Use this guide to choose topics for your Reading Responses and possibly also for your Term Essay. Use the History of the Middle East Database for basic facts and outlines of events and movements. Some of the more specific topics below are linked to items on the database. The World Factbook (CIA) can be extremely useful. See also Roots of the Arab-Israeli Conflict and Kepel and study guide for Chapter 14. See also History of the Middle East by Region or State, especially History of the Palestinians and History of Israel, and History According to Chronology. See also Peace Initiatives in the Arab-Israeli Conflict, BBC: Israel and the Palestinians in Depth, BBC Country Profile: Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and The Foundation for Middle East Peace. See also the BBC's guide to Jerusalem's holy sites. See also the "Arab-Israeli Conflict" category at the course blog.
Click on the links below as assigned:
Sections:
| Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict | |
| The 1948 War | Israel and Lebanon |
| The 1956 War | The Intifadas (1987, 2000) |
| The 1967 Six Day War | Recent Events |
| The 1973 October War | Recommended Supplementary Articles |
Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict
| 1948- 1973 Period | Palestinian Refugees |
| United Nations Partition Plan (1947) | |
| 1948 War | |
| Altalena Incident (June, 1948) | |
| Plan Dalet |
| 1948- 1973 Period | 1954, Lavon Affair |
| 1952 Egyptian Revolution | 1956 War |
| 1953, Sharon's "Unit 101" |
| 1948- 1973 Period | 1967 War |
| 1964, Creation of the PLO | Israeli Occupation of Arab Lands |
| U.N. Resolution 242 (1967) |
| 1948- 1973 Period | U.N. Resolution 338 (1973) |
| War of Attrition (1969-70) | Likud Party founded (1973) |
| "Black September" (1970) | |
| 1973 War |
The Egyptian-Israeli Peace Process
| 1974 to 1989 Period | Camp David Accords (1979) |
| Sinai I (1974) and Sinai II (1975) Agreements | Sadat Assassination (1981) |
| Likud Victory (1977) |
| 1974 to 1989 Period | Israeli Intervention (1978) |
| Lebanese Civil War (1975-1989) | Operation Peace for Galilee (1982) |
| Israel-Gaza-Lebanon War (2006) | Hizbullah |
| 1974 to 1989 Period | HAMAS |
| Israeli (partial) Withdrawal from Lebanon (1985) | Proclamation Palestinian State (1988) |
| Amman Agreement (1985) | The Second Intifada (2000) |
| The First Intifada (1987) |
| Madrid Conference (1991) | Beirut Declaration (March, 2002) |
| Marj Zohour Exile (1992) | "Roadmap" Peace Plan (April, 2003) |
| The Oslo Period (1993-1994) | U.S. Reversal on Settlements (April, 2004) |
| Oslo Peace Accord (1993) | Olmert Peace Plan, Spring, 2006 |
| Weaknesses of Oslo | |
| Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty (1994) | Additional Peace Initiatives |
| Hebron Attack, Ramadan, 1994 | |
| "Grapes of Wrath" (1996) | The Gulf Wars Period (1990-1992) |
| Likud Victory and Policy Changes (1996) | Likud Era (1990s) |
| The Second Intifada (2000) | 2000-2001 Period |
| Political Crisis in Palestinian Territories, 05-08 | 2003-2004 Period |
| War in Gaza, Lebanon, Israel - Summer, 2006 | 2005-2006 Period |
| 2006-2008 Period |
More Complete Coverage of Peace Initiatives -------------- BBC: Israel and the Palestinians in Depth
History of the Palestinians and History of Israel.
Supplementary Articles (must be on the NMH Virtual Desktop to access most of them):
Derek Cohen, "Apartheid in Zion," Salmagundi, Winter, 2008
The Economist, "The Hundred Years War," Jan. 10, 2009
Jeffrey Goldberg, "Among the Settlers," The New Yorker, May 31, 2004.
Roger Hardy, "2008: The Year of Palestine?," BBC, Dec. 31, 2007
Michael Herzog, "Can HAMAS be Tamed?," Foreign Affairs, Mar-Apr, 2006.
Ghada Karmi, "Comment & Debate: Where is the Global Outcry at this Continuing Cruelty?," The Guardian, May 15, 2006.
Isabel Kershner, "Noted Arab Citizens Call on Israel to Shed Jewish Identity," New York Times, Feb. 8, 2007. (more including full text of relevant document)
Isi Leibler, "How Israel Got Trashed," Jerusalem Post, April 23, 2008
Bernard Lewis, "To Be or Not To Be," Wall Street Journal, Nov. 15, 2004.
Michael Massing, "The Storm Over the Israel Lobby," New York Review of Books, vol. 53, no.10, June 8, 2006.
Daniel Pipes, "If Only America Would Let Israel Win," The Jerusalem Post, April 5, 2006.
David Remnick, "Blood and Sand: A Revisionist Historian Revisits His Country's Origins," The New Yorker, May 5, 2008.
David Remnick, "The Seventh Day: Why the Six-Day War is Still Being Fought," The New Yorker, May 28, 2007
Michael Schwartz and Asma Agbarieh-Zahalka, "Arab Women in Israel: Obstacles to Emancipation," Challenge, Mar-Apr, 2008
Antony T. Sullivan, "Wars and Rumors of War: The Levantine Tinderbox," Middle East Policy, Spring, 2008
Geoffrey Wheatcroft, "Zion Story," (on pioneering Zionist Vladimir Jaobtinsky), TimesOnLine, Feb. 20, 2008.
John V. Whitbeck, "Two States or One? Let Israel Choose," The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, vol. 25, no. 4, May-June, 2006.
Articles on the Relationship Between the United States and Israel:
Steven Erlanger, "In the Middle East, Tests for an Old Friendship," New York Times, Nov. 13, 2006.
David D. Kirkpatrick, "For Evangelicals, Supporting Israel is 'God's Foreign Policy'," New York Times, Nov. 14, 2006.