Understanding Israeli Security Policy: Territory, Occupations and Withdrawals - JPM808

• Title: Understanding Israeli Security Policy: Territory, Occupations and Withdrawals
• Guaranteed by: Department of International Relations (23-KMV)
• Faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences
• Actual: from 2023
• Semester: summer
• E-Credits: 4
• Examination process: summer s.:
• Hours per week, examination: summer s.:2/0, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: 30 / unknown (20)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment; priority enrollment if the course is part of the study plan
• Guarantor: Dr. Irena Kalhousová
• Teacher(s): Dr. Robert Geist Pinfold; Dr. Irena Kalhousová
• Class: Courses for incoming students

Annotation

Last update: Dr. Irena Kalhousová (20.02.2024)

Lecturer: Dr. Rob Geist Pinfold (Durham University and Charles University)
Email: [e-mail]

Timetable:

Lecture 1 (Intro): February 29, 17:00 CET via Zoom https://huji.zoom.us/j/3188121519

Lectures in Prague:

March 18, 11:00-12:20 B317
March 19, 14:00-15:20 B330
March 20, 14:00-15:20 B329
March 21, 15:30-16:50 B317
March 22, 12:30-13:50 B330
March 25, 11:00-12:20 B317
March 26, 14:00-15:20 B330
March 27, 14:00-15:20 B329


Reading and assignments are available in Moodle:
https://dl2.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=5440

Participation in all classes is mandatory.

Course Description:
The current conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is once again the focus of regional actors and the international community alike. This and Israel’s previous conflicts with its Arab neighbours are consistently underlined by one commonality: the struggle for territory. Concurrently, Israeli security policy has always been closely linked to predominant understandings of the strategic utility of territory. Nevertheless, how the Israeli public and decision-makers frame territory is fluid and has evolved over time. Sometimes, Israel has withdrawn from territory; on other occasions, policy-makers have deemed territorial control an existential issue that will determine Israel’s survival. Today, Israel retains control over the West Bank and Golan Heights, whilst it has previously left the Sinai Peninsula, southern Lebanon. In 2005, it left the Gaza Strip, but re-occupied that territory after the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. By focusing on these territorial withdrawals and non-withdrawals and past and present conflicts between Israel and its neighbours, this course traces the perceived and actual link between security and territory, in Israeli policy-making and society. This course is recommended for students seeking a deeper immersion in the Israel-Arab conflict and for those who want to understand the origins and potential consequences of the current Israel/Gaza war. This course will be particularly useful for students who seek to better understand a prolonged conflict that still shapes the Middle East and persistently captures the attention of audiences and decision-makers, across the globe.