For this assignment, each student will provide a researched oral presentation with visuals (either power point or a website or old-fashioned poster board) given to the class on one of the major sectors of Israeli/Palestinian society (no more than 10 minutes) or providing and introduction to one of the authors we’re reading in order to help contextualize the complexity of these societies and the historical events surrounding them.

For the oral presentation, students will be responsible for consulting at least 10 sources and citing no less than five in their projects. They will give a basic overview of the topic, its relevance to either the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict or the Israeli-Arab conflict (and in some cases both) by connecting it to one of the topoi we have discussed in class. They will explain its rhetorical salience for multiple audiences and discuss the multiple contexts in which it circulates. They will select visuals they think are representative, and create a hand-out to be distributed to the class. (A more detailed prompt along with evaluation criteria is forthcoming.) They will provide a 1-2 page annotated bibliography and upload it to our class’s shared Googledoc.

Possible Topics: Bedouins, Druze (and Circassions), West Bank/Gazan Palestinians, Israeli-Palestinians (also sometimes called Israeli-Arabs or Arab-Israelis), Christian Palestinians, Samaritans, Ethiopian Jews, Russian Jews, Mizrachi Jews (Morroccan, Iraqi, Iranian, Yeminite Jews), Israeli Defense Forces, Ultra-Orthodox Jews (Haredim), Jewish Settlers, Mizrachi Jews and  Israeli Black Panthers; Palestinian Jerusalemites; Irgun; Deir Yassin,  Rhetorical/Historical Importance of the 1967 War, First Lebanon War, Second Lebanon War, IDF and Israeli Ethos, Critical Reception of Sacco’s Palestine, Critical Background/Reception of Boianjiu, Critical Reception of Libicki’s Jobnick, Introduction to Pekar/Waldman Birthright/Taglit.