Israel and Palestine

This week sees the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. This has been made even more significant by the Hamas attack on Israel which was clearly timed to coincide with this anniversary.

Given the shocking events in Israel this weekend, you may want to cover this topic with your students so that they can better understand the historical context of what is going on in Israel and Gaza at the moment.

See below for a couple of videos that give a good historical overview of the conflict.

We do also of course cover these issues in more detail under Paper 3, Africa and the Middle East:  2. Arab-Israeli conflicts, 1956 to 1973.

The Council for Foreign Relations also has a useful historical overview of the conflict as well as an article on the current situation and its global ramifications:

By coincidence, the BBC has just started a series of radio programmes on 'how the French and British mandates in the Middle East - covering all of modern Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Palestine - shaped not just the map, but the politics, geography, religion, ideas and culture of the whole region in ways which still reverberate, a century on'.

Site update

In the past month we have finished updating Paper 1, PS5, for the Kosovo Case Study - adding new content and updating the layout.

We have now started updating Paper 1, PS 2, and have completed Case Study 1: The Final Stages of Muslim Rule in Spain. Case Study 2 will follow this month.