ICT Summer Exchange in Herzliya—2012
The Dilemmas of Israel’s Security and Peacemaking
July 23-26, 2012
Instructor: Professor Miriam F. Elman, Maxwell School
http://faculty.maxwell.syr.edu/melman/
This course is designed to follow up on a number of the central themes and developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that were presented during the ICT course. The focus will be on state and society in Israel; however, we will also consider Palestinian actors and decision making. The course will combine seminars, guest speakers, and field trips in order to flesh out the evolving nature of Israeli security and peacemaking efforts from a cross-disciplinary perspective. We will consider historical, political, religious, legal, social, and psychological dimensions of the conflict in general, and the impact of these factors on Israeli security and peacemaking in particular.
Readings:
A set of readings for each topic is available in pdf format. Students are expected to read the material in advance and come prepared to discuss it during seminars with the Instructor and guest speakers. While in Israel, please ensure that you can access the readings during the course, either via a laptop or in hard copy.
Requirements:
Students are expected to fully participate in all 4 days of the course, including all seminars and field trips. Exceptions will be made only in case of emergencies or major illness.
Reflection Paper: students should submit a 15-20 page paper by September 15, 2012 (or earlier if registering for course credit). The paper should reflect on any dimension of the course and draw on both the readings and the course ‘experience’ (field trips, guest speakers, and seminars). Papers will be uploaded to an INSCT webpage that will be created for the course.
Web-based Project: students should prepare a ‘project’ that can be uploaded to the INSCT webpage. The project should incorporate photos along with a blog-type entry reflecting on the course experience.
Schedule and Readings
Monday July 23
Meet at the IDC, Arison-Lauder Building, Room A 323 (department seminar room).
Sessions start promptly; please be on time.
8:30-9:45am
Introductions:
Reflections on the ICT Experience and Overviews of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Elman)
Discussion questions:
Many overviews of the conflict portray it as an ethnic conflict fueled by competing nationalisms, territorial disagreements, and the strategic/economic importance of the region. What are the benefits (and limitations) of this ‘reading’ of the conflict?
To what extent is periodization of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a useful organizational scheme for explaining it? What are the pros and cons of using this type of organizational scheme when providing an overview of the conflict?
In explaining the contemporary dimensions of the conflict, how far back in history do we need to go—to the days of Bible? Later, to the emergence of Zionism and Palestinian nationalism in the 19th century? to the 1948 war? Or is it appropriate to begin as late as 1967? What are the advantages and disadvantages of these different starting points and frames of reference?
Readings:
Alan Dowty, The Fourth Stage of the Arab-Israel Conflict-In Democracy and Conflict Resolution-the Dilemmas of Israel’s Peacemaking,” in Miriam F. Elman, Oded Haklai, and Hendrik Spruyt, editors, Democracy and Conflict Resolution: the Dilemmas of Israel’s Peacemaking (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, forthcoming)
Itamar Rabinovich and Jehuda Reinharz, “Introduction,” in Rabinovich and Reinharz, editors, Israel in the Middle East (New Hampshire: Brandeis University Press, 2008), pp. 1-7
Baruch Kimmerling, The Invention and Decline of Israeliness: State, Society, and the Military (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001), pp. 16-55
Jonathan Fox and Shmuel Sandler, Bringing Religion Into International Relations(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), pp. 137-62; Part II-Fox and Sandler, The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
10:00-11:00am
Dr. Aharon Barak, Professor of Law, Radzyner School of Law, IDC, former President of the Supreme Court of Israel, 1995-2006 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aharon_Barak
Readings:
Aharon Barak, “The Values of the State of Israel as a Jewish and Democratic State,” in Mitchell G. Bard and David Nachmias, editors, Israel Studies: an Anthology (Jewish Virtual Library, 2009)
Hassan Jabareen, “Ignoring the ‘Other’,” Adalah Newsletter, Vol. 14 (June 2005), pp. 1-4
Doron Shultziner, “Human Rights and the Supreme Court in Israel,” in Mitchell G. Bard and David Nachmias, editors, Israel Studies: an Anthology (Jewish Virtual Library, 2009)
Chaim Gans, A Just Zionism: On the Morality of the Jewish State (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), pp. 111-143
11:15am-12:15pm
The Israeli Narrative of Security and Peace (Elman)
Discussion Questions:
What role do the themes of anti-Semitism and persecution of the Jewish people play in the development of Israeli identity and its narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
How fluid and potentially malleable is Israel’s narrative of the conflict?
Readings:
Daiel Bar-Tal, Tamar Magal and Eran Halperin, ” The Paradox of Security Views in Israel: a Social-Psychological Explanation,” in Oren Barak and Gabriel Sheffer, editors, Existential Threats and Civil-Security Relations (Lexington Books, 2009), pp. 219-247
Uri Ram, “National, Ethnic, or Civic? Contesting Paradigms of Memory, Identity, and Culture in Israel,” Studies in Philosophy and Education, Vol. 19 (2000): 405-422
Michal Ben-Josef Hirsch, “From Taboo to the Negotiable: the Israeli New Historians and the Changing Representation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem,” Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 5, No. 2 (June 2007): 241-258
12:30-1:30pm LUNCH BREAK
1:30-3:00pm
Dr. Eran Halperin, Senior Lecturer, Lauder School, IDC http://www.eranhalperin.com/#!Home/mainPage
“Psychological Aspects of Israeli Society”
Readings:
Daniel Bar-Tal, Eran Halperin, and Neta Oren, “Socio-Psychological Barriers to Peace Making: the Case of the Israeli Jewish Society,” Social Issues and Policy Review, Vol. 4, No. 1 (2010): 63-109;
Eran Halperin, “Group-based Hatred in Intractable Conflict in Israel,” Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 52 (2008): 713-736
3:15pm
Depart to Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Israel, Foundation offices
14 Shenkar Street, Nolton House, 3rd Floor, Herzliya Pituach
http://www.fes.org.il/internal.asp?PiD=0.1&id=457
4:00-5:15pm
Dr. Nimrod Goren, Chair, MITVIM: the Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies, http://www.mitvim.org.il
“Debriefing: MITVIM, Israel, and the Arab Spring: Toward a New Security Paradigm”
Readings:
—, “MITVIM: Organizational Profile”
Nimrod Goren,“New Paradigms, New Voices: the Need to Transform Israeli Perceptions of the Middle East,” MITVIM, September 2011
Nimrod Goren, “An Unfulfilled Opportunity for Reconciliation: Israel and Turkey During the Arab Spring,” Insight Turkey, Vol. 14, No. 2 (2012): 121-135
Oren Barak, “An Israeli View of the Arab Spring,” Conservative Middle East Council, May 24, 2012
5:30-7:00pm
Public Talk, Miriam F. Elman, “Spoilers of Peace and the Dilemmas of Conflict Resolution: Lessons for Israel’s Peacemaking”
Readings:
Hendrik Spruyt, “Territorial Concessions, Domestic Politics, and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,” in Miriam F. Elman, Oded Haklai, and Hendrik Spruyt, editors, Democracy and Conflict Resolution: the Dilemmas of Israel’s Peacemaking (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, forthcoming)
Tuesday July 24
Meet at the IDC, Arison-Lauder Building, Room A 323 (department seminar room).
Sessions start promptly; please be on time.
8:30-9:45am
Israeli Society: Jews, Arabs, and the Future of Israeli Democracy (Elman)
Discussion Questions:
Israel has been defined as a democracy; a non-democracy; an ethnic democracy; and a theocracy. How does this debate over the social and political nature of the Israeli state implicate our understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
How do changes in Israeli society over time impact peacemaking opportunities and challenges?
How do tensions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict influence Jewish-Arab relations in Israel? In what ways might a better relationship between Jewish and Arab citizens in Israel have a positive impact on conflict resolution between Israelis and Palestinians?
Readings:
Baruch Kimmerling, The End of Hegemony and the Onset of Cultural Plurality. In The Invention and Decline of Israeliness, Chapter 4, pp. 112-129 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001), pp. 112-172, Chapter 5
Pnina Motzafi-Haller, “A Mizrahi Call for a More Democratic Israel,” in Laurence J. Silberstein, ed., Postzionism (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2008), pp. 275-280
Oz Almog, “The Globalization of Israel: Transformations,” in Anita Shapira, editor, Israeli Identity in Transition (Westport: Praeger, 2004), pp. 233-256
Alan Dowty, “Is Israel Democratic? Substance and Semantics in the ‘Ethnic Democracy’ Debate,” Israel Studies, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Fall 1999): 1-15
Yitzhak Reiter, National Minority, Regional Majority: Palestinian Arabs versus Jews in Israel , (New York: Syracuse University Press, 2009), introduction, chapter 1, conclusion
10:00-11:15am
The Settlers and Israel’s Settlement Project Since 1967 (Elman)
Discussion Questions:
To what extent should we view the assassination of Yitzchak Rabin, and other acts of violence by Israeli settlers, as isolated acts perpetrated by irrational individuals or ‘fringe’ groups—rather than behavior that is condoned, if not fully endorsed, by Israeli society at large?
How do (some) religious Israelis undermine the chances for an Israeli-Palestinian peace? If these groups became ‘stakeholders’ in a peace process, would they be less likely to spoil it?
If the consensus in Israel is to withdraw from the majority of the West Bank, why is it so difficult to implement such a policy?
Ehud Sprinzak, Brother Against Brother: Violence and Extremism in Israeli Politics from Altalena to the Rabin Assassination , (New York: The Free Press, 1999), chapter 8, pp. 244-285, 338-341
Bernard Avishai, The Hebrew Republic: How Secular Democracy and Global Enterprise Will Bring Israel Peace at Last (Harcourt, 2008), pp. 59-84
Robert H. Mnookin and Ehud Eiran, “Discord ‘Behind the Table’: the Internal Conflict Among Israeli Jews Concerning the Future of Settlement in the West Bank and Gaza,” Journal of Dispute Resolution, Vol. 1 (2005): 11-44
11:30am-12:30pm
Christian Zionism and Israeli Politics and Policy (Elman)
Discussion Questions:
To what extent should we view Christian Zionists as spoilers of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process?
Readings:
Donald Wagner, “Reagan and Begin, Bibi and Jerry: the Theopolitical Alliance of the Likud Party with the American Christian ‘Right’,” Arab Studies Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Fall 1998): 33-5; Part II- Donald Wagner, Reagan and Begin, Bibi and Jerry
Jim Rutenberg, Mike McIntire, Ethan Bronner, “Tax-Exempt Funds Aid Settlements in West Bank,” The New York Times, July 5, 2010
12:30-1:30pm LUNCH BREAK
1:30-3:00pm
Ms. Danielle Blumenstyk, Development and Communications Coordinator, Peace Now—
Shalom Achshav http://peacenow.org.il/eng/
Readings:
Tamar S. Hermann, The Israeli Peace Movement: a Shattered Dream (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp. 1-11, 240-266
3:30pm
Dr. Galia Golan, Director, MA Program in Government and Program in Conflict Resolution, Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy, and Strategy, IDC http://portal.idc.ac.il/en/faculty/ggolan/Pages/profile.aspx
“Breakthroughs and Failures of the Peace Process Since 1967”
Readings:
Galia Golan, “A Society in Denial?” in Israel: Growing Pains at 60 (Washington DC: The Middle East Institute, 2008), pp. 51-53
Galia Golan, “The Peace Process,” in Mitchell G. Bard and David Nachmias, editors, Israel Studies: an Anthology (Jewish Virtual Library, 2009)
Ron Pundak, “From Oslo to Taba: What Went Wrong?” Survival, Vol. 43, No. 3 (Autumn 2001): 31-46
The IDC portion of the course will end at approx. 5:00pm.
Travel to Jerusalem either in the evening, or in the morning of June 25
Wednesday June 25
10:00am
Meet at the entrance of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Luggage may be left at the Visitor Center cloakroom.
Please be on time; the tour starts promptly
10:30am-1:30pm
Mr. Ephraim Kaye, Director, International Seminars for Educators, The International School for Holocaust Studies, Yad Vashem
Private tour of the new Holocaust History museum http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/museum/overview.asp
Readings:
Dalia Ofer, “Fifty Years of Israeli Discourse on the Holocaust: Characteristics and Dilemmas,” in Anita Shapira, editor, Israeli Identity in Transition (Westport: Praeger, 2004), pp. 137-62;
Shlomo Aronson, “Israel and the Holocaust,” in Mitchell G. Bard and David Nachmias, editors, Israel Studies: an Anthology (Jewish Virtual Library, 2009)
Dov Waxman, “Israel’s Holocaust Trauma,” Dissent, April 19, 2012
5:30pm
Meet at Olive and Fish Restaurant (2 Jabotinsky Street, Yemin Moshe/Talbieh, Jerusalem)
(60 to 100 NIS per person)
Dr. Oren Barak, Senior Lecturer, Department of International Relations, Hebrew University of Jerusalem) http://sites.google.com/site/orenbbarak/
“The Evolving Israeli Military and Israel’s Civil-Military Relations”
Readings:
Oren barak and Eyal Tsur, Continuity and Change in the Social Background of Israel’s Military Elite, Middle East Journal, Vol. 66, spring 2012 Middle East Journal, Vol. 66, No. 2 (Spring 2012)
Dov Waxman, “Uncle Herzl Wants You,” The Daily Beast, May 10, 2012
Amos Harel, “Has the IDF Become an Army of Settlers?” Haaretz, May 9, 2010
Thursday July 26
7:45am
Meet at the American Colony Hotel, 1 Louis Vincent Street, Jerusalem for bus pick up.
Please be on time; we will leave promptly
Custom Dual Narrative Tour of east and west Jerusalem, with stops at Mount Scopus, Givat Hatachmoshet, Jewish/Muslim Quarters of the old city, Sheikh Jarrah (tours ends at approx. 5:00pm)
MEJDI Tours (http://mejdi.net) (Per student cost of $15 to cover tips for driver and guides)
Readings:
Alan Dowty, Israel-Palestine, 2nd edition, Chapter 9, 2nd edition (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008),
View video “From Revenge to Reconciliation”, MEJDI Tours founder and co-owner Mr. Aziz Abu Sarah, National Geographic at http://mejdi.net/the-company/in-the-news/
5:30pm
Meet at Tmol Shilshom Restaurant (5 Yoel Salomon Street, Nachalat Shiva, Jerusalem)
(40-60 NIS per person)
Dr. Menachem Klein, Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Studies, Bar Ilan University, http://www.biu.ac.il/faculty/kleinm1/
“The Problem of Jerusalem: Politics, Sacred Space, and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”
Readings:
Menachem Klein, “Jerusalem as an Israeli Problem—a Review of Forty Years of Israeli Rule Over Arab Jerusalem,” Israel Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2 (2008): 54-72
Miriam Fendius Elman, “Jerusalem and the Demise of the Oslo Peace Process: the Contributions (and Limitations) of a Political Science Approach,” in Miriam F. Elman and Madelaine Adelman, editors, Jerusalem: Conflict and Cooperation in a Contested City (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, forthcoming)
The Jerusalem portion of the course will end at approx. 7:30pm.
Enjoy the remainder of your stay in Israel/Palestine and the Middle East!