Daniel Aaron Lazar » World Civ-Middle East

Pro-Con.org on Israel-Palestine

Dan Lazar — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 15:21:43 +0000

At the risk of being reductive, Pro-Con.org attempts to succinctly summarize both sides of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

What The Arab Spring Means For Israel And Palestine

Dan Lazar — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 15:05:01 +0000

Robert Malley is a lawyer and conflict resolution specialist. From 1998 to 2001, he was the special assistant to President Bill Clinton for Arab-Israeli Affairs. During that time, he helped organize the 2000 Camp David Summit.

He discusses the impact and potential impacts of the Arab Spring on Israel and Palestine with Terri Gross.

Heart of the Rev

Dan Lazar — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 04:07:46 +0000

“heART of the revolution” is an online exhibit displaying art from around the world in support of the recent uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East. Website presented by elev8. elev8 aims to educate and empower through the arts.

Dynamic Map of Middle East

Dan Lazar — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 03:52:04 +0000

5000 years in 90 seconds. What might we infer from this display?

Dirk Vandewalle on Gadhafi’s World

Dan Lazar — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 03:48:03 +0000

Dirk Vandewalle, an associate professor of government at Dartmouth College, gives an inside look at Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and his 42-year rule. Vandewalle has studied and written about Libya since the 1980s. In 1986 he lived in Libya for 14 months, the only Western scholar there at the time.

Note: sorry about the 10 minute discussion of Gadaffi’s wardrobe. But it is kind of interesting insofar as his attire is symbolic of his self perception and eccentricity.

Guided questions are here.

The Arab uprisings v. European revolutions

Dan Lazar — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 03:27:33 +0000

Here is a comparative analysis of 1848 Revolutions and 2011 Arab Revolts from Anne Applebaum at Slate.

And then the New York Review of Books offers a similar comparison

Andrew Sullivan could hardly resist blogging about this tempting comparison.

The Israel Lobbyin the US

Dan Lazar — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:47:48 +0000

Documentary critical of the U.S. Israel Lobby

Video of a heated round table conference

Video–Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East

Dan Lazar — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 06:03:34 +0000

Kingmakers is the story of how the modern Middle East came to be, told through the lives of the Britons and Americans who shaped it. Some are famous (Lawrence of Arabia and Gertrude Bell); others infamous (Harry St. John Philby, father of Kim); some forgotten (Sir Mark Sykes, Israel’s godfather, and A. T. Wilson, the territorial creator of Iraq); some controversial (the CIA’s Miles Copeland and the Pentagon’s Paul Wolfowitz).

All helped enthrone rulers in a region whose very name is an Anglo-American invention. Co-authors Karl E. Meyer and Shareen Blair Brysac elaborate on these ideas and take questions on their book.

Watch it here (70 minutes)

Learning to Live With Radical Islam

Dan Lazar — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:15:30 +0000

The militants are bad people and this is bad news. But the more difficult question is, what should we-the outside world-do about it? That we are utterly opposed to such people, and their ideas and practices, is obvious. But how exactly should we oppose them? In Pakistan and Afghanistan, we have done so in large measure by attacking them-directly with Western troops and Predator strikes, and indirectly in alliance with Pakistani and Afghan forces. Is the answer to pour in more of our troops, train more Afghan soldiers, ask that the Pakistani military deploy more battalions, and expand the Predator program to hit more of the bad guys? Perhaps-in some cases, emphatically yes-but I think it’s also worth stepping back and trying to understand the phenomenon of Islamic radicalism.

Read on from Fareed Zakaria and respond to these Qs

Primary Sources of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Dan Lazar — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:55:20 +0000

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

Why Do They Hate Us?

Dan Lazar — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:50:58 +0000

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 these questions

Israel Palestine DBQ

Dan Lazar — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:46:07 +0000

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.

Israel-Palestine Assignment One

Dan Lazar — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:42:09 +0000

Your task is to use:

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.

Does Abe Foxman Have an Anti-Semite Problem?

Dan Lazar — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 19:40:42 +0000

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 ï¿½ 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.

Can You Tell a Sunni From a Shiite?

Dan Lazar — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 12:17:31 +0000

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

Chomsky on Lebanon Crisis

Dan Lazar — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 20:03:15 +0000

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

Book Decries ‘Fiasco’ in Iraq

Dan Lazar — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 19:08:51 +0000

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

Thomas Friedman on Syria’s Role in the Mideast Conflict

Dan Lazar — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 19:01:27 +0000

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

Middle East Conflict: An Israeli View of Peace

Dan Lazar — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 18:48:35 +0000

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

Ahmed Rashid, Reporting on Islamist Groups

Dan Lazar — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 18:47:17 +0000

Before most Americans had heard of the Taliban, Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid wrote a book about them. After the Sept. 11 attacks, it became a best-seller. Rashid’s recent reporting for English-language newspapers involves Islamist militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Listen Here