Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice
122 State St, Rm 407, Madison
6:30 pm
Organized by the Peregrine Forum and supported by the Wisconsin Network for Peace Justice (WNPJ). The first class will provide broad historical background of the Middle East and the Abrahamic religions up to the 19th century and is a Prologue to our examination of the development of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict from the 1880s onward.
Admission is free but there will be some cost for recommended readings. The main text for the core classes is David Hirsts epic narrative history The Gun and the Olive Branch: the Roots of Violence in the Middle East (Nation Books, 3rd edition 2003). Hirst is a veteran British journalist who has covered the Middle East for decades; his book was first published in 1977. The book is available new in paperback for $18 and may also be available used. Of course, we urge you to purchase it through Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative.
In addition to the Hirst book there will be from time-to-time photocopies of various materials. The first of these is a copy of Palestine In a Nutshell by Amanda Roraback (Enisen Publishing 2004) which provides broad historical background useful for the first class. This reading is optional and we ask for a $5 donation to cover the cost.
The sequence for the core classes is:
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1) Prologue: History of the Middle East and the Abrahamic Religions;
2) Historic Palestine and the early Zionist Movement Through World War I (1880s-1919);
3) Mandate Palestine, the Rise of Nazism the European Holocaust (1920-World War II);
4) The Creation of Israel from the Biltmore Program Through the 1948 War Armistice (1942-1949);
5) The Arab-Israeli Conflict the Cold War (1949-1973);
6) The Israeli Occupation the Rise of the P.L.O. and Likud (1974-86);
7) Intifadas, Radical Islam, the Peace Process (1987-2010).
Contact: David Williams and Stephen Wolvin, co-presenters at dvdwilliams51 (at) tds.net or 608-442-8399.