War & Peace in Israeli History [Syllabus] (original) (raw)

Course Description: Israeli history is fraught with stories of war and violence. Since the founding of the State in 1948, Israel has gone through eight recognized ‘conventional’ wars, numerous smaller-scale military campaigns, and two intifadas (Palestinian uprisings). Moreover, the origins of the rivalry between Zionists and the indigenous Palestinian population predate 1948 and was apparent already during the mandatory period. The triple aim of this course is (a) to chart the ensuing seven decades of enmity, warfare, mediation, and negotiations, (b) to locate their origins in pre-1948 Palestine, and (c) to examine the ways in which these constant conflicts shaped not only the lives of many residents of Israel and Palestine but also had a major impact on Israeli society and culture. Considering conflicting views and debates, we will compare and contrast different narrations and interpretations. These include, on the one hand, those who argue that militarism and the military have become a way of life for Israelis, who turned their state into a modern Sparta, and, on the other hand, others who marvel at how Israel has been able to maintain a vibrant civil society, democratic institutions, and a culture which cherishes open debate, satire, and a spirit of free thinking and criticism. For that reason, we will progress in two parallel tracks: first, we will survey the key processes, events, and personalities and provide a historical overview of the main wars and cycles of violence from pre-statehood years to the present. Second, we will examine and assess the extent to which Israeli history could be narrated in separation from the chronicles of the Israeli-Arab conflict and to expose students to key features in Israeli culture and society that developed in response to violence and as part of a constant negotiation between the military and the civil sphere. At the end of the course, students will have a clear idea of the complexity of the Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli conflict, a sense of how this conflict has marked the development of Israeli culture and society, as well as examples of the success and failures of the attempts to maintain an open civil society and the rule of law under extreme conditions.