Overview: Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict provides a comprehensive, balanced, and accessible narrative of a complex historical topic. The narrative is supported by more than 40 primary documents that highlight perspectives from all sides of the struggle. Throughout the book, the author examines how underlying issues, group motives, religious and cross-cultural clashes, diplomacy and imperialism, and the arrival of the modern era shaped this volatile region. Map, photographs, chronologies, and discussion questions help facilitate student understanding. And a fully updated final chapter makes this the most current history of the topic.

Includes maps of: Middle East; Ottoman Palestine and Syria, 1910; Entente Partition Plans, 1915-1917; Arab Middle East after Mandate Allocation at San Remo, 1920; Peel Commission Partition Plan, 1937; 1947 United Nations' Partition Plan as a Reflection of Patterns of Land Ownership in Palistine by Subdistrict, 1944; 1948 War and Israeli Expansion beyond the Partition Lines to 1949; State of Israel, 1949-1967; Suez Crisis, 1956; Israeli-Syrian Demilitarized Zones and Water Issues; Territory Acquired by Israel in the 1967 War; Results of the 1973 War, 6-24 OCT; Lebanon; West Bank, 1967-1987; Gaza Strip, 1988; Israel and the Territories Subject to Negotiations, 1993-2000; West Bank and Jerusalem in Light of the Oslo 2 Accord; West Bank Final Status Map Presented by Israel, MAY 2000; Final Status Map Presented by Israel, Taba, JAN 2001; Israel's West Bank Separationn Barrier, 2007; West Bank Aquifers; Middle East, Europe, and West Africa.

Preface -- List of photos and maps -- Prologue: Arab-Israeli conflict in historical perspective: the Middle East and Palestine to 1517 -- Ancient Israel and Palestine to the coming of Islam: -- Political fragmentation and rebellion to the Roman period -- Palestine under Roman and Byzantine rule -- Arabs and the spread of Islam: -- Islam and its relationship to Judaism and Christianity -- Palestine under Muslim rule to 1517 -- Chronology -- Ottoman Society, Palestine, And The Origins Of Zionism, 1516-1914: -- Commercial relations and military decline, 1500-1800 -- Regional strife, imperial interventions, and Ottoman retraction, 1800-1914 -- Ottoman society and European inroads: communal tensions in an age of reform -- Palestine in the nineteenth century: -- Changing patterns: trade, land, agriculture, and population -- Zionism: its origins and development to 1914: -- Jews of Western Europe -- Eastern European Jewry and the rise of Zionism -- Theodor Herzl and the Zionist movement to 1914 -- Arab response to Zionism: -- Ottoman policies and Jewish land purchases -- Growing apprehension: Palestine and the Arab world -- Conclusion -- Questions for consideration -- Chronology -- Document 1-1: Islahat Fermani [Hatti Huymayoun] of February 1856 -- Document 1-2: Theodor Herzl, Der Judenstaat (the Jewish State), 1896 -- Document 1-3: Naguib Azoury, from the Awakening of the Arab Nation, 1905 -- World War I, Great Britain, And The Peace Settlements: Deciding Palestine's Fate, 1914-1921: -- World War I: the Ottoman Empire and the European Powers: -- British Imperial objectives -- Britain, the Arabs, and the Husayn-McMahon correspondence, 1915-1916: -- Lure of an Arab revolt -- Husayn-McMahon correspondence: defining the terms -- McMahon's deception: the roots of Arab bitterness -- Anglo-French interests and the Sykes-Picot agreement: -- Spheres of control and influence -- British evaluation of their commitments -- Britain, Palestine, and the Balfour Declaration: -- Chaim Weizmann and British politics -- British war aims and Palestine -- Negotiating the text -- Goals versus promises: the European powers, Zionism, and the Arabs, 1917-1918: -- Reassuring Sharif Husayn -- Syria and "self-determination" -- Zionist-Arab fears: the Faysal-Weizmann Agreement -- Peace settlements and the Mandate System: -- Faysal and the British-French struggle for Syria -- Wilson, the League of Nations, and the Mandate System -- Postwar crises and the creation of Transjordan -- Conclusion -- Questions for consideration -- Chronology -- Document 2-1: Husayn-McMahon correspondence, July 1915-January 1916 -- Document 2-2: Drafts and final text of the Balfour Declaration -- Document 2-3: Faysal-Weizmann Agreement, January 3 1919 -- Document 2-4: Resolutions of the General Syrian Congress, July 2, 1919 -- Document 2-5: Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, January 1920 -- Document 2-6: Mandate for Palestine, July 24, 1922 -- Palestine Between The Wars: Zionism, the Palestinian Arabs, And The British Mandate, 1920-1929: -- First phase: Hopes fulfilled and dashed, 1918-1920 -- Political leadership in Palestinian Arab and Zionist communities: -- Palestinian Arabs and British policies -- Zionist leadership in Palestine and abroad -- Jews and Arabs under the Mandate: the clash of conflicting aspirations: -- Land question -- Conflict over the Western Wall, 1928-1929 -- Investigations and retractions: the passfield white paper -- European crises and their repercussions: Yishuv expansion and Arab rebellion: -- Arab revolt: its roots and impact on Palestine -- Britain rethinks its obligations: the 1939 White Paper: -- Palestine in British strategy -- Partition foiled: the Woodhead Commission -- St James conference -- 1939 White Paper -- Great Britain and Palestine on the eve of World War II -- Conclusion -- Questions for consideration -- Chronology -- Document 3-1: Churchill White Paper, July 1, 1922 -- Document 3-2: Palestine Royal (Peel) Commission Report, July 1937 -- Document 3-3: 1939 White Paper -- World War II and the Creation Of The State Of Israel, 1939-1949: -- Palestine, Zionism, and the war effort, 1939-1945: -- World War II and the Middle East -- Palestine: Jewish immigration and the British response -- Jewish division and the question of Jewish military capabilities -- Biltmore Conference and its consequences -- White Paper, partition, and Britain's palace in the Middle East, 1942-1945 -- Jewish terrorism, the Hagana, and the British, 1940-1945 -- Palestinian Arab leadership and the question of Arab unity, 1939-1945 -- End of the Mandate and the creation of Israel, 1945-1949: -- Middle East and postwar tensions: origins of the Cold War -- Anglo-American perspectives on Palestine -- Great Britain, the United States, and Zionism, July 1945-February 1947 -- UNSCOP and United Nation's ratification of Partition, February-November 1947 -- Battle for Palestine/Israel, December 1947-May 1948 -- Arab-Israeli Wars and the Armistices, 1948-1949 -- Conclusion -- Questions for consideration -- Chronology -- Document 4-1: Final Solution: Nazi extermination of European Jewry -- Document 4-2: UNSCOP's Plan of Partition with Economic Union -- Document 4-3: Jamal al-Husayni, testimony on Palestinian Arab reaction to the UNSCOP proposals, September 29, 1947 -- Document 4-4: Rabbi Hillel Silver, testimony on Zionist reaction to the UNSCOP proposals, October 2, 1947 -- Document 4-5: Declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel, May 14, 1948. Beginning Of The Arab-Israeli Conflict: Regional strife And Cold War Rivalries, 1949-1957: -- Israel, the Arab States, and the Palestinian/Israeli Arabs, 1949-1954: -- Israel: government, citizenship, and the law -- Israeli Arabs: dispossession and isolation -- Palestinian refugees -- Western allies, Israel, and the Arab-Israeli conflict -- Israeli views of Arabs and the world -- Arab States: domestic turmoil and regional rivalries -- Cold War and the Middle East: looking for allies, 1953-1955: -- Containment and the Northern Tier concept -- Baghdad Pact -- Israel, the Lavon affair, and the Gaza raid -- Gaza Raid and the Czech Arms Deal -- Israel and France draw closer -- Border clashes and blockade of the Straits of Tiran -- Countdown to Suez: failed diplomacy and dreams of Empire, January-November 1956: -- Carrots and sticks: projects and peace proposals -- Nasser nationalized the canal -- Invasion plans take shape -- Attaches and their aftermath -- Conclusion -- Questions for consideration -- Chronology -- Document 5-1: United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 [Palestinian Refugee Question]-progress report of the United Nations mediator, December 11, 1948 -- Document 5-2: Letter on the position of the Palestinian Refugees, November 17, 1949 -- Document 5-3: Gamal Abd al-Nasser, speech justifying nationalization of the Suez Canal Company, July 28, 1956 -- Document 5-4: Golda Meir, speech to the United Nations General Assembly, March 1, 1957 -- From Suez to the Six-Day War, 1957-1967: -- Struggle for Syria and the creation of the United Arab Republic, 1957-1958: -- United States, Syria, and the Cold War -- United Arab Republic: context and significance -- Lebanon: political strife, Civil War, and Regional crisis, 1957-1958: -- Maronite Catholics and Lebanese political alignments -- Lebanon's Civil War and the Iraqi Revolution -- Arab World in American Perspective: the Cold War context -- Inter-Arab and Arab-Israeli Tension, 1948-1964: -- Nasser strives to dominate Arab politics -- Water Wars: Israeli-Syrian Clashes and the Arab response -- Palestine question in Arab politics: the Palestine Liberation Organization and al-Fatah -- Israeli politics to 1967 -- Great-power rivalries in the Middle East to 1967: -- United States between Israel and the Arabs -- Lyndon Jonson and Israel -- Soviet Union and the Arab World -- Crisis escalates: military clashes, misleading assurances, and failed diplomacy: -- Syrian-Israeli tensions and threats -- Egyptian blockade of the Tiran Straits -- Israeli debates: Eshkol and the Generals -- Israel attacks: US assurances and the pending Egyptian Peace Initiative -- Six-Day War: Israel's conquests and American Expectations -- Conclusion -- Questions for consideration -- Chronology -- Document 6-1: Communique no 1 from Headquarters of Asifa Forces (Fatah), January 6, 1965 -- Document 6-2: Gamal Abd al-Nasser, speech to members of the Egyptian National Assembly, May 29, 1967 -- Document 6-3: Abba Eban, speech to the UN Security council on Israel's reasons for going to war, June 6, 1967 -- Land, War, And Diplomacy: Shifting Calculations In A Cold War Context, 1967-1976: -- Search for negotiating leverage, 1967-1971: -- Khartoum Conference -- Deliberate ambiguity: security council resolution -- Palestinian Agendas and their regional repercussions: -- Jordan and the Palestinians -- Palestinian factions and the PLO -- Lebanon, the Palestinians, and Israel -- Wars of attrition and Cold War diplomacy: the Rogers Plan: -- Competing agendas: Nixon Administration rivalries and Middle East Policy -- Globalism vs Regionalism under Nixon: analysis -- Jordan and the Palestinians, August-September 1970 -- Jordanian Crisis: regional and international repercussions -- 1973 War and its consequences: -- Arabs: seeking responses to signals -- Israel and the politics of expansion: the Galili Document -- 1973 War: the chance for diplomacy -- Tactics and ultimate intentions: the PLO and Israel, 1973-1977 -- Conclusion -- Questions for consideration -- Chronology -- Document 7-1: UN Security Council Resolution 242, November 22, 1967 -- Document 7-2: Palestinian National Charter: Resolutions of the Palestine National Council, July 1-17, 1968; PLO Resolution on Security Council Resolution 242, June 1974 -- Document 7-3: UN Security Council Resolution 338, October 22, 1973 -- Document 7-4: Yasir Arafat, address to the UN General Assembly, November 13, 1974 -- Document 7-5: Yosef Tekoah, response to Arafat's address, November 13, 1974 -- Lebanon, The West Bank, And The Camp David Accords: The Palestinian Equation In The Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1977-1984: -- Lebanese Civil War and its aftermath, 1975-1978: -- Roots of the Lebanese conflict -- Arab factions and alignments vis-a-vis Syria and Israel -- US diplomacy amid regional strife -- Carter Administration and Camp David, January 1977-September 1978: -- Carter's failed attempts to restructure negotiating parameters -- Road to Camp David, November 1977-September 1978 -- Camp David exchanges: the West Bank and the Gaza Strip -- Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty: the Carter Legacy -- Reagan Administration and the Arab-Israeli conflict: -- Anticommunist crusade: the Middle East in global perspective -- West Bank and Israeli Arabs between Jordan and Israel, 1948-1977 -- Sharon's vision: Israel, Israeli Arabs, and the West Bank, 1977-1982 -- Begin and the West Bank after Camp David -- Lebanon: the struggle for hegemony: -- Phalange-Likud alliance -- American Diplomacy and its impact -- Israeli invasion of Lebanon, August 1981-September 1982 -- America's Lebanon policy, September 1982-February 1984 -- Lebanon postscript, 1984-1991: the Taif Accord and Hizbollah -- Conclusion -- Questions for consideration -- Chronology -- Document 8-1: Platform of the Likud Coalition, March 1977 -- Document 8-2: Anwar al-Sadat, speech to the Israeli Knesset, November 20, 1977 -- Document 8-3: Menachem Begin, reply to President Sadat, November 20, 1977 -- Document 8-4: Framework for peace in the Middle East agreed at Camp David, September 17, 1978. From Pariah To Partner: The PLO And The Quest For Peace In Global And Regional Contexts, 1984-1993: -- Peace gambits, terrorism, and political strife, 1984-1987: -- Competing agendas and coalition politics: Israel and the Jordanian option -- Temporary allies: the Husayn-Arafat Accord -- United States and Israel: Cold War calculations -- Intifada: -- Roots of the Intifada -- Gaza Strip -- Intifada: the first two years, December 1987-December 1989 -- Intifada and Islamic resistance -- Intifada and international politics, 1988-1991 -- First Gulf Crisis: -- United States: motives and opportunities -- Arab and Israeli reactions to the Gulf Crisis -- Intifada, the Gulf Crisis, and the negotiating process -- Diplomacy and conflict: the Madrid talks, October 1991-Summer 1993 -- Conclusion -- Questions for consideration -- Chronology -- Document 9-1: Communique no-1 of the Intifada issued by the Unified National Leadership, January 8, 1988 -- Document 9-2: Leaflet no-1 of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), January 1988 -- Document 9-3: Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Peace Initiative of the National Unity Government, May 14, 1989 -- Israeli-Palestinian/Arab Negotiations And Agreements, 1993-1999: -- 1993 Oslo Accord: -- Terms -- Analysis of the Accord -- East Jerusalem and the Settlements -- Politics and economics of violence: -- Economic and diplomatic inequalities -- Prelude to Oslo 2 -- Oslo 2 and the Rabin assassination: -- Terms of the agreement -- Rabin assassination -- From Rabin to Netanyahu: the Peres Government and Likud's victory, November 1995-May 1996: -- Netanyahu Government, June 1996-July 1999: -- Reciprocity and confrontation -- Hebron Agreement, January 1997 -- Palestinian communal tensions and charges of corruption -- Mashal Affair -- Wye Memorandum and the collapse of the Netanyahu Coalition -- Jewish Communal Strife: the culture war intensifies -- Domestic and regional realignments, December 1998-July 1999 -- Conclusion -- Questions for consideration -- Chronology -- Document 10-1: Israeli-PLO Declaration of Principles, Washington, DC, September 13, 1993 -- Document 10-2: Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement (Oslo 2) on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, September 28, 1995 -- Document 10-3: Yitzhak Rabin's last speech at Tel Aviv Peace Rally, November 4, 1995 -- Oslo Process Undone: Camp David 2000, Palestinian Rebellion/Factionalism, and Israeli Unilateralism, 1999-2012: -- Prelude to Camp David, July 1999-July 2000 -- Camp David talks: background and context -- What happened at Camp David? July 2000: -- Initial negotiating positions -- Barak's proposal and Clinton's role -- Conflicting interpretations -- Subsequent diplomacy: -- Clinton parameters -- Taba discussions, January 2001 -- Second Intifada: -- Initial stage, September 2000-March 2001 -- Political context of the Intifada: Bush, Sharon, and Arafat -- Intensified conflict and suicide bombings: the Israeli barrier -- Iraq and the neoconservative vision of a US-Israeli strategic alliance -- Official and unofficial reports and peace efforts, 2001-2005: -- Sharm al-Sheikh fact-finding (Mitchell) committee -- Rose Garden address, June 2002 -- Road map vs the Rose Garden address -- Aqaba summit, June 2003 -- Geneva Initiative, October 2003 -- Israeli disengagement plan: -- Disengagement plan and Israeli politics -- Palestinian elections: Hamas, Fatah, and the peace process -- Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon: rockets, hostages, and political ambitions, 2006-2009 -- Fanfare and capitulation: Obama Administration peace efforts, 2009-2012: -- US peace efforts, 2009-2012 -- Regional developments and the peace process: the Arab spring and Iran's nuclear development -- Conclusion -- Questions for consideration -- Chronology -- Document 11-1: You'll miss me yet: interview with Marwan Barghouti, November 9, 2001 -- Document 11-2: Urgent thing, it is to unconditionally disengage ourselves from the territories: interview with Ami Ayalon, December 22, 2001 -- Document 11-3: Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan: key principles, April 2004 -- Document 11-4: Arab peace plan proposed by Saudi Arabia and adopted at Arab League Summit, Beirut, March 27, 2002 -- Document 11-5: President Obama's Cairo Speech on a new beginning to America's relations with the Islamic world, June 11, 2009 -- Document 11-6: Remarks by President Obama to the United Nations General Assembly, September 21, 2011 -- Epilogue -- Glossary -- Selected bibliography -- Index -- Chronology.