DSE History | The Arab-Israeli Conflict and the Peace Process: Tutor Lesson Plan

2026-11-05

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Secondary History

Most students remember only that Israel and the Arab states fought. Few can explain why 1978 produced a treaty and 1993 produced a framework that stalled. The thread is who accepts whose existence.

Objectives — Students can: (1) explain how the 1947 partition resolution led to statehood in 1948; (2) use the 1967 and 1973 wars to explain changes in territory and bargaining power; (3) compare the 1978 Camp David Accords with the 1993 Oslo Accords.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
Mandate	British rule over Palestine	Two peoples, one territory
Nationalism	Zionism and Arab nationalism	Two claims to one land
Cold War	Superpower involvement	The USA backed Israel, the USSR backed Arab states

02 Lesson flow (60 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
0-8 min	Diagnosis	Compare two maps	Describe the territorial change
8-22 min	Partition to statehood	Resolution 181, war of 1948	List three positions
22-36 min	Two key wars	1967 and 1973	Complete the territory table
36-48 min	Two breakthroughs	Camp David 1978, Oslo 1993	Compare the terms
48-56 min	Question drill	Causation and evaluation items	Answer in steps
56-60 min	Exit check	Three quick items	Spoken answers

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: Act 1: One land, two claims to statehood

In 1947 the United Nations passed Resolution 181, partitioning Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state with Jerusalem internationalised. The Jewish side accepted and the Arab side rejected. Israel declared statehood in 1948, the first Arab-Israeli war followed, and a large Palestinian refugee population resulted.
Students do: state in one sentence why partition meant war.
Common slip: treating Resolution 181 as the final border.

Tutor move: have them mark on a map what each of the three parties wanted.

Scene 2: Act 2: Wars change the bargaining chips, not the grievance

In 1967 Israel took the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan Heights and Sinai in six days, gaining territory and creating another wave of refugees. In 1973 Egypt and Syria attacked by surprise; Israel recovered but the casualties undermined the idea that occupied land bought security.
Students do: fill two columns, what 1967 gained and what 1973 cost in confidence.
Argument: military victory is not security, and that realisation made negotiation possible.

Tutor move: write occupied territory on the board and ask whether more land means more safety.

Scene 3: Act 3: Two breakthroughs, two designs

The 1978 Camp David Accords of 1978, brokered by the United States, produced the 1979 Egypt-Israel treaty: Sinai returned for recognition, the land-for-peace formula. The 1993 Oslo Accords of 1993 were mutual recognition plus phased self-government, leaving Jerusalem, refugees and borders to later talks, which is why both sides’ hardliners could reject them.
Students do: compare the two, one deals in territory and one in process.
Argument: postponing the hardest questions is what made the agreement fragile.

Tutor move: run a matching task, land for peace to Camp David, easiest first to Oslo.

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps
Causation: why war broke out	Background, trigger, immediate result	At least three links
Comparison: the two accords	Set criteria, compare item by item, conclude	A year per item
Source question: stance	Underline, identify stance, cite evidence	Two facts minimum
Evaluation: why peace failed	Territory, refugees, Jerusalem, hardliners	One point each way

Sanity check (teach this): Dates must be exact: 1947 partition resolution, 1948 statehood and first war, 1967 Six-Day War, 1973 Yom Kippur War, 1978 Camp David, 1979 Egypt-Israel treaty, 1993 Oslo, 7 key years in all. That is 78 years since 1948, so never write “over a century”. Camp David was Egypt and Israel, not the PLO; Oslo was Israel and the Palestinians.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
Year of Israeli statehood	1948	One year after partition
Year of the Six-Day War	1967	West Bank and Gaza occupied
Year of the Oslo Accords	1993	Mutual recognition

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
Camp David called an Israeli-Palestinian deal	Writing that the PLO signed in 1978	“Which two states signed in 1978?”
Partition treated as the final border	Quoting 181 as today’s border	“What happened after the resolution?”
Wars listed without consequences	Four wars, no territorial change	“What did 1967 add on the map?”
Blame placed on one side only	Only Arab rejection cited	“What did hardliners do after Oslo?”

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

Conflict timeline (in-house) — Questions 1-4: order the seven key years
Two accords compared (in-house) — Questions 5-6: Camp David and Oslo

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
Year of Israeli statehood	1948	Wrong: reteach the timeline
Territory taken in 1967	West Bank, Gaza, Golan, Sinai	Wrong: reteach the map
Parties at Camp David	Egypt and Israel	Wrong: reteach the two accords

09 Tutor FAQ

Why did the Arab side reject partition in 1948

It opposed a Jewish state on Palestinian land and demanded majority rule.

Was the 1973 war linked to oil

Arab producers cut output and embargoed exports during the war, turning a regional dispute into a world economic shock.

Why did Oslo not produce a state

Final-status issues were deferred, and settlement expansion eroded trust in the interim.

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A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.