History of Palestine, 1917-1948

Catalog description

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.