HIST 2303: History of Palestine, 1917-1948

Abstract

The course will examine the history of modern Jewish settlement in Palestine under the Ottoman rule and the British Mandate, up to the establishment of the state in 1948. We will begin with a discussion of Zionism, its rise in the second half of the 19th century, in an era of secular nationalist movements, and an era marked by imperialism, colonialism, and the attendant theories of race. The growing popularity of Zionism resulted in the in Jewish settlement (Yishuv) in Palestine, where it encountered Palestinian Arabs and the British authorities. The material covered will reflect the history of British colonial politics, the social, economic, and ideological factors that shaped the emergence of the institutions of the Yishuv and of the Palestinians, and the political and national aspirations of the two communities. ¶COURSE OBJECTIVES: To introduce students to the specific ways historians, gather and interpret source material and how they construct a narrative from this material • The inclusion in the syllabus of numerous primary documents will introduce students to their own experience in practicing the skill of critical reading and their own interpretation of the past • The project of the final paper for the course will reflect students’ ability to assess digitized journalistic materials by asking relevant questions who wrote them and why, and to construct their own understanding of the past