History 391P - S-History of Palestine/Israel

The Palestinian resistance against Zionism is one of the remaining Third-World struggles, continuing to shape Middle Eastern history and inspire various Islamic and global justice movements. This survey course will study the modern history of Palestine and Israel in a global context and investigate the transnational ramifications of the Palestinian struggle. We will start in the late Ottoman era and late 19th-century Europe, focusing on anti-Semitism and the emergence of the Zionist nationalist movement in Europe. We will continue to examine the British Mandate, the Palestinian revolt of 1936-39, the Nakba in 1948, the creation of the state of Israel, and subsequent Arab-Israeli wars. We will then study the formation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and other Palestinian resistance movements in the latter half of the twentieth century. The course contextualizes the Palestinian struggle within broader global forces, including settler colonialism, imperialism, Third World liberation, pan-Arabism, and pan-Islamism. We will conclude by discussing the Axis of Resistance, which has coalesced around the Palestinian cause.

Open to Seniors, Juniors & Sophomores only.