Israeli/Palestinian Conflict Subject Guide

SCOPE:

"History's legacy created divisive issues between Palestinians and Israelis. Judea, home of the Jews in ancient times, was conquered by the Romans and renamed Palestine. Palestine was later conquered and inhabited by Arabs for over a thousand years. The Zionist movement arose to restore the Jews to Israel, largely ignoring the existing Arab population. Following the Balfour Declaration in 1917, Palestine was granted to Britain as a League of Nations mandate to build a national home for the Jewish people. The Arabs resented the Jews coming in to take their land. Led by Grand Mufti Haj Amin El-Husseini, they rioted repeatedly and later revolted, creating a history of enmity between Jews and Arabs in Palestine. Britain stopped Jewish immigration to Palestine. Following the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis, pressure on Britain increased to allow Jewish immigration to Palestine. In 1947, the UN partitioned the land into Arab and Jewish states. The Arabs did not accept the partition and war broke out. The Jews won a decisive victory, expanded their state and created several hundred thousand Palestinian refugees. The Arab states refused to recognize Israel or make peace with it. Wars broke out in 1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982, and there were many terror raids and Israeli reprisals. Each side believes different versions of the same history. Each side views the conflict as wholly the fault of the other and expects an apology." (MidEastWeb 2003) In the Fall of 2003, the "Geneva Accords" were proposed. However, as of December 2003 no agreement has been reached and none appears forthcoming. (MidEastWeb 2003)

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

The following sources will allow you to become more familiar with your topic, will give you ideas for narrowing your topic, and will serve as a starting point for your further research.

SPEECH TABLE ITEMS
CQ Researcher Issues
Prospects for Midest Peace 2002 p.673+
Policing the Borders 2002 p.145+
Middle East Conflict 2001 p.273+

Israel: opposing viewpoints

The Arab-Israeli Conflict: contemporary issues companion

The Middle East: opposing viewpoints

REFERENCE ITEMS
Encyclopedia of Social Issues
REF HN 57 .E59

Encyclopedia of Sociology
REF HM 17 .E5

The Middle East Since 1914
REF DS 62.4 .O94

Encyclopedia of the Middle East
REF DS 43 .E53

Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Middle East
REF DS 44 .G37

SUGGESTED TOPICS:

This topic is one which can be studied from a number of aspects and points of view. Some of these might be:

• Is peace in the Middle East possible?
• Should Israelis establish new settlements in Palestinian territory?
• Do the beliefs of Islam make the chance for peace impossible?
• Do the beliefs of Judaism make peace impossible?
• Is the Israeli-Palestinian dispute responsible for all the conflicts in the Middle East?
• Has Israel violated the 4th Geneva Convention in its treatment of Palestinians?
• Do Palestinians have a right to an independent state?
• Does Israel have legitimate security needs?
• Is Israel responsible for Human Rights violations?
• Is Israel making too many concessions to the Palestinians?
• What role should the United States play in Israeli/Arab negotiations?
• Is the United Nations biased in dealing with Israeli/Arab conflicts?
• Is U.S. intervention helpful or harmful in the quest for peace in the Middle East?
• Does the PLO support terrorism?
• Have Israel and the Palestinians complied with the principles of the Oslo Accords?
• Is Hamas an important factor in the prospect for peace in Israel?
• What is the Israeli (Jewish) perspective on the conflict?
• What is the Palestinian (Arab) perspective on the conflict?
• Could the current Israeli-Palestinian crisis undermine the United States ' campaign against terrorism?
• Why did the peace talks in the 1990s break down?
• What are the most current issues or events effecting the possibility of peace?

LIBRARY CATALOG AND EBOOK SUBJECT HEADINGS

ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT SAMPLE CATALOG SEARCH

Arab-Israeli conflict
Israel
Palestine
Middle East
Jews
Arabs

BROWSE THESE CALL NUMBERS:

DS 63 through DS 126

FULL-TEXT DATABASES:

From your home computer, login using your borrower id (the number on the back of your student ID) and your pin (the last 4 digits of your VID number).

Academic Search Complete
An interdisciplinary database that provides access to approximately 4200 periodicals; over 3700 are in full-text.

CQ Researcher Plus Archive
In-depth reports on a current topic.

Expanded Academic ASAP
Offers abstracts, images, and full text for scholarly and general interest journals embracing all academic disciplines.

FirstSearch
A collection of approximately 50 databases many of which contain full-text periodicals.

Issues and Controversies
Full-text periodical articles provide overview information for controversial topics.

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LexisNexis Academic Universe
Full-text documents from over 5600 news, business, legal, medical and reference publications.

Newsbank
Full-text access to the complete text of local, regional, national and international newspapers.

OmniFile Full Text Mega
Full text articles, page images, article abstracts, and citations from thousands of sources.

Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center
Opinion, reference sources and full-text periodicals and books for thousands of controversial topics.

The Orlando Sentinel
Full-text of the newspaper from 1985 to the present.

SIRS Knowledge Source
Selected full-text popular periodical articles and government documents.

Social Sciences Full Text
Offers full-text and abstracts in a wide range of interdisciplinary fields covered in a broad array of social sciences journals.

WEB SITES:

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (PBS.org)

A Personal Diary of The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Webliography: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Understanding the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

U.S. Department of State (Roadmap to Solution... 04/2003)

MidEastWeb

Middle East and Jewish Studies

The Middle East Report

Israel Daily

Palestine Daily

Middle East Daily

Israeli Government Official Website

SAMPLE GOOGLE SEARCHES:

"Israeli-Palestinian conflict"
(phrase search)
"Israeli-Palestinian conflict" site:org
(phrase search and domain search)
intitle:Israel Palestine site:edu
(title and default AND search and domain search)
intitle:"middle east" war
(title phrase search with default AND search)
arab* jew* conflict or war site:org
(truncated keywords with default AND, keyword "or" search and domain search)
inurl:Israel
(url search)
inurl:Palestine
(url search)

EVALUATE YOUR SOURCES:

Distinguishing Between Popular and Scholarly Sources
Evaluating Data
Evaluating Internet Sources
Using Primary and Secondary Sources

CITE YOUR SOURCES:

APA Documentation of Print Sources
APA Documentation of Electronic Sources
APA Sample Paper

MLA Documentation of Print Sources
MLA Documentation of Electronic Sources
MLA Documentation of Reference Sources

Page maintained by Cathy Katz, Librarian
Valencia Community College
West Campus Library
Last revised 17 November 2008

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