מתן,

הנה ההצעה לקורס לאורחים הזרים.

הרעיון המרכזי: לקבץ חלק משמעותי מן הסוגיות השונות שהעלת בתכנית ששלחת (ושבעיני מכסה את כל הדברים החשובים) לתוך מסגרת קוהרנטית אחת. זה מבוסס על קורסים שנתתי לאורך השנים באוניברסיטאות בחו"ל.

אם נראה לך אתקדם ואצרף את קטעי הקריאה.

אני מציע שגם ניתן לכל אחד מהם ספר מתנה שנוגע בסוגיות המרכזיות דרך נרטיב אישי. אולי הספר של ארי שביט ?

אודי

Israel: History, politics, society, culture, economy, and security

Dr. Ehud Eiran

Mabal 2022-2023 (introduction to Israel for international officers)

General

The course offers a coherent framework for understanding Israel’s current political, societal, cultural, economic, and security-related realities. This, through an investigation of core developments in Zionist and Israeli history and politics.

The course focuses on three elements. First, Israel grew out of an ideational framework. Both an ancient one, but most of all, a modern interpretation of the 19th-century plight of the Jewish people. One that should be resolved through the creation of a Jewish nation-state within the framework of international legitimacy. Debates about the fundamental concepts that informed this approach, underline some of the core aspects of current-day political cleavages.

Second, Israel should be also understood as the outcome of the specific path in which the idea was translated into reality. At its core: a centralized national project, led from the top-down, further strengthened by socialist control over the major Zionist institutions between 1933 and 1977. This, in turn, had affected the institutional make-up of Israel, and some of the major societal and economic features. Israel’s success was further a result of effective interaction with the international system, in particular great powers, and the sources of legitimacy in the post-WW2 era.

Finally, the course highlights one aspect of the implementation: Israel’s security challenges, and its journey between war and peace, both with the Palestinians, as well as with the broader Arab world and Iran. A special effort will be made to highlight issues that may unfold during the 2022-2023 academic year, such as Israel’s elections, as well as the growing tension with Iran.

The course is designed for the senior international officers who will be attending Israel’s national defense College in 2022-2023, but draws on courses taught by Dr. Eiran at MIT, and UC-Berkeley. The course includes 13 meetings of 90 min and will also include class discussions, short clips, and class exercises

	Topic	Reading/Activities
Meeting 1	Introduction
Meeting 2	Foundations of Zionism: Late 19th century Jewish dilemmas between an ancient homeland and a modern security and identity challenge
Meeting 3	The Zionist revolution: core ideas and the shadow of the holocaust
Meeting 4	Zionism: main debates
Meeting 5	Implementation: the creation of centralized institutions and the context of the British mandate
Meeting 6	Implementation: immigration and its legacy
Meeting 8	Implementation: economic challenges and achievements
Meeting 9	Implementation and society: the four tribes
Meeting 10	The security challenge: Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Meeting 11	The security challenge: the era of the great Arab-Israeli wars (1948-1973)
Meeting 12	The security challenge: Israel’s security doctrine and the current threats: Iran and non-state actors
Meeting 13	Summary