History 353 - Middle East Peacemaking: Lessons from the Catalogue of Failure

[ME/TC/TE/TS] This course traces the trajectory of the Arab/Palestinian/Israeli peace process over the last 100 years of conflict, examining the early attempts at dialogue before 1948, the various peace proposals offered by the British, the 1947 UN Partition plan, and the post-1948 attempts at a settlement. The course will then follow the development of the peace process after 1967, highlighting the US’s preeminent role after the 1991 Madrid Peace conference and the significance of PLO’s push for a two-state solution after 1988. We will examine the background to the 1993 Oslo accords, as well as the failure of the negotiating process since, and end with an examination of the lessons of the past and the future of a potential settlement. Students will utilize a variety of primary and secondary materials and will also gain insights into the negotiating process from the instructor's own experience. Seminar format. One meeting per week.

Spring semester. Limited to 25 students. Professor Khalidi.

How to handle overenrollment: Priority given to History majors.

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Close analysis of historical evidence, which may include written documents, images, music, films, or statistics from the historical period under study. Exploration of scholarly, methodological, and theoretical debates about historical topics. Extensive reading, varying forms of written work, and intensive in-class discussions.