Socratic Seminar: Origins of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (High School)

This high-school-level resource provides educators with instructions and student materials for facilitating a Socratic Seminar on the topic of the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This Socratic Seminar Resource Set includes the following:

• Teacher facilitation guide
• Hook resource: How Do You Know What You Know?
• Text resource: Hussein-McMahon Correspondence (excerpt) and Balfour Declaration (full text)
• Preparation resources:
  • Vocabulary
  • Introductory Reading: Origins of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
• Seminar Questions resource: Origins of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
• Extension resource: Negotiating for a Better Future
• Debrief resource: How Did Our Discussion Go?

Note to Teachers: This Socratic Seminar was developed to help students learn about and critically examine the modern historical origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Given the level of polarization around the topic and the extent to which many students may have personal, often painful, connections to the conflict, many instructors have expressed difficulty teaching the topic. This resource was developed with several key considerations in mind to help make the topic more accessible. However, these choices also mean there are some important things to note before using it:

• This resource focuses on the modern historical origins of the conflict, particularly in the World War I era. This may help the lesson fit into a wider range of course standards, such as those related to WWI, European colonialism, or postcolonial studies. It is also intended to focus the discussion on how global forces shaped the origins of the conflict, rather than having students focus on the dynamics of the conflict today. Discussing the present-day conflict may be more emotionally charged and may require a more thorough knowledge of the background information, for which this lesson could provide a foundation.
• This resource is intended for a high school classroom, given the complex WWI-era history that is the focus of this lesson and the level of background reading required. It may be most appropriate for students in advanced courses.
• While the conflict involves two sides that do not agree even on many of the most basic facts and terminology, every effort was made for this resource to present both historical narratives commonly accepted in the international community and some level of insight into how the various parties to the conflict view its dynamics. It is not possible, however, to fully represent all viewpoints, and it is important to help students understand that these resources are an introduction to the conflict’s modern origins rather than a full survey of the conflict itself.
• This resource was created by a Street Law, Inc. staff member with expertise in the conflict. Their undergraduate degree from Tufts University was in International Relations with a concentration on the Middle East. They have a master’s degree in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and focused their studies on peace education in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Before joining the Street Law staff, they spent five years working in organizations that fostered interfaith and intergroup youth dialogue among American youth and Israeli and Palestinian youth. The resource was then reviewed by Ittay Flescher, the Education Director at Seeds of Peace Jerusalem, a well-known and respected organization that empowers Israeli and Palestinian youth to create more just and peaceful communities. His review helped ensure that the resource presents the issues as appropriately as possible. Before becoming the Education Director at Seeds of Peace Jerusalem, Ittay was a high school teacher for 15 years.