Israel-Palestine Conflict

A native of Montreal, Neil Caplan received his Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Since retiring from teaching in 2008 he has held an affiliate position in the History Department of Concordia University and is Scholar-in-Residence at Vanier College, both in Montreal. He is the author of numerous scholarly articles and eight books, including Futile Diplomacy, a 4-volume documentary history of Zionist-Arab and Arab-Israeli negotiations, 1913-1956 and (with Laura Z. Eisenberg) Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: Patterns, Problems, Possibilities. His most recent publication is My Struggle for Peace: The Diary of Moshe Sharett, 1953-1956, co-edited with Yaakov Sharett.

• List of Maps xiPreface to the First Edition xiiiPreface to the Second 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 36The Conflict in Comparative Perspective: Three Paradigms 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 86Turning Point: The (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: Victims versus Victims, Once Again 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 165The Palestine Question at the United Nations 1719 From Camp David to the West Bank to Lebanon 181Camp David and the Israel–Egypt Peace Process 181The West Bank and Gaza after Camp David 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 From Breakthrough to Breakdown, 1995–2018 219Continuing Diplomatic Efforts 220The Al‐Aqsa Intifada 223Changes in the Geo‐Strategic Environment 225Three Gaza Wars, Three Blueprints for Peace 227The Annapolis Process and Kerry’s Shuttle Diplomacy 230Part III Towards a More Useful Discussion of the Arab–Israeli Conflict 24312 Writing about the Conflict 245On the Shortcomings of “Myths versus Facts” 246Objectivity and Bias in Academe 248Scholars and Activists 252Israel’s “New Historians” 257Missed Opportunities 259Trends in Palestinian and Israeli Historiography 26513 Grappling with the Obstacles 277Issues versus Rights 277The Shape of the Future: What “Solutions”? 279Unwinnable Core Arguments 285Righteous Victimhood 286Imagining Dialogue 289Reducing Some Obstacles to Understanding the Conflict 291Telling It Like It Is 294Chronology 305Bibliography 319Index 355