Middle East 101, Week XIII

From the First Intifada to the Oslo Accords

My apologies: It’s Sunday already, and I still haven’t mailed this out. Bad time management on my part.

But it wouldn’t be a bad thing at all if we took an extra week. I wanted to assign more reading about the Oslo Accords, but I was reluctant to overburden you. Then I very much regretted it, because I felt I hadn’t assigned enough for you to have a sense of what happened. So if it’s okay with all concerned, I suggest we focus on the First Intifada tomorrow and the Oslo Accords next Sunday. (We’ll discuss this when we meet tomorrow.)

For next week, then—not tomorrow—please read:

• Why the Oslo Peace Process failed, by Aaron David Miller. It’s paywalled, so I’ll put a PDF in the Google Drive.

• The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process: Oslo and the Lessons of Failure, edited by Robert L. Rothstein, Moshe Ma’oz, and Khalil Shikaki. I have a copy, but it’s not a PDF, so I’m looking for one—does anyone have one? Failing that, I’ll scan it and upload it to the Google Drive. But I’d much rather find a PDF.

• The Failure of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process, 1993-2000, by Oren Barak. This is a theory-heavy paper: He appeals to the academic literature on conflict and peace, arguing that the key mistake was failing to appreciate that this was not an inter-state but an inter-group conflict. I think he makes a good case.

Primary documents: I’ve linked to the key documents in the chronology below. Please have a look at them, but there’s no need to get bogged down trying to figure out where every last road was supposed to go: Just make sure you have a general sense of what each agreement was supposed to do.

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Chronology

December 8, 1987: The First Intifada begins when an Israeli truck hits a car carrying Palestinian laborers at a checkpoint in Gaza, killing four. The event triggers wild rumors, massive protests, and violence across the occupied territories.

December 9, 1987: Demonstrations break out in the Jabaliya refugee camp, resulting in a soldier killing seventeen-year-old Hatem al-Sisi. Protests immediately spread through the Gaza, Jerusalem, and the West Bank. Rock-throwing, blocked roads, and tire burnings are reported across the territories.