POLT 224 - The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

FC SSCI CD

4 credits
This course aims to familiarize students with the conclusions of current scholarly research on (a) the principal actors and watershed events in the history of the Israel/Palestine conflict and (b) the internal conflicts and external relationships affecting Israeli and Palestinian societies that shape and constrain possibilities for a durable peace. Particular stress will be placed on understanding how wars affect states and political organizations, and how the ideological and structural features of states and organizations complicate or enable the search for peace. Key features of the conflict will be interpreted as both a clash between competing political projects and a reflection of global political power struggles. Attention will be given toward the end of the course to the clash of contemporary social movements aimed at influencing U.S. policy towards Israel, and to alternative paradigms for a possible resolution to the conflict.

This course is cross-listed with JWST-224