The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Facts, Positions, and Perspectives

Trying to understand, explain and analyze protracted conflicts is a difficult task. Such conflicts penetrate all layers of society, they influence all its conduct, and their place is so dominant in the identity of the societies that it is difficult to imagine how they will define themselves without it. The Israel-Palestinian conflict is no different from that, and it is probably even more complex and complicated to understand. The course aims to present the conflict, analyze it, and see if and how it can be ended. It will be based on lectures, class discussions and students’ presentations, which will be done via the disciplines of conflict research, social psychology and the study of the Israeli society. The course will approach the conflict from four main perspectives:

• The history of the conflict and its origins
• The core issues which are in dispute between the two sides
• The different actors which influence the conflict, besides the two sides
• The conflict’s framing in Israeli society and culture