Short Course Description
The course will provide an introduction to the modern history of the Middle East and to the evolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict from its origins in the late 19th and early 20th centuries until the present. It will explore Islam as a religion and a civilization; the collapse of the Othman Empire and the creation of modern Middle Eastern nation states; the main ideologies that shaped Arab societies throughout the 20th century; the origins of Zionism; the rise of Arab opposition to the Zionist enterprise in Palestine; the outbreak of the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948 and the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem; the Six Day War, Yum Kippur War and their implications; the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty; the ascendance of the Palestinian National Movement, the first Intifada and the rise and fall of the Oslo Accords; and the ideology and practice of Hamas.
Full syllabus will be available to registered students only
