Zionism and anti-Zionism, history and politics of resistance and global solidarity with Palestine

EPEC – SS 200: Zionism and anti-Zionism, history and politics of resistance and global solidarity with Palestine

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Objectives: to bring a deeper level of understanding and knowledge of the histories and politics of Palestinian resistance and solidarity. It is an ambitious attempt to overview many topics, including the histories of Zionism, histories of Palestine, Palestinian resistance, and anti-Zionism; the experiences and struggles of Palestinian women in Palestine and Israel, queer Palestinians (and non-Palestinians in support), non-Ashkenazi Jews; the current state of Palestinian resistance and the global solidarity movement, including the relationship between the Israeli left and Palestinian resistance as well as international solidarity movement(s).

This course is not at all exclusive to people of any one political opinion on Israel/Palestine- it is an exploration of all of these topics, with primary and secondary source material, and is open to a diversity of opinions for those who want to learn and discuss in critical engagement. Please come with whatever previous knowledge and experience you do or don't have and it will be a learning experience for everyone. Will count for academic credit, course level depending on what you want to get out of it and what division you're in.

Proposed format: 2.5 or 3-hour seminar-style mini-lesson (maybe presenting additional information in class and/or showing films) and discussion (for most of class session) once a week (time and location TBD)

Expectations: 1. Students attend as many class discussions as they are able (emphasis on attending all but not strict about personal needs to miss) 2. Students complete 3-4 of the assigned readings (including the ones marked as mandatory-TBD) and come to class ready to discuss them 3. Students complete a final project, either a paper or some tool to be used for popular education, such as a zine, slideshow, curriculum, photo exhibit, etc.

Topics to cover:


 * Palestinian history
 * Palestinian nationalism
 * History of Zionism and anti-Zionism
 * Anti-racism and anti-Zionism
 * Feminism, women's rights/issues and anti-Zionism
 * Queer liberation and anti-Zionism
 * Migrants/indigenous rights in the Americas and Palestine
 * UN, international law and Palestine
 * Strategies of international solidarity, BDS movement

Films for throughout the semester:

Eyal Sivan's The Orange's Clockwork

Arna's Children 

The Salt of This Sea

Occupation 101

Tentative topics and readings for syllabus. Will be updated throughout the semester:

Session 1: Introduce subject, identify where we come from in approaching this (locations), what we want to get out of it. Go over syllabus, read together one article that starts us off?


 * use identity vs. location tool
 * maybe 1 short analysis piece and 1 news article to start us off in a certain frame, certain topics: article could be on recent home demolitions, analysis on dispossession/displacement; etc

Session 2: Zionism as imperial project


 * Herzl original text Balfour Declaration the Churchill White Paper (see Jay's analysis about national homeland versus nation-state)
 * Moshe Machover “Israelis and Palestinians: Conflict and Resolution” “
 * A Genuine Peace Movement Cannot Be Zionist” Jason Kunin, Znet
 * “How Imperialism Fostered Zionism,” Pete Brown
 * Hannah Arendt, Zionism Reconsidered
 * potentials: “Christian Zionism,” Paul Kivel; MERIP, timeline of conflict,Historical timeline powerpoint

Session 3: Historical development of Zionism, contextualizing Zionism


 * “Zionist Orientations” chapter of Finkelstein's Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict
 * Original text of Golda Meir or Ben-Gurion
 * first chapters in Pappe's A History of Modern Palestine 
 * Israeli declaration of independence
 * "Zionism from the Standpoint of its Victims" by Edward Said
 * Class materials/discussion: Chart mapping different strains of Zionism, their histories and contradictions (“Zionist tendencies”); discuss Israeli declaration of independence (maybe only read in class)

Session 4: Palestinian Nationalism: pre- and post-WWI to today


 * excerpts from Rashid Khalidi's Palestinian Identity 
 * Salim- "Resistance and National Self-Determination in Palestine"- MERIP reports, May 1974
 * Baumgarten- "The Three Faces/Phases of Palestinian Nationalism, 1948-2005"

Session 5: Palestinian resistance, day-to-day on the ground


 * “Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories,” Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, John Dugard http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G08/402/29/PDF/G0840229.pdf?OpenElement
 * Yamila- "The Stone and the Pen..."- Radical Teacher, Fall 2005
 * Wikipedia page on Land Day- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Day
 * Information page from Addameer, the political prisoner support organization http://addameer.info/?page_id=8
 * Massad- "Oslo and the end of Palestinian Independence"- Al Ahram weekly- 21 - 27 January 2010 -http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2010/982/re7.htm

Session 6: Zionism and Jewish History


 * Shlomo Sands, The Invention of the Jewish People, selections
 * Shohat, Ella; "The Invention of the Mizrahim", Institute for Palestine Studies, Autumn 1999
 * Pinson; "Ideology of the Bund", Jewish Social Studies, July 1945, and handout on the history of the Bund
 * "Introduction" (pp.1-16), Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, Zachary Lockman
 * Section 5 and 6 in the Introduction (13-27) and the Postscript to Chapter 4 in After Jews and Arabs: Remaking Levantine Culture, Ammiel Alcalay
 * "The Weight of History" (pp. 50-74), Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of 3000 Years, Israel Shahak
 * articles from Wrestling with Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, ed. Tony Kushner and Alisa Solomon
 * essay from The Jews: History, Memory, and the Present by Pierre Vidal-Naquet on Masada and the IDF

Session 7: Zionism and white supremacy, anti-Zionism and anti-racism


 * INCITE- Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy
 * "30 Years to the Black Panthers in Israel" Sami Shalom Chetrit, view at http://www.kedma.co.il/Panterim/PanterimTheMovie/EnglishArticles.htm
 * excerpt from Anti-Zionism: Analytical Reflections

Session 8: Palestinian women's rights in Israel and Palestine, Zionism in relation to gender oppression


 * excerpts from The Nation and Its "New" Women: The Palestinian Women's Movement, 1920-1948, Ellen L. Fleischmann ?
 * Abdulhadi- "The Palestinian Women's Autonomous Movement"- Gender and Society, December 1998- start on p654
 * INCITE- Forgotten ism- An Arab American Womens Perspective on Zionism Racism and Sexism
 * Orayb Aref Najjar, “Between Nationalism and Feminism”
 * Nahla Abdo, “Nationalism and Feminism: Palestinian women and the Intifada- No Going Back?”
 * The Palestinian Women’s Struggle for Independence: A Historical Perspective.” In The Third Wave: Feminist Perspectives on Racism, edited by Jacqui Alexander, Lisa Albrecht, Sharon Day, Mab Segrest, and Norma Alacorn. New York: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, 1993.
 * Julie Peteet, “Gender and Sexuality: Belonging to the National and Moral Order”
 * chapter from Birthing the Nation: Strategies of Palestinian Women in Israel by Rhoda Ann Kanaaneh

Session 9: Queer oppression and resistance in Palestine/Israel


 * "Queer" As A Tool Of Colonial Oppression: The Case Of Israel/Palestine by Blair Kuntz http://www.zcommunications.org/queer-as-a-tool-of-colonial-oppression-the-case-of-israel-palestine-by-blair-kuntz
 * “Israel, Palestine, and Queers” by Haneen Maikey and Jason Ritchie http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2009/mr280409.html “Palestinian queer activist Haneen Maikey believes Israel's occupation is spurs a local determination for change” by Morten Berthelsen http://www.haaretz.com/news/stop-using-palestinian-gays-to-whitewash-israel-s-image-1.6887
 * “Palestinian Queers for BDS: A Struggle Against Israel’s Colonization, Occupation and Apartheid” http://www.bekhsoos.com/web/2010/04/palestinian-queers-for-bds-a-struggle-against-israel%E2%80%99s-colonization-occupation-and-apartheid/

Session 10: Connecting indigenous struggles from Palestine to the Americas


 * Zapatista Commander: Gaza Will Survive” by Subcommandate Marcos of the Zapatistas http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14653

Session 11: BDS and the global solidarity movement


 * “Palestinian United Call for BDS against Israel,” Boycott Divestment Sanctions National Committee http://bdsmovement.net/?q=node/52
 * “PACBI Guidelines for the International Cultural Boycott of Israel” http://pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1047 “PACBI Guidelines for the International Academic Boycott of Israel” http://pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1108
 * “BDS in the USA: 2001-2010,” Noura Erakat http://www.merip.org/mer/mer255/erakat.html
 * article on Palestinian Queers for BDS (PQBDS) http://www.bekhsoos.com/web/2010/04/palestinian-queers-for-bds-a-struggle-against-israel%E2%80%99s-colonization-occupation-and-apartheid/
 * Rafeef Ziadah, Adam Hanieh, Hazem Jamjoum "Challenging the New Apartheid: Reflections on Palestine Solidarity," Left Turn, 2006.- focus on sections "Current Political Situation" and "Apartheid Analysis - http://www.leftturn.org/?q=node/399
 * Defining Terms in the Age of Imperialism: Challenging Alleged "Strategic Solidarity," Statement from US Social Forum by Palestinian and Palestine Solidarity activists, July 2008.
 * "Globalize the Intifada", Esther Kaplan
 * “From South Africa to Palestine, Lessons for the New anti-Apartheid Movement,” Salim Vally, Left Turn, April 9, 2008: www.leftturn.org/?q=node/1099

Session 12: Israeli left/radical left, relationships with Palestinian resistance


 * chapter or intro from The Politics of Protest: the Israeli Peace movement and the Palestinian Intifada by Reuven Kaminer
 * show film Matzpen some introduction to various organizations, text on how they position themselves: -Matzpen, Anarchists Against the Wall, Boycott from Within; B'Tselem, ICAHD, CWP

Session 13: The UN and the Israeli occupation


 * readings of resolutions 181, 194, 242 analysis, will look into this
 * article on history/analysis of UNRWA, refugee issue
 * essay from Said's Peace and its Discontents

Session 14: the apartheid framework


 * UN Convention on the Crime of Apartheid- International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid
 * Executive Summary, “Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid? A re-assessment of Israel’s practices in the occupied Palestinian territories under international law,” Human Sciences Research Council, Democracy and Governance Programme, Middle East Project http://www.hsrc.ac.za/Document-3230.phtml
 * “Discriminatory Israeli Laws” http://www.divestmentproject.org/downloads/Discriminatory_Israeli_Laws.pdf ?
 * “Divide and Conquer – Inequality and Discrimination,” Shir Hever http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/economy-of-the-occupation/276-bulletin-3-divide-and-conquer-inequality-and-discrimination
 * Excerpt from Ben White's Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner's Guide