ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ryan Smith
ENG 102
Professor Benton
Annotated Bibliography
ISRAEL AND PALESTINE: The Center of All Controversy
Few issues raise as much furor among those who discuss politics, as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which has gone on now for over sixty years. In many ways this conflict is a miniature version of the broader world struggle of the non-powerful, poorer nations verses the powerful, well supplied nations. Israel has been bankrolled by the west, particularly the United States, since it’s reformation in 1947. With the billions of military and non-military aid flowing into Israel from the west, the Israelis have managed to rise to a standard of living comparable to the west, and well beyond that of their neighbors in the region. This is a prime characteristic of a client state. On the other hand Palestinians have been living as exiles in their own home, being pushed to the outskirts of Palestine, in the most impoverished, and resource poor lands in the area. Partition walls, and military checkpoints now cut even further into Palestinian lands, adding insult to injury in the sixty plus year fight for Palestinians to be recognized as legal and equal citizens in a land which their ancestors lived in for thousands of years. Efforts have been underway since Arafat and the PLO made clear that Palestinians, like Israelis at one time, desire their own sovereign state, to make that independent state a client state of Israel and the west. A client state essentially receives assistance through finances or military support, from a more powerful state, in exchange for complicity in the agenda of that more powerful state. Complicity in this case could mean cooperation economically, militarily, and the use of lands and military facilities to achieve broader control over regions not near to such a nation’s territory. The U.S. government provides massive economic and military support to Israel, in exchange Israel supports and conducts military and social policies the U.S. deems fit, and each side may deviate in how they bring this agenda to fruition, but will never change the nature of the relationship or the standard protocol from which it operates. Israel is of high value, particularly to the U.S. political class because of its geographic location on the outskirts of the most energy resource rich area of the world. The Palestinian state envisioned by Paul Wolfowitz and the World Bank in 2005 sought to partition the Palestinians into even less territory via walls and military check points to be administered by Israeli troops. This is meant to lock the Palestinian people into a low growth, low wage manufacturing based economy. Since these issues were at the forefront of the debate, many new events have unfolded, such as: The Israeli invasion of Gaza in December 2008 and the current issue of Israeli settlement in what are supposed to be Palestinian lands. My essay will attempt to establish some historical precedents which set into motion the modern problems, such as the Balfour Declaration of 1917, the U.N. resolution re-establishing Israel in 1947, and the successive history of the Israeli-Arab conflict since Israel has been a state. The major focus will be on more modern events, particularly the most recent decade, because so much has unfolded, and so much needs to be addressed so we as a group of individuals can work together and change it. As I said, this conflict is a miniature version of events that are occurring in various scales all around the world. Perhaps nowhere in academia are those struggles more vividly personified than by Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States and Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove’s Voices of a People’s History of the United States.

Barsky, Robert F. The Chomsky Effect: A Radical Works Beyond the Ivory Tower. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2007. 381. Print.
Barsky’s book is basically a biographical assessment of Linguist and social critic Noam Chomsky, who of course is an outspoken critic of Israeli and U.S. policies, some of which are referenced, described, and assessed in this book, making it an excellent resource for this essay’s topic. This book and the views described within it are going to be an excellent basis for a counter position to the more mainstream Newsweek articles that will be used, as well as evaluating the reception from the broader public when one criticizes the policies of the United States or Israel.

Chomsky, Noam. What We Say Goes: Conversations on U.S. Power in a Changing World Interviews with David Barsamian. New York, New York: Metropolitan Books, 2007. 223. Print.
This book, set up in interview format, is an excellent resource for interpreting the general nature of United States power, and its effects. Israel is probably the foremost trophy of U.S. power. Chomsky’s simple wit and common sense approach to society and politics is allowed flourish in his responses to Barsamian’s excellent questions. As I mentioned in the description before Chomsky, himself Jewish, is an outspoken critic of Israeli policies and the U.S. - Israeli relationship.

Phillips, Peter. Censored 2007: Media Democracy in Action, the top 25 censored stories. Story #9 World Bank Funds Israel- Palestine Wall. New York, New York: Seven Stories Press, 2006. 432. Print.
This book has multiple resources within it that will be extremely useful to this essay. It not only has the story concerning the Palestine partition wall, but also the nature of the Israel lobby here inside the United States. Project Censored provides an annual assessment of the top 25 censored stories, and every volume is an extensive resource for a multitude of topics. This book, like the two previous sources provides an excellent counter source to more mainstream articles being used.

Weisberg, Jacob. The Not-So-Special Relationship: Why Democrats are down on Israel. Harlan, Iowa: Newsweek Publishers, 2010.p19. Print.
This article assesses the recent quarrels between Israeli and U.S. officials, mainly due to Israeli refusal to halt settlements in the West Bank. Weisberg attempts to lump various groups and individuals into categories based on traditional viewpoints of the Israeli-Arab conflict. The article will provide some insight into the up- to- date nature of Israeli- U.S. relationship.

Zakaria, Fareed. Israel’s Biggest Danger. Harlan, Iowa: Newsweek Publishers, 2009.p41. Print.
This article is an exploration into recent elections in Israel, and generally tells us an idea of current voter psyche in Israel. It is also useful to investigate what’s driving Israeli internal politics. It will prove useful to my paper in the capacity that assessing the public political workings of either Palestinians or in this case, Israelis; and provide insight into the inner workings of the political situation, which may not only aid understanding of the conflict, but also provide possible breakthroughs in solutions.

Zakaria, Fareed. BIBI’S BLUSTER: The Israeli Prime Minister says his Nation’s security is his top priority. Too bad he is undermining it. Harlan, Iowa: Newsweek Publishers, 2010.p33. Print.
In this article Zakaria is describing the Icy relations between the Obama and Netanyahu governments, and essentially, how this is undermining future Israeli security, since the U.S. underwrites Israel’s security. This article is a great resource for the most recent events in U.S.- Israeli- Palestinian affairs, particularly, the supposed deterioration of relations between the Obama and Netanyahu administrations.

Cohen, Roger, Stuart Eizenstat, and Rashid Khalidi. The U.S. should step back from its special relationship with Israel. New York, New York: Intelligence Squared US, 2010. Debate.

This debate is a great example of the divide between the issues this essay hopes to address. It provides the viewpoint of the establishment, and the viewpoint of those who are suggesting changes to the status quo. This debate and its effects on those who witnessed it, are great examples of the absurdity behind Israel’s stance, and how quickly public opinion gravitates toward logic, once the issues are spelled out without the outside influence of terrorism and individual religious beliefs.

Imperial Ambitions by Noam Chomsky and David Barsamian
and The Israel Lobby by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt are books I am trying to locate and will include as sources for the paper.