List of Maps xi
Preface to the First Edition xiii
Preface to the Second Edition xv
Preface to the Third Edition xv
Abbreviations xvii
Note on Sources xix
Part I Introduction 1
1 Problems in Defining the Conflict 3
What's in a Name? 4
Loaded Terminology 5
Maps 7
Dates and Periodization 10
An Ongoing Conflict: Tractable or Intractable? 13
Conflict Resolution or Conflict Management? 14
The "Other" Arab-Israeli Conflict 15
Advocacy and Censure 16
2 Defining the Conflict, Nevertheless 21
Who Are the Conflicting Parties? 21
What Are the Main Issues in Contention among the Parties to the Conflict? 25
Competing Narratives: Right versus Right, Victim versus Victim 33
Ways of Visualizing the Conflict 34
Analogies and Parables 36
Comparisons and Paradigms
Six Explanations 37
Part II Histories in Contention 43
3 Background to 1917: Origins of Conflict 45
Ancient Ties and Historical Memories 45
Early Encounters: 1880s-1914 48
An Unseen Question? 50
Colonialism and Nationalism 51
Victims versus Victims 55
4 Arabs and Jews under the British Mandate:
Entrenching Positions, 1917-1928 61
Wartime Commitments: Palestine as the "Much Too Promised Land" 61
Britain's "Dual Obligation" 64
The Mandate and Its Implementation: Cycle of Protests and Inquiry Commissions 67
Clashes and Confrontations during the Early Years of the Mandate 70
Zionist Responses to Palestinian-Arab Opposition 71
"Making the Desert Bloom" 73
The Deceptive Lull 77
5 Collapse of the Mandate: Rebellion, Partition, White Paper, 1929-1939 83
Radicalization of Palestinian Politics 83
General Strike and Rebellion, 1936 86
The (Peel) Royal Commission 87
Retreat from Partition 91
The Resort to Force: Violence, Terrorism, and National Struggles 92
6 Shoah, Atzma'ut, Nakba: 1939-1949 105
The Holocaust and Jewish Immigration to Palestine 105
The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry 110
UNSCOP and the Creation of Israel 111
War: Atzma'ut and Nakba 115
Nakba and Shoah: Ongoing Victimhood 123
7 Israel and the Arab States, 1949-1973 133
The Palestinian Issue after 1949 133
From Armistice to Non¿Peace 136
Low¿Intensity Border Warfare, 1949-1956 139
From War to War, I (1949-1956) 142
From War to War, II (1957-1967) 145
From War to War, III (1967-1973) 150
8 Back to the Core: Israel and the Palestinians 163
Primal Fears, New Militancy 163
The Re¿Emergence of the Palestinian National Movement after 1967 165
"True" Intentions of the Palestinians The Palestine Question at the United Nations 171
9 Decade of Transition, 1973-1983 181
Camp David and the Israel-Egypt Peace Process 181
The West Bank and Gaza: "Disputed" or "Occupied" Territories? 184
Operation "Peace for Galilee": Israel Invades Lebanon, 1982 188
Righteous Victimhood in the 1980s 189
10 From Mutual Boycott to Mutual Recognition, 1982-1995 199
Peace Plans and Planting Seeds 199
The First Intifada and the Gulf War, 1987-1991 201
Madrid and Oslo: A New Peace Process 206
11 Breakdown and Stalemate, 1995-2016 219
Continuing Diplomatic Efforts 220
Camp David II and Taba
The Al¿Aqsa Intifada 223
Changes in the GeöStrategic Environment 225
"Last Chance" for the Two-State Solution?
The Arab Peace Initiative
The Geneva Accord
The Annapolis Process
Kerry's Shuttle Diplomacy
Alternatives to Oslo
12 From Stalemate to Explosion, 2016-2025 245
Gaza Flashpoint
The Trump Plan & the Abraham Accords
Conventional Wisdom Challenged
7 October 2023: A Turning Point?
Part III Towards a More Useful Discussion of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 243
13 Writing about the Conflict 245
The "Myths versus Facts" Approach 246
Bias and Objectivity in Academe 248
Conflict on the Campus
Scholars and Activists 252
Israel's "New Historians" 257
The "Missed Opportunities" Approach 259
Trends in Palestinian and Israeli Historiography 265
14 Grappling with the Obstacles 277
Issues versus Rights 277
Unwinnable Core Arguments 285
Righteous Victimhood & National Traumas 286
Imagining Dialogue 289
Reducing Some Obstacles to Understanding the Conflict 291
The Shape of the Future: One State or Two? 279
Telling It Like It Is 294
Bibliography 319
Index 355
