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DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY > People > Laurie Zittrain Eisenberg

Laurie Zittrain Eisenberg

Teaching Professor of History
Ph.D.: University of Michigan, 1990
Department Member Since: 1992

Biography

Prof. Eisenberg is an historian of the modern Middle East. Her areas of research and publication include the Arab-Israeli conflict and peace process and the interaction of multiple Middle East actors, particularly Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinians. Recent publications include a second edition of her co-authored textbook on the Arab-Israeli peace process (with Neil Caplan, Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace, Indiana University Press, 1998 and 2010), two articles on Lebanese-Israeli relations, an overview of the Arab-Israeli peace process, 1967-1993, and a conference paper on Israeli-Syrian negotiations. On-going research projects focus on the legacy of Jordan's King Hussein and the June 1967 war.

In the classroom, Prof. Eisenberg emphasizes the interpretation of primary source documents and their importance in original research projects. Her students learn to read historical documents closely and critically and to subject them to rigorous content analysis. Many of her courses incorporate in-class role-playing exercises. Her course on the Arab-Israeli conflict and peace process concludes with a week long Arab-Israeli negotiation simulation, for which students conduct extensive preparatory research and engage in extended role-playing. She also teaches courses on religion and politics in the Middle East, American foreign policy in the region, the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, and a practicum on how historians interpret historical evidence. Her “American-Arab Encounters” course uses video-conferencing technology and takes place in real time, uniting CMU students in Pittsburgh with students at the CMU campus in Qatar. An unusual but rewarding aspect of her work came when she served as a consultant for ImpactGames, a company which produced “PeaceMaker,” a video game simulating Palestinian-Israeli interactions. Prof. Eisenberg works closely with the Director of Undergraduate studies to bring exciting programming to the Department via the History Undergraduate Group [HUG].

Prof. Eisenberg is also a Faculty Affiliate of CMU's Center for International Relations and Politics [CIRP] and a Faculty Lead for the Middle East and South Asia Initiative, also of CIRP.

selected Publications

“Peace Plans: 1967-1993”, in Joel Peters and David Newman, eds., Handbook of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (New York, Routledge, 2012).
“From Benign to Malign: Israeli-Lebanese Relations, 1948-1978,” in Clive Jones and Sergio Catignani, eds., The Israel-Lebanese Conflict: An Interstate and Asymmetric War in Perspective (New York: Routledge, 2010).
“History Revisited or Revamped? The Maronite factor in Israel’s 1982 Invasion of Lebanon,” in Efraim Karsh, ed., Israeli-Lebanese relations Since 1948, (New York: Routledge, 2010) and Israel Affairs, 15:4 (October 2009), 372-396.
With Neil Caplan, Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: Patterns, Problems, Possibilities, revised second edition (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010).
“Do Good Fences Make Good Neighbors? Israel and Lebanon After the Withdrawal,” Middle East Review of International Affairs, 4:3 (September 2000).
“The Arab-Israeli Conflict: Lessons about Diplomatic Initiatives and Negotiations,” in Mark Tessler, ed., Area Studies and Social Science: Strategies for Understanding Middle East Politics (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999).
With Neil Caplan, Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: Patterns, Problems, Possibilities (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998).
With Neil Caplan, "The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process in Historical Perspective," in Ilan Peleg, ed., The Middle East Peace Process: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Albany: SUNY Press, 1998).
“Israel's Lebanon Policy,” Middle East Review of International Affairs, 3:2 (September 1997).

The Arab-Israeli Peace Process: A Contextual and Textual Analysis, Occasional Paper published by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, June 1996.
My Enemy's Enemy: Lebanon in the Early Zionist Imagination, 1900-1948 (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1994).
Restraint or Retaliation? Israel's Response to Iraqi Missile Attacks During the 1991 Gulf War, Pew Case Studies in International Affairs #361, Pew Charitable Trusts, 1994.
“Desperate Diplomacy: the Zionist-Maronite Treaty of 1946,” Studies in Zionism, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Autumn 1992).
“Passive Belligerency: Israel and the Gulf War,” The Journal of Strategic Studies, Vol. 15, No. 3 (September 1992).

Courses Taught

Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1880-1948
Arab-Israeli Conflict and Peace Process since 1948
American Foreign Policy and the Middle East since 1945
Religion and Politics in the Middle East
Historical Evidence and Interpretation
Documenting the 1967 Arab-Israeli War
American-Arab Encounters

Contact Info

Department of History
Baker Hall 138
P: 412.268.1430
F: 412.268.1019
le3a@andrew.cmu.edu

Publications