Essay
WW II Middle East
The module should deal with political experiments, successes, and setbacks in the post-WW II Middle East. Briefly discuss a minimum of four experiments, successes, and setbacks from Egypt, Israel/Palestine, Iran, and Iraq between 1948 and the present. What was the broader historical context behind the event? What made a particular event a success and/or a setback, and for whom? How did people experience these events? What were the broader geopolitical, ideological, social, and economic factors that explain them?
Include a clearly stated thesis. I recommend the following format: “In this paper, I argue that A, B, C, and D were the most important events/developments of the roughly sixty years following WW II in the Middle East.” Or: “It is the main argument of this paper that the turbulent history of the post-WW II Middle East was largely the result of….” [Don’t use these examples verbatim!]
Draw on the lectures, PowerPoints, student presentations, readings (I will send them directly), and videos/films. You should include a handful of relevant primary sources in your discussion (look for excerpts from speeches on the slides or the readings or on video/film). Secondary sources need to be cited when needed. No outside research permitted! Essays that appear to have been generated by a chatbot will automatically receive zero points. Length: 4-5 pages, double-spaced, 12 font, regular margins (longer papers are acceptable)
Attach a work cited page for readings and films. You don’t need to cite information from lectures and PowerPoints.
Civil War in Palestine, end of Nov. 1947 to mid-May 1948
The conquest and massacre of Deir Yasin, April 1948
The Arab-Israeli war
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouoj22s5qtc (Nakba archive)
The reality: Destruction, expulsion, and war crimes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUUPc9gE4o8 [Tantura, 6min.]
– • – [BBC 6 min.]- •
– • Right: Palmach sappers posing in a ruined village
– Cold War politics
• Postwar decolonization
• Cold War context: rival super-powers and their proxies
• Non-alignment
• Baghdad Pact
• British and American pressure to join – 1967 war: Six days that changed the Middle East – UN Security Council Resolution 242, Nov. 22, 1967- https://ecf.org.il/media_items/432z – https://www.un.org/press/en/2016/sc12657.doc.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_David_Accords
– WESTERN ETHNOCENTRISM AND PERCEPTIONS OF THE HAREM, by Leila Ahmed
– Baghdad: A solitary walk through a crime scene. Nabil Salih
https://www.britannica.com/place/Egypt/World-War-II-and-its-aftermath
–
The Film Once upon a time in Iraq (2020)
The Film Offside (2006) The
Film is about women in Iran. https://www.veoh.com/watch/v87901447cqzFWHY5
Note: When writing about Iraq, please use the attached film as a
primary source, in addition to what attached here only
