1936-1939 Palestine Revolt

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

A seminar on one of modern Palestine’s most seminal, formative, but forgotten chapters: the 1936-1939 Great Arab Revolt. The first major, sustained confrontation between Arabs and Jews over the Holy Land, it cost thousands of lives on all sides and profoundly influenced the trajectory for the Middle East conflict ever since. In exploring the revolt and its lasting repercussions, this course will investigate themes including the origins of Palestinian nationalism and identity, the emergence of Jewish military power, and the Zionist ‘counter-rebellion’ – economic, geographical and ideological. It will examine the first attempt (and failure) at a two-state solution, the legacy of Britain’s suppression of the uprising for Palestinian self-determination, and the consequences of the 1939 White Paper that barred most Jews from Palestine on the eve of the Holocaust. Students will engage deeply with primary-source material including archival documents, Mandatory reports, Jewish and Arab diaries and correspondence, and with a diverse array of secondary sources including the instructor’s Palestine 1936. Students will be expected to actively participate in seminar discussion, present a research presentation, and submit a final seminar paper.