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JUST 3011: Land and Culture of Israel : Unit 2

An OER site for Avraham Weber, Fall 2023

Week 6

Oct 3 and Oct 5

The 1948 Generation: The Akedah and The Nakba

 

WATCH: Image of Victory (2021 – on Netflix). For those without Netflix, Instructor will make available.

READ:

HI: p. 155-176

ITME: p. 72-92

Supplementary Reading:

*-Alterman, “The Silver Platter”

*-S. Yizhar, “The Prisoner” (Alter, 290-310)

*Benny Morris, 1948

October 3rd

TopicA New State: Ashkenazim and Sephardim

READ:

HI: p. 179-247

ITME: p. 102-105; The Law of Return

Discussion: In what ways does Sallah Shabbati satirize the state of Israel? Do you find this satire to be effective? Why or why not?

Supplementary Reading: 

*-Ella Shohat, “The Bourekas and Sephardi Representation,” in Israeli Cinema. Available with free acccount at Archive.org, or in BC Library.

October 5th

Topic: A New State in the Shadow of the Holocaust -Reparations Agreement and the Eichmann Affair

Week 7

Growing Pains—The Fifties

Documents:

         The Debate on a Constitution

         The Law of Return

         The German Reparations

         The Brother Daniel Case

The Capture of Adolf Eichmann

READ*: Hanoch Bartov, excerpt from The Brigade

*Sharon Geva on the Eichmann Trial

HI: p. 248-268;

ITME: p. 106-108; 167-168

WATCH – excerpts from Eichmann Trial

October 12th and October 17th

Facing the Other: Jews and Arabs

*-A.B. Yehoshua, “Facing the Forests” (Alter, p. 351-392)

READ: *-Yitzhak Epstein reading from TJMW

-Other influences on Israeli culture- food and music

Discussion: What is Yehoshua’s critique of Zionist policy in Facing the Forests? What metaphors does he use in the story and are they appropriate?

Week 8

Nasser and the Suez crisis

October 19th and October 24th

1967, Greater Israel, Yom Kippur, and the Loss of Innocence

            HI: p. 271-353

ITME: p. 220-250

FILM: Late Summer Blues (if available) or Valley of Tears (2020)

READ: *-Charles Liebman, “The Myth of Defeat: The Memory of the Yom Kippur War in Israeli Society”

*-Excerpt from Michael Oren, Six Days of War

October 24th discussion: Late Summer Blues or Valley of Tears

WATCH: Waltz with Bashir on Lebanon War, 1982 (2008)

Week 9

October 26th and October 31st

The Haredi-Hiloni Divide; A State of Jews or a Jewish State?

Discussion: Read op-ed on the “other two state solution.” What is the author’s argument about needing to separate Israel into religious and secular states? How might Israel reconcile the internal (and growing) divide between the haredim and hilonim?

Zvi Yehuda Kook (ZI) 

Optional FILM: Ushpizin

*Peter Lintl, “The Haredim as a Challenge for the Jewish State” SWP, 2020

*“Statehood vs. Peoplehood” and the meaning of Zionism

Documents:

 

*Gush Emunim (ZI) 

* Halkin, Letter to an American Jewish Friend (ZI)

Week 10

November 2st and November 7th

The Intifadas, The Territories, The Peace Process and Israeli Society: Shir Le-Shalom before and after Rabin

ITME: p. 560-564

HI: p. 357-466

-Israeli Music in the 1980s and 90s Gadalnu Yachad

READ: *The Yellow Wind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4rlCeQsCoM (The Sticker Song)

WATCH THE SETTLERS documentary

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5278914/