Colloquium Series: Nada Al-Jamal 2/10/26
“The “Problem of Palestine” to the “Palestine Problem:” The Question of a Palestinian State, Liberation Movements, and the Making of the Modern Middle East”
Nada Al-Jamal, Ph.D. Student | History
Abstract:
As the Cold War waged and the Arab-Israeli conflict persisted, the Palestinian question was a seemingly-unsolvable quagmire. Unable to solve “the Problem of Palestine,” the U.S. and USSR demonstrated that when it came to the Middle East, it was simply a problem they could not solve. In failing to answer the “question of Palestine,” the U.S. and USSR inadvertently created a new issue: the “Palestine Problem” of liberation movements that wielded illegal violence as a tool to push for Palestinian statehood. These movements served as a hindrance for the U.S. and the Soviet Union, as well as for Israel and the Arab world. As these states worked to achieve peace in the Middle East, these movements threatened the limited progress made. This chapter demonstrates how the fedayeen, the PFLP, and the PLO are monsters of these nations’ own creation—they arose from the inability to address the problem of Palestine and the issue of self-determination for the Palestinian people.
The Colloquium Series offers Glasscock Center Fellows an opportunity to discuss a work-in-progress with faculty and graduate students from different disciplines. Each colloquium begins with the presenter’s short (10-15 minute) exposition of the project, after which the floor is open for comments and queries. The format is by design informal, conversational, and interdisciplinary.
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