This course will examine the development of the modern Zionist movement and its interconnection with the Israeli-Palestinian relationship. Students will first explore the birth of Zionism at the end of the 19th century as a fundamental response to the modern Jewish question of how Jews fit into the modern state. We will then examine the three major approaches to Zionism: political, religious and cultural, which demonstrate a tension between viewing the modern State of Israel as a source of Jewish normalization or uniqueness in the modern period. Next, students will learn about the different periods of Jewish settlement in Palestine leading up to the War of Independence in 1948 and look at the different Zionist approaches to coexistence with the existing Arab population. The final section of the course will examine how Zionist approaches have evolved since the period following the Holocaust and the 1967 War through the present based on the challenges of coexistence between Israeli Jews and Arabs and the growing conflict with the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Thursdays beginning February 22 through March 28 from 6:30 PM - 7:20 PM
Cost: $90

Faculty: Dr. Marc Krell