Week 7
(Apr. 29)

Credit: Vince Musi/The White House

Timeline: From the first intifada to the rise of Hamas

1991: Madrid Conference framework established, by which Israel negotiates about the future of the West Bank and Gaza with Jordan, serving as the representative of the Palestinian people (in consultation with the PLO)
1992: After election of Yitzhak Rabin's government led by the Labor Party, Israelis and Palestinians engage in informal talks that give way to the Oslo negotiation process
1993: Israel and the PLO sign the Declaration of Principles, known as the Oslo Accords
1994 (Feb.): Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish settler, massacres 29 Palestinians at the Hebron mosque inside the Cave of the Patriarchs
1994 (May): Israel and the PLO sign the Cairo agreement, empowering the PLO to set up the Palestinian Authority in Gaza and Jericho first, and then later in the rest of the West Bank, with a five-year goal of reaching a final agreement; in the interim, territories were broken up into Areas A (Palestinian autonomy in all of Gaza and 18% of W. Bank), B (Palesiniian civil rule and Israeli military control in 22% of W. Bank); and C (full israeli control in 60% of W. Bank)
1995: Assassination of Prime Minister Rabin
1996: Months after election of Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party, he agrees to the opening of a controversial tunnel running along Temple Mount, an event which triggers four days of riots, leaving 16 Israelis and 59 Palestinians dead
2000: Camp David summit hosted by President Clinton fails to bridge gaps between Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and Arafat, who launches a few months later the Second Intifada, during which Palestinians would kill over 1,000 Israelis and Israeli forces would kill over 3,000 Palestinians
2002: Unprecedented suicide bombings induce Israel to launch Operation Defensive Shield, during which it laid siege to Arafat's compound and entered all the Palestinian cities, after which Israel cordoned off many towns and villages
2004: Arafat dies
2005 (Feb.): Israeli PM Ariel Sharon and Arafat's successor, Mahmoud Abbas, declare an end to hostilities at Sharm al-Sheikh
2005 (Aug.): Israel implements Disengagement Plan to withdraw all military forces and all 8,000 civilians from Gaza
2006: Palestinians sweep Hamas, which had boycotted the previous election but officially embraced a more practical stance, into power, making Ismail Haniyeh prime minister

Reading #1 Edward Said, "The morning after," 1993, pp. 7-11 and 19-21

(Available at: https://yplus.ps/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Said-Edward-Peace-and-Its-Discontents-Essays-on-Palestine-in-the-Middle-East.pdf)

Guiding questions:

a)    What is his narrative about the Oslo Accords?

b)    What is his narrative about Israel?

c)     Did any of his predictions become true, and if so, why?

Reading #1 Yitzhak Rabin's last speech, Nov. 4, 1995

(For a video of the speech with English subtitles, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umGd8wEUDQ0)

Guiding questions:

a)    How does his narrative compare to previous Israeli narratives?

b)    How was he changing the narrative about the Palestinians?

c)     What aspects of his speech still resonate today?

Reading #2

Excerpts from Benjamin Netanyahu, A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place Among the Nations

Guiding questions:

a)    How does his narrative compare with that of Yitzhak Rabin?

b)    How does his narrative connect with older narratives like security and victimhood?

c)    What aspects of these passages still resonate today?

Reading #3

Excerpts from Yasser Arafat's speech to the Palestinian Legislative Council, May 15, 2002

Guiding questions:

a)    How was he changing the narrative?

b)    What was his vision?

c)    What aspects of his speech still resonate?

Map: Oslo Accords (showing Areas A, B, and C in the West Bank)