College Syllabus: “Arabs in a Jewish State: The Arab Minority in Israel — Between Integration and Alienation”

“Arabs in a Jewish State: The Arab Minority in Israel — Between Integration and Alienation”

Eli Rekhess, Undergraduate Seminar, Northwestern University, Fall 2012

This seminar focuses on minority-majority relations in Israel, with special emphasis on three areas: first, the effect of modernization on the more traditional Arab society; second, the dilemma of national identity (the interrelations among the Israeli, Arab, Palestinian and Muslim/Christian components and the impact of the PLO and Hamas), political participation (Knesset) and the struggle of the Arab minority for equality; and, third, the developments after the Oslo Accords, the establishment of the Palestinian Authority and the Second Intifada (the October 2000 uprising), the discourse over the “Jewish and democratic” nature of Israel, and the search for alternative models, including “State of its Citizens,” separatism and autonomy. The syllabus includes an additional bibliography.