Palestinian Self-Determination: What Was Possible Before Oct 7th, and What Remains Possible Now?
6 hour course by Yezid Sayigh, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Malcolm H. Kerr Middle East Center
- Schedule: 30 June (11:30-13:30), 1 July (11:30-13:30) & 3 July (10:30-12:30)
- Venue: IBEI
The course aims to situate the Hamas attack on southern Israel of 7 October 2023 and the aftermath of the Israeli war on Gaza within a longer historical trajectory. The course seeks in particular to understand the political dynamics and socio-ideological trends that have shaped the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the Oslo Accords of 1993 and since 7 October 2023, and that will shape it in years to come. The course will be delivered through three sessions that focus on 1) the legacy of internal debates within the contemporary Palestinian national movement about “Oslo” and the so-called “two-state solution,” 2) the function of armed struggle and discursive struggles over the concept of “resistance,” and 3) situating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict within wider global trends, notably the rise of right-wing politics and ultra-religious nationalism, in order to assess prospects for the emergence of Palestine.
Yezid Sayigh
Senior fellow at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut
Yezid Sayigh works on the comparative political and economic roles of Arab armed forces, the impact of war on states and societies, and the politics of authoritarian resurgence. Previously, Sayigh held teaching and research positions at King’s College London, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Oxford, and headed the Middle East program of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. Sayigh was also an adviser, negotiator, and policy planner in the Palestinian delegation to the peace talks with Israel 1991-2002 and advised on Palestinian public institutional reform until 2006.
Sayigh is the author of numerous publications, including most recently “Civilians in Arab Defense Affairs: Implications for Providers of Security Assistance” (2023); “Throwing Down the Gauntlet: What the IMF Can Do About Egypt’s Military Companies” (2022); “Retain, Restructure, or Divest? Policy Options for Egypt’s Military Economy” (2022); “Praetorian spearhead: The role of the military in the evolution of Egypt’s state capitalism 3.0” (2021); “Owners of the Republic: An Anatomy of Egypt’s Military Economy” (2019); “Dilemmas of Reform: Policing in Arab Transitions (March 2016); Crumbling States: Security Sector Reform in Libya and Yemen” (2015); “Missed Opportunity: The Politics of Police Reform in Egypt and Tunisia” (March 2015); “The Syrian Opposition’s Leadership Problem” (April 2013); Above the State: The Officers’ Republic in Egypt (August 2012); “‘We serve the people’: Hamas policing in Gaza” (2011); and “Policing the People, Building the State: Authoritarian transformation in the West Bank and Gaza” (2011). He is the author of the award-winning Armed Struggle and the Search for State: The Palestinian National Movement, 1949-1993 (Oxford, 1997).