BA History and Sociology

This course unit provides an introduction to causes, consequences and controversies associated with the emergence, development and consolidation of the conflict in Palestine/Israel from 1882 until the 1967 war. Emphasis is placed on both the socio-political and diplomatic aspects of the conflict. This is a Year 1 course.As such, it assumes no knowledge about the topic; students who for whatever reason happen to be somewhat knowledgeable about the topic – or perhaps think that they are -- may find this fact fortunate or unfortunate; yet this course is intentionally geared toward those new to the subject.

On successful completion of this course participants should have developed:

• skills for critical analysis of one of the world’s single most covered political conflicts;
• general understanding of main processes in the formation of the 20th Century Middle East;
• foundational ability to apply acquired knowledge to broader Middle Eastern histories as well as to regional and meta-regional themes (such as the phenomenon of modern nationalism).

On completion of this unit successful participants should:

• reach a primary level of factual empirical knowledge in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict; 
• be able to discuss and analyse the development of the conflict intelligently and in nuance;
• comprehend the principal narratives of its protagonists involved;
• be able to comment in an informed manner on a range of controversies surrounding this conflict.

The foundational knowledge acquired is essential for any position in the private or public sector that deals with Israel/Palestine and helpful for any work that relates to the Middle East due to the centrality of the question to the region.  

Assessment task	Weighting within unit (if summative)
Book review essay	40%
Exam	60%

 

Resit Assessment 

Assessment task

Exam

 

Feedback method	Formative or Summative
Oral feedback
Written feedback on essay	Formative
Additional one-to-one feedback (during the consultation hour or remotely)	Formative

 

Charles D. Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992). Any edition of the book will do.  

Secondary articles will be retrieved via jstor.org and uploaded to course Canvas. 

Meetings with Academic Advisers (4) 

2 office hours weekly 

Primary sources and lecture notes are in Canvas.

Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2027 will be £10,050 per annum. Tuition fees for international students will be £29,200 per annum.

For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

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As an international student you may be eligible for our Global Futures Scholarships . This is open to students starting their studies in September 2026.