism
Readings: Ilan Troen, Imagining Zion, ch. 1,2, 3, 7
Documents: R&R # 6; and Appendices 5 and 6.
Articles:
- Shafir, Gershon, "Zionism and colonialism: a comparative approach," in Ilan Pappe,
ed., The Israel/Palestine Question Rewriting Histories (London, 1999), pp. 81-96. [required]
- Aaronsohn, Ran, “Settlement in Eretz Israel - A Colonialist Enterprise?
"Critical" Scholarship and Historical Geography” Israel Studies (1.2, Fall 1996) [recommended]
- Adam M. Garfinkle, "On the Origin, Meaning, Use and Abuse of a Phrase," Middle
East Studies, 27:4 (October 1991) 539-550. [recommended]
Film: Avodah (directed by H. Lerski, 1935) and/or They were Ten (1961)
4. Mon. Jan. 30:The Yishuv in the Mandate: prologue to state-building
Readings: Ilan Troen, Imagining Zion, ch.: 2 – 6
R&R # 7 – 10 and Appendices 5 and 6
Wed. Feb 1 and Thur. Feb. 2:The beginnings of the Arab/Jewish conflict
Readings: Ilan Troen, Imagining Zion, ch. 4
Documents: R&R # 11-16, 18, 19
On website:
- Ha-Shomer Ha-Zair: The Case for a Bi-National Palestine
- Moshe Shertok (Sharett): Bi-Nationalism is Unworkable
Articles:
- Martin Buber, in A. Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea, pp. 450-466.
- Dowty, Alan, "A Question That Outweighs All Others": Yitzhak Epstein and Zionist Recognition of the Arab Issue,” Israel Studies (6.2, Spring 2001)
- Lustick, Ian, “To Build and To Be Built By: Israel and the Hidden Logic of the Iron
Wall,” Israel Studies (1.1, Spring 1996) [required]
Film: "What I Saw in Hebron" (Israel, 1999, 73 minutes, B&W and color; Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles; Israel Film Service, director: Hoit and Dan Geva)
5. Mon. Feb 6:The War of Independence: Part I: in fact and myth (The conduct of the war and the origins of the refugee problems – Arab and Jewish)
Readings:
Documents: R&R # 22 – 26, # 140
On website:
- Benny Morris, 1948: The First Arab-Israeli War (New Haven, 2008), Chapter 4;
[required]
- T. Friling and S. Ilan Troen: Proclaiming Independence; 5 Days in May
from Ben-Gurion's Diary [required]
- David Ben-Gurion: From the Diary – Why a woman (Golda Meir) had to become a
member of the Jewish People's first independent Government after 2,000 years
- David Ben-Gurion: From the Diary – Visit to Haifa; Reflections on why the Arabs left
Articles:-
- Avi Shlaim, "The Debate about 1948," in Ilan Pappe, ed., The Israel/Palestine
Question: Rewriting Histories (London, 1999), pp. 171-192.[required]
- Yehoshua Porath, "War and Remembrance; a review of Rogan and Shlaim's The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948," Azure, 13 (Summer 2002), 201-12.
[required]
- Yoav Gelber, “The Israeli-Arab War of 1948: History versus Narratives,” in Mordechai Bar-On, ed., A Never Ending Conflict: A Guide to Israeli Military History (Westport. CT: 2004), 43-57. [recommended]
- Short story: S. Yizhar: "The Prisoner"
Wed. Feb 8 and Thur. Feb 9:The War of Independence: Part II: aftermath and myth
Readings: Benny Morris, 1948: The First Arab-Israeli War (New Haven, 2008), Chapter 11: “Some Conclusions.” [See website]
Documents: R&R # 33 – 43.
Articles: Bar-On, Mordechai, “Small Wars, Big Wars: Security Debates during Israel's First Decade,” Israel Studies (5.2, Summer 2000) [required]
- Shlomo Ben-Ami, Á War to Start All Wars; Will Israel ever seal the victory of 1948?” Foreign Affairs, September/October 2008.
Film: Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer directed by T. Dickinson (1955)
6. Mon. Feb 13:From armistice agreements through the Suez-Sinai Crisis of 1956
Readings:
Documents: R&R # 52- 56
- S. Ilan Troen: The Protocol of Sèvres; British/French/Israeli Collusion Against Egypt, 1956
[Required – on website]
Articles:
- Bialer, Uri, “Top Hat, Tuxedo and Cannons: Israeli Foreign Policy: 1948-56 as a Field of Study,” Israel Studies (7.1, Spring 2002) [required]
- Cohen, Avner, “Before the Beginning: The Early History of Israel's Nuclear Project (1948-1954), Israel Studies (3.1, Spring 1998) [recommended]
- Levité, Ariel, “Arab Perceptions of Israel's Nuclear Posture,”Israel Studies (1.1, Spring 1996) [recommended]
Wed. Feb 15 and Thur. Feb. 16: Mamlachtiyut:Building a Jewish state: expectations and realities – The issue of religion and state, the secular/religious divide, and the creation of a national army
Readings: Schindler, chapter 3 and 4
Documents:
R&R # 17, 27 – 33, 48 and Appendix 3: Governments of Israel, 1948-1999
Articles:
- Kedar, Nir "Ben-Gurion's Mamlakhtiyut: Etymological and Theoretical Roots, Israel Studies (7:3, Fall 2002), 117-133 [required]
- Ackerman, Walter, “Making Jews: An Enduring Challenge in Education” Israel
Studies (2.2, Fall 1997)
- Short Stories: Haim Hazaz, The Sermon and Savyyon Liebrecht, Apples from the Desert
- Film: "Altalena" (Israel, 1994; 53 minutes, color/B&Wl English and Hebrew; director: Ilana Tsur)
7. Mon. Feb. 27: Ingathering of the exiles: dream versus the reality for Holocaust survivors
Readings: .
Documents: R&R # 30, 31, 46 and Appendices 7 – 10.
Articles:
- Tuvia Friling, "New Historians and the Failure of Rescue Operations During the Holocaust," (8:1, Fall 2003), 25-64 [required]
- Shalom, Zaki, “David Ben-Gurion and Chancellor Adenauer at the Waldorf
Astoria on March 14, 1960,” Israel Studies (2.1, Spring 1997)
Short stories:
- Etgar Keret, Shoes
- Aharon Megged, The Name
Film: Tom Segev, "The Seventh Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust" (selections)
Wed. Mar 1 and Thur. Mar 2:Ingathering cont’d: Mizrahi immigrants in Ashkenazi society
Troen, Imagining Zion, chapters 7, 8, 9
Documents: R&R # 44, 45
- Table: Immigration to Israel, 1948-1999
- Table: Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries
- Table: American Immigration to Israel, 1948-1999
- Table: Jewish Immigration from the FSU to Israel, 1968-1999
Articles:
- Dahan-Kalev, Henriette, “"You're So Pretty--You Don't Look Moroccan," Israel
Studies (6.2, Spring 2001) [required]
- Ella Habiba Shohat, “Reflections of an Arab Jews (April 17, 1999) – on website
- Shokeid, Moshe, “On the Sin We Did Not Commit in the Research of Oriental
Jews,” Israel Studies (6.2, Spring, 2001) [recommended]
Films: “Forgotten Refugees” – on Jewish Refugees from Northern Africa/Middle East after 1948 and "Sallah Shabbati" (Israel, 1963, 105 minutes, B&W; Hebrew with English subtitles; director: Ephraim Kishon; Academy Award Nominee as Best Foreign Film)
8. Mon. Mar 6 and Wed. Mar 8: Arabs in a Jewish State: dilemmas of mutual accommodation: Guest
R&R: #51
Selection from Amos Oz. Tale of Love and Darkness[On website]
Articles:
- Rekhess, Elie, "Initial Israeli Policy Guidelines toward the Arab Minority, 1948-1949", in Laurence Silberstein (ed.), New Perspectives in Israeli History, New York, NYU Press, pp. 103-123. [required]
- Neuberger, Binyamin, "The Arab Minority In Israeli Politics, 1948-1992: From Marginality to Influence," Asian and African Studies, 27, 1-2, March-July 1993, pp. 149-170. [receommended]
- Somekh, Sasson, “The Last Meeting between Arab and Israeli Writers in the First Decade,” Israel Studies (4.1, Spring 1999) [recommended]
Short story and film by Sayeed Kashua: selections from Arab Labor (film) and from his writings. [on website]
Thur Mar 9: IN CLASS MID-TERM EXAMINATION
9. Mon. Mar 13 and Wed. March 15: The Six-Day War of 1967 as a turning point in Israeli history
Readings: Schindler, chapter 6. [Highly Recommended: Michael Oren, Six Days of War: June 1967 and the making of the modern Middle East (Oxford, 2002); a very brief summary of one set of arguments by Oren will be placed on the website.]
Documents: R&R # 57 – 64 (Also 52 – 56 for more background, for the industrious.)
Articles:- Shalom, Zaki and S. Ilan Troen, “Ben-Gurion's Diary for the 1967 Six-Day War” IsraelStudies(4.2,Fall 1999)
- Selections from Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars.[required]
- selected articles from Commentary (August 1967) (Arthur Hertzberg, Robert Alter, and Martin Peretz)
Thur. Mar 16: Consequences of the war: foreign and domestic
Readings: Troen, Imagining Zion, ch. 10
Documents: R&R # 61 – 75 (suggestions for emphasis will be provided in class)
Articles:
- Ginossar, Pinhas and Zaki Shalom, “Yehoshafat Harkabi, The Last Reminiscence: An Interview,” Israel Studies (1.1, Spring 1996)
- Shalom, Zaki, “Kissinger and the American Jewish Leadership in the Aftermath of the 1973 War” Israel Studies (7.1, Summer 2002)
Documents: R&R # 61-73
10. Mon. Mar 20 and Wed. Mar 22: Expansion and contraction on the new frontiers: The West Bank and Jerusalem
Readings: Schindler, chapters 7 and 8
Troen, Imagining Zion, chapters 10, 11 and 12
Articles:
- Selections from Gershom Gorenburg, The Accidental Empire, Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977. [required. On website]
- Naor, Arye, “The Security Argument in the Territorial Debates: Rhetoric and Policy,” Israel Studies (4.2, Fall 1999) [recommended]
- readings on the issue of the legality and illegality of the West Bank settlements will be placed on the website.
Short story: a selection from David Grossman's Yellow Wind
Thur. Mar 23: From the 1973 Yom Kippur War through the “Upheaval” of 1977: new directions for the right, left, and center of the Israeli polity
Readings: Documents: R&R # 86 – 104 (Guidance will be given on the most pertinent to this course.
Articles:
- Feige, Michael, “Peace Now and the Legitimation Crisis of Civil Militarism,” Israel Studies (3.1, Spring 1998) [required]
- Rynhold, Jonathan, “Re-conceptualizing Israeli Approaches to "Land for Peace" andthe Palestinian Question since 1967,” Israel Studies (6.2, Fall 2001)