Daniel Aaron Lazar

Primary Sources of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Israel’s Declaration of Independence
Declaration of Principles of Self-Government

The Camp David Accords

Clinton’s Letter to Arafat

G.W. Bush’s Middle East Speech

Rabin’s Last Speech

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Why Do They Hate Us?

To dismiss the terrorists as insane is to delude ourselves. Bin Laden and his fellow fanatics are products of failed societies that breed their anger. America needs a plan that will not only defeat terror but reform the Arab world

To the question “Why do the terrorists hate us?” Americans could be pardoned for answering, “Why should we care?” The immediate reaction to the murder of 5,000 innocents is anger, not analysis. Yet anger will not be enough to get us through what is sure to be a long struggle. For that we will need answers. The ones we have heard so far have been comforting but familiar. We stand for freedom and they hate it. We are rich and they envy us. We are strong and they resent this. All of which is true. But there are billions of poor and weak and oppressed people around the world. They don’t turn planes into bombs. They don’t blow themselves up to kill thousands of civilians. If envy were the cause of terrorism, Beverly Hills, Fifth Avenue and Mayfair would have become morgues long ago. There is something stronger at work here than deprivation and jealousy. Something that can move men to kill but also to die.

Read the rest of the Zakaria piece here and respond to the questions provided.

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Israel Palestine DBQ

The online DBQ is here

Perhaps it might be useful to review your rubric for this DBQ.

Be sure to publish your DBQ online in the “comments” link below.

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Israel-Palestine Assignment One

Your task is to use:

1. The Timeline
2. The Maps at the BBC website
3. The Camp David Accords
4. The Clinton Proposal
5. The Mitchell Report
   
6. The Performance Based Road Map for Peace

In order to:

• Analyze the timeline and the maps. You need to understand the evolution of this crisis.
• Use specific examples to fill in the grid . You may download the grid here
• Respond to the “Questions for Discussion” sheet. You may download the sheet here

After which point you will:

Use specific evidence to construct a 1-2 page single spaced essay which describes how and why the Israeli-Palestinian border has been one of turmoil and conflict.

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Does Abe Foxman Have an Anti-Semite Problem?

In certain precincts of the Jewish community, a person who insists that the sky is falling, despite ample evidence to the contrary, is said to “gevaltize” a neologism derived from the famous Yiddish cry of shock or alarm. The word is sometimes applied to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, known as Aipac, the hard-line and notoriously successful pro-Israel lobby. But in the world of Jewish leaders, one man stands alone in the annals of gevalthood � Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League and scourge of anti-Semites of high estate and low, in Hollywood and Tehran, on campus and in the tabloids.

Read more about Foxman from the NY Times

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Can You Tell a Sunni From a Shiite?

Jeff Stein, the national security editor at Congressional Quarterly, argues that too many [U.S.] officials in charge of the war on terrorism just don’t care to learn much, if anything, about the enemy we’re fighting. And that’s enough to keep anybody up at night. Read more here

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Chomsky on Lebanon Crisis

Noam Chomsky: U.S.-Backed Israeli Policies Pursuing “End of Palestine”; Hezbollah Capture of Israeli Soldiers “Very Irresponsible Act” That Could Lead To “Extreme Disaster”

Click to watch the interview

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Book Decries ‘Fiasco’ in Iraq

Thomas Ricks, senior Pentagon correspondent for The Washington Post, talks about his new book, Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, Ricks, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, takes a hard look at the American military invasion and occupation of Iraq.

I read much Ricks’ book and can vouch for the validity of his insider’s view.
Listen Here

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Thomas Friedman on Syria’s Role in the Mideast Conflict

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman just returned from a trip to Israel, Jordan and Syria. He talks with us about the war between Israel and Hezbollah, and where Syria fits in. Friedman’s most recent book is The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century.

Listen to interview here

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Middle East Conflict: An Israeli View of Peace

Peace negotiator Yossi Beilin is a member of Israel’s Knesset (Parliament) and chairman of the Meretz-Yachad party. Dr. Beilin has had posts in the governments of Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Ehud Barak. Beilin held unofficial peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians in 2003, which led to the Geneva Initiative, and was one of the architects of the Oslo Accords, signed in 1993.

Listen to the story here

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