Israel–Palestine Conflict

Neil Caplan is a Canadian historian specializing in Arab-Israeli diplomacy and the Israel-Palestine conflict. Since his retirement from teaching, he has been an Affiliate Faculty member in the Department of History at Concordia University in Montreal. He is author of the four-volume Futile Diplomacy: A History of Arab-Israeli Negotiations, 1913-1956, and co-author with Laura Zittrain Eisenberg of Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: Patterns, Problems, Possibilities, now in its third edition.

• List of Maps xiPreface to the First Edition xiiiPreface to the Second Edition xvPreface to the Third Edition xvAbbreviations xviiNote on Sources xixPart I Introduction 11 Problems in Defining the Conflict 3What’s in a Name? 4Loaded Terminology 5Maps 7Dates and Periodization 10An Ongoing Conflict: Tractable or Intractable? 13Conflict Resolution or Conflict Management? 14The “Other” Arab–Israeli Conflict 15Advocacy and Censure 162 Defining the Conflict, Nevertheless 21Who Are the Conflicting Parties? 21What Are the Main Issues in Contention among the Parties to the Conflict? 25Competing Narratives: Right versus Right, Victim versus Victim 33Ways of Visualizing the Conflict 34Analogies and Parables 36Comparisons and ParadigmsSix Explanations 37Part II Histories in Contention 433 Background to 1917: Origins of Conflict 45Ancient Ties and Historical Memories 45Early Encounters: 1880s–1914 48An Unseen Question? 50Colonialism and Nationalism 51Victims versus Victims 554 Arabs and Jews under the British Mandate:Entrenching Positions, 1917–1928 61Wartime Commitments: Palestine as the “Much Too Promised Land” 61Britain’s “Dual Obligation” 64The Mandate and Its Implementation: Cycle of Protests and Inquiry Commissions 67Clashes and Confrontations during the Early Years of the Mandate 70Zionist Responses to Palestinian–Arab Opposition 71“Making the Desert Bloom” 73The Deceptive Lull 775 Collapse of the Mandate: Rebellion, Partition, White Paper, 1929–1939 83Radicalization of Palestinian Politics 83General Strike and Rebellion, 1936 86The (Peel) Royal Commission 87Retreat from Partition 91The Resort to Force: Violence, Terrorism, and National Struggles 926 Shoah, Atzma’ut, Nakba: 1939–1949 105The Holocaust and Jewish Immigration to Palestine 105The Anglo–American Committee of Inquiry 110UNSCOP and the Creation of Israel 111War: Atzma’ut and Nakba 115Nakba and Shoah: Ongoing Victimhood 1237 Israel and the Arab States, 1949–1973 133The Palestinian Issue after 1949 133From Armistice to Non‐Peace 136Low‐Intensity Border Warfare, 1949–1956 139From War to War, I (1949–1956) 142From War to War, II (1957–1967) 145From War to War, III (1967–1973) 1508 Back to the Core: Israel and the Palestinians 163Primal Fears, New Militancy 163The Re‐Emergence of the Palestinian National Movement after 1967 165“True” Intentions of the Palestinians The Palestine Question at the United Nations 1719 Decade of Transition, 1973-1983 181Camp David and the Israel–Egypt Peace Process 181The West Bank and Gaza: “Disputed” or “Occupied” Territories? 184Operation “Peace for Galilee”: Israel Invades Lebanon, 1982 188Righteous Victimhood in the 1980s 18910 From Mutual Boycott to Mutual Recognition, 1982–1995 199Peace Plans and Planting Seeds 199The First Intifada and the Gulf War, 1987–1991 201Madrid and Oslo: A New Peace Process 20611 Breakdown and Stalemate, 1995–2016 219Continuing Diplomatic Efforts 220Camp David II and TabaThe Al‐Aqsa Intifada 223Changes in the Geo‐Strategic Environment 225“Last Chance” for the Two-State Solution?The Arab Peace InitiativeThe Geneva AccordThe Annapolis ProcessKerry’s Shuttle DiplomacyAlternatives to Oslo12 From Stalemate to Explosion, 2016-2025 245Gaza FlashpointThe Trump Plan & the Abraham AccordsConventional Wisdom Challenged7 October 2023: A Turning Point?Part III Towards a More Useful Discussion of the Arab–Israeli Conflict 24313 Writing about the Conflict 245The “Myths versus Facts” Approach 246Bias and Objectivity in Academe 248Conflict on the CampusScholars and Activists 252Israel’s “New Historians” 257The “Missed Opportunities” Approach 259Trends in Palestinian and Israeli Historiography 26514 Grappling with the Obstacles 277Issues versus Rights 277Unwinnable Core Arguments 285Righteous Victimhood & National Traumas 286Imagining Dialogue 289Reducing Some Obstacles to Understanding the Conflict 291The Shape of the Future: One State or Two? 279Telling It Like It Is 294Bibliography 319Index 355