Major Conflicts After WWII and Attempts to Make Peace

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

ByTSOI Yu-yan

YWCAHioeTjoYoengCollege

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 20thcentury, 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 higherachievers’ 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.

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.

Task 1: Why is the Middle East so unstable?

With referenceto the following sources, and using your own knowledge, explain why the Middle East posed a threat to world peace.

(The sources are extracted from

SOURCE A

Israel in 2008

SOURCE B

Religions in Israel in 1947 and 2007

SOURCE C

Fatalities from 29 Sep 2000 to 31 Mar 2008 intifada

SOURCE D

Palestinian refugees in Dec 2006

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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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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?

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.”

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 kingdom in the region in the 10th century BC. They considered Palestine their homeland. / Though the Jews set up their kingdom in the region first, the kingdom collapsed early in the 6th century BC.
Since then they even settled down in other areas of the world.
The Jews returned to their ‘promised land’, Canaan (present-day Palestine), granted by God as stated in the Bible to re-establish their own country. / The Arabs moved into Palestine early in the 7th century BC after the collapse of the Kingdom of Israel. They ruled a huge empire which extended from Spain to India. So, they regarded Palestine as their homeland.

Task 3

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? / Zionism Vs Arab nationalism (al-Fatat) / Many Palestinian refugees wanted to take revenge on Israel. / The Palestinian Arabs set up the PLO in 1964. / Egypt and Syria wanted to get back the land they had lost. / The PLO adopted guerrilla warfare and took terrorist action.
How the founding and expansion of Israel caused conflicts? / 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. / Israel entered Egypt and occupied Sinai Peninsula. / Israel invaded Egypt, captured Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula. / / / The Israeli forces invaded Lebanon.
How the sympathy for the Palestinians resulted in wars? / The UN suggested dividing Palestine into Jewish and Arab states in 1947 / / / / / / / /
How the powers’ interests complicated the problem? / / / Nassar (Egypt) nationalized the Suez Canal which affected the interests of Br & Fr. They then joined with Israel to attack Egypt. / Br, Fr and the US supported Israel.
The USSR supported the Arab states. / The US and the USSR gave military support to Israel and the Arabs respectively. / /
Why there was foreign intervention? / / / /
What roles the powers and the UN played in settling the conflicts? / / / The UN arranged a ceasefire and stationed a peacekeeping force. / Br, Fr and the US arranged a ceasefire. / The UN (US and USSR)arranged a ceasefire. / International pressure forced Israel to withdraw from Lebanon.
Who won all the five wars? Why? / 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.
In what ways their conflicts threatened world peace? / 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 1 of 9