New term - Arab-Israeli conflict

Fitting in well with my essay - focusing on Zionism - and with current world events - Ariel Sharon's illness and forthcoming elections - means that my new course has extra relevance. After the core course which was not necessarily close to my background knowledge, I am on quite familiar ground here and the next 11 weeks should be much more in depth and analytical than before - as I would expect an MA to be. Although I don't compare myself to other students, I think that my background knowledge on the Arab - Israeli conflict was above average for the class. It is probably the one subject that I have read more about than any other prior to the course. It is certainly, to me, the most interesting and important issue in contemporary international relations.

A quarter of my current essay is on Zionism, as an example of a nationalist movement. From the outset on the course, I have tried to establish links between modules I take and have looked for overlaps to reinforce my knowledge - with the aim of having a very strong dissertation. My dissertation will be on Middle Eastern politics. My main idea at the moment is an analysis of 1979 as a year of significant developments within the Islamic world - both politically and spiritually - and the long term effects of these events. Namely the Islamic revolution in Iran; the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan; Saddam Hussein's seizure of power in Iraq and possibly the signing of the Camp David agreement between Israel and Egypt.

Another avenue I want to explore is producing some shorter pieces using material in my essays. These would have a contemporary slant. Anthony Beevor who gave a lecture on Total War to us in November, was on Channel 4 news this evening, discussing Gordon Brown's proposed British day - a celebration of a unified nation. There is a lot of scope here based on previous research - Hobsbawm's Inventing Traditions springs to mind.