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Palestine/Israel: A Primer: About

Abstract

This is not a comprehensive history of Palestine/Israel. This is a primer on the pertinent historical context for understanding the current conflict. On October 7, 2023, the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an attack inside Israel killing 1,139 people and taking 251 hostages. In the subsequent retaliatory attacks, Israel has killed over 40,000 Palestinians as of August 2024.

Information is structured using guiding questions that often do not have a concrete answer. Instead, different perspectives are presented, as long as they are grounded in identifiable fact. As you approach this topic, I encourage you to retain curiosity, humility, and respect.

Guiding Questions

This guide is structured using open-ended questions, with an activity at the end using AI.

  • Who is indigenous to the land?  
  • What were the demographics of Ottoman Palestine?
  • How did populations coexist in Ottoman Palestine?
  • How culpable is Britain?
  • What bearing does antisemitism have on Palestine/Israel?
  • Was 1948 a Nakba or an Independence Day?
  • Who is the aggressor? Who is the arbiter of what constitutes a reasonable compromise?
  • How legitimate is Hamas?
  • How does the issue of settlements weigh on an imagined future peace?
  • Activity
  • Works Cited and Suggested Readings
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