Teaching the Arab-Israeli Conflict

About The Arab-Israeli Conflict Curriculum

Grade Level: 6-12

Our free, five-lesson curriculum on the Arab-Israeli conflict explores the history of the conflict and peace process. With an emphasis on primary sources, ICS’s resources are teacher-friendly and formatted to be easily implemented in the classroom. Below, you will find digital resources as well as downloadable PDFs and supplementary resources.

Through our curriculum, we hope to spark an open discussion amongst students and their teachers about this important part of world history. By teaching your students about the Arab-Israeli conflict, students will become more knowledgeable global citizens and gain confidence in following current world issues.

The origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict can be traced to the early 20th century, with the emergence of nationalism. In this lesson, students will use primary sources such as The Jewish State (1896) and The First Arab Congress (1913) to explore the concept of nationalism and connect the rise of nationalism in Europe to the emergence of both Zionism and Arab nationalism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

• What is a nation?
• How is nationalism different than patriotism?

Students will be able to:

• Situate the modern conflict in its historical and geographical context
• Describe the impact of nationalism on both Jews and Arabs
• Determine the meaning of words and phrases used in a text
• Determine the central ideas or information from a primary text

• Lesson plan (including primary source documents and Exit Slip)
• Video: Land Matters
• Prior Knowledge Handout
• Nationalism vs. Patriotism Exercise
• Primary Source Chart
• Historical Context
• Key Word Quiz

This lesson examines how broken promises made to Arabs and Jews during World War I set the stage for the current challenges in the Middle East. Students will examine primary sources, including Hussein-McMahon Correspondence (1915), The Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916), and The Balfour Declaration (1917), that were written during World War I and shortly after it ended.

• What role did the Allied Powers (especially the British Government) play in setting up conflicts in the region, which persist today?
• Why did the British government make promises that conflicted with each other?

Students will be able to:

• Understand the connection between the broken promises made to Arabs and Jews during World War 1 and current challenges in the Middle East.
• Situate the modern conflict in its historical, cultural, and geographical context.
• Derive information from political maps.
• Determine the central ideas or information from a primary text.
• Determine the meaning of words and phrases used in a text.

• Lesson plan (including primary source documents and Exit Slip)
• Video: Broken Promises
• Getting Social with History
• SOAPSTone Graphic Organizer
• Key Word Quiz

After World War I, the League of Nations created mandates and placed the area that is today Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, and Jordan under British administration. This area was referred to as the British Mandate for Palestine. While meant to be temporary, the British Mandate for Palestine lasted for nearly 30 years. In this lesson, students will examine official statements and proposals that stated how to divide the area known between Jews and the Arabs.

• How are national boundaries or borders established?
• Is there a way to create national boundaries that are fair to everyone in the region?

Students will be able to:

• Understand the way the British administered the Palestine Mandate
• Consider key proposals that were developed to divide the geographic territory of Palestine between the Jews and the Arabs
• Derive information from political maps depicting different options for dividing the geographic region of Palestine
• Situate a modern conflict in its historical, cultural, and geographical context
• Determine the meaning of words and phrases used in a text
• Determine the central ideas or information from a primary text

• Lesson plan (including primary source documents and Exit Slip)
• Video: A Place to Belong
• Mandate Source Analysis Chart
• Key Word Quiz

In this lesson, students will examine a range of primary sources and use the Source Analysis tool on the Library of Congress website to understand how the State of Israel was created in 1948. Students will also explore the Wars of 1948 and 1967, as well as the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.

• How does nationalism both unite and divide people?
• What types of unity and division emerged in the Middle East after Israel declared its independence?

Students will be able to:

• Understand the impact of the founding of Israel on the region as well as the wider world
• Consider the consequences of both the 1948 War as well as the Six Day War in 1967
• Follow the peace process between Egypt and Israel which lead to an agreement in 1979
• To situate a modern conflict in its historical, cultural, and geographic context
• Determine the meaning of words and phrases used in a text
• Determine the central ideas or information from a primary text

• Lesson plan (including primary source documents, Summary Analysis Handout, Video as Primary Source Handout, and Exit Slip)
• Video: War and Peace
• PDF: In The News
• PDF: Timeline Chart
• Key Word Quiz

At the end of the 1970s, it seemed like progress was being made toward peace between Arab countries and Israel. Unfortunately, new obstacles surfaced in the decades following. The primary sources in this lesson focus on the First and Second Intifadas, the Declaration of Principles (Oslo Accords), the peace agreement between Israel and Jordan, and Israel’s disengagement from Gaza.

• What conditions are necessary for peace to be achieved?
• What role does compromise play in reaching a peace agreement?
• How does the length of a conflict impact chances for peace?

Students will be able to:

• Examine key moments in recent history and consider the consequences for the present
• Identify and assess the central unresolved issues in the Arab-Israeli conflict
• Consider the potential for peace in the future
• Determine the meaning of words and phrases used in a text
• Determine the central ideas or information from a primary text

• Lesson plan (including primary source documents, National Archives Written Document Analysis Sheet, SOAPSTone Graphic Organizer, Library of Congress Primary Source Analysis Tool, and Exit Slip)
• Video: War and Peace Part 2
• PDF: Guide to Unresolved Issues
• Link: Curriculum Map
• Link: LOC Primary Source Analysis Tool
• Key Word Quiz