Module POC2088 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
POC2088: Understanding Israel and Palestine: One Land, Two People
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Please note that this module is only delivered on the Penryn Campus.
Module Aims
This module will:
- Introduce you to the causes, dynamics, key issues, and main developments in the politics of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and situate the analysis within the academic debates on nationalism, identity, ethnicity, violence, conflict, security, regional relations, and international relations.
- 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, 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.
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. demonstrate a 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. assess and analyse Israeli and Palestinian internal political and social structures, and apply this analysis in the context of the Israel-Palestine conflict; 3. understand, analyse and evaluate the political ideas and ideologies that have guided the dynamics of the conflict. |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 4. find, use, and analyse secondary data relevant to specific issue areas; 5. apply theoretical debates of nationalism, identity, violence or security to empirical data and vice versa; 6. understand assessment criteria, engage in constructive peer-evaluation and produce feedback and suggestions for improvement. |
| Personal and Key Skills | 7. develop oral presentation and communication, group interaction, and analytical writing skills; 8. locate, research and critically evaluate relevant information from academic sources to form a critical analysis; 9. articulate and defend positions on the seminar topics; 10. understand assessment criteria, engage in critical, yet constructive, peer-evaluation and produce feedback and suggestions for improvement; 11. study independently and in groups. |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
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:
- One Hundred Years of Violence.
- Conflicting Promises and Competing Nationalisms
- The Creation of Israel and Al-Naqba : Two Sides of the Same Coin
- Israel-Palestine and the Israel-Arab conflict
- Greater Israel and Life under Israeli occupation
- Israel's Security and Life under Terrorism
- Palestinian Society and Politics
- Israeli Society and Politics
Learning and Teaching
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 | 128 | 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 & Teaching activities | 22 | 11x2 hour lecture and discussion facilitated by the convenor |
| Guided independent study | 33 | 3 hours of preparation for each seminar: reading, preparation in relation pre-seminar questions and tasks |
| Guided independent study | 10 | Preparation of research paper presentation |
| Guided independent study | 37 | Research and writing-up of portfolio assessment |
| Guided independent study | 48 | Research and writing-up of research project assessment |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
Amnesty International. Israel and the Occupied Territories-www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territories/
B'Tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories-www.btselem.org/
International Crisis Group-www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/israel-palestine
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
Other Learning Resources
The Gatekeepers (2002, Dror Moreh)
Occupation 101 (2006, Abdallah Omeish, Sufyan Omeish,)
State 194 (2013,Dan Setton, 2013)
Paradise Now (2016, Hany Abu-Assad)
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Bishara, M. (2001) Palestine/Israel: Peace or Apartheid. London and New York: Zed Books
Caplan, N. (2010) The Israel-Palestine Conflict. Contested Histories. Malden and Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell
Gerner, D., J. (1991) One Land, Two Peoples: The conflict over Palestine , Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press
Gelvin, J.L. (2007) The Israel-Palestine conflict: one hundred years of war. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Milton-Edwards, B. (2009) The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A People’s War. London: Routledge
Mahler. G. S. and Mahler, A., R. (2010) The Arab-Israeli Conflict: An Introduction and Document Reader. London: Routledge,
Peters, J. and Newman, D. (2013) Routledge Handbook on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. London and New York: Routledge
