Since 1948, Israel and its Arab neighbors have been involved in five major wars, while Middle East politics have been consumed by the political struggle between Israel and the Palestinian nationalist movement. The Arab-Israeli conflict has been one of the most deeply-contested relationships in international politics in the twentieth century. On the other hand, Israel has signed peace treaties with two of its Arab neighbors and is involved with negotiations with others. It is involved in negotiations with Palestinians-and with itself-over the future of the West Bank. What are the foundations of conflict and cooperation in the Middle East? What are the prospects for war and peace? What are the implications of the creation-or the failure to create-a Palestinian state? This course provides a theoretically and historically grounded framework to address such questions and examines the potential for cooperative solutions. Format: seminar. Requirements: a research paper, a couple of response papers and an exam. No prerequisites. International Relations Subfield