College of Social Sciences and International Studies

Understanding Israel and Palestine: Anatomy of Violence
Module POLM170 for 2019/0

Postgraduate Module Descriptor

POLM170: Understanding Israel and Palestine: Anatomy of Violence

This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.

This module will:

Provide an advanced level introduction to the causes, dynamics, key issues, and main developments in the politics of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and situate the analysis within key International Relations and Peace and Conflict Studies theories, concept and debates on violence.
Introduce you to various, often contradictory, interpretations of the conflict going beyond the two 'official' narratives.
Provide you with the opportunity to develop a range of study skills, including the ability to work individually and in a group, formulate your own research questions in preparation for the Skype sessions with NGOs in the region, evaluate and constructively critique peers’ work, and to construct a coherent and well-reasoned critical analysis of the issues discussed in both oral and written forms.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here - you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills	1. Demonstrate substantive and comprehensive knowledge of the main developments, issues and actors in the Israel-Palestine conflict, taking account of varying narratives of events and dynamics of the conflict; 2. Critically engage with and critique different theories and understandings of violence and apply this analysis in the context of the protraction of the Israel-Palestine conflict; 3. Understand, analyse and critically evaluate the political nexuses between different forms of violence and the protraction of the Israel-Palestine conflict;
Discipline-Specific Skills	4. Identify, critically discuss, and apply the key theoretical debates in International Relations and Peace and Conflict Studies to empirical data; 5. Find, use, and analyse primary and secondary data relevant to specific issue areas;
Personal and Key Skills	6. Critically evaluate ideas and debates; 7. Locate, research and critically evaluate relevant information from academic sources to form a critical analysis; 8. Develop analytical writing skills; 9. Study independently and in collaboration with peers; 10. Understand assessment criteria, engage in critical, yet constructive, peer-evaluation and produce feedback and suggestions for improvement; 11. Develop oral presentation and communication skills;

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
22	278	0

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity	22	11x two-hour seminars. There will be a mix of lectures led by the module convenor, student presentations, and group work.
Guided Independent Study	70	Private Study - reading and preparing for seminars
Guided Independent Study	104	Preparation for essay - including researching and collating relevant sources, planning the structure and argument, and writing up.
Guided Independent Study	104	Preparation of exam - including researching and collating relevant sources, planning the structure and argument, and writing up.

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

B'Tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories - www.btselem.org/

Israel Foreign Ministry - www.mfa.gov.il

Israel Democracy Institute- www.en.idi.org.il

Negotiations Affairs Department, Palestine Liberation Organisation- www.nad-plo.org

The Gatekeepers (2002, Dror Moreh)

Occupation 101 (2006, Abdallah Omeish, Sufyan Omeish,)

State 194 (2013,Dan Setton,)

Paradise Now (2016, Hany Abu-Assad)