Game Overview

This game is meant to help students understand the historical events which led to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, and the conflicts that have ensued in the region since. The game is set in 1947 in Mandatory Palestine. The British, which have ruled the region with a “Mandate” from the League of Nations since 1920, have declared that they seek to abandon the Mandate and leave the region due to the ongoing and seemingly intractable conflict between Arabs (1.2 million, roughly 2/3 of the population, and most of whom are Muslim, though some are Christian, and yet others are secular Marxists) and the Zionist Jews (600,000, or roughly 1/3 of the population) who’ve been immigrating to the “Holy Land” to escape anti-Semitic persecution and to re-establish ties to their ancient homeland.

They British have formally requested that the United Nations General Assembly vote on what to do with the “problem of Palestine.” The UN has formed the “United Nations Special Committee on Palestine” (UNSCOP) to study the situation and make recommendations to the UN General Assembly on what to do. The UNSCOP’s mission is to hear from both factions – the Arabs and the Zionists – and then make recommendations to the UN General Assembly.

Victory Objectives

The Zionists win if they convince the UN to partition the land for a Jewish state.

The Arabs win if they convince the UN not to partition the land for a Jewish state.

The UNSCOP is the indeterminate faction, and each member has unique victory objectives.

Finally, several journalists will report on the workings of the Committee – and, perhaps, try to sway their votes through powerful reporting – and compete with each other as a “side game” for the prestigious Pulitzer Prize.

Grading/Assignments

Students should give speeches and/or write papers for grades.

Arabs and Zionists

Students on the Arab and Zionist factions should write and deliver speeches to the UNSCOP over the course of the game, dividing the speech workload over 4 game play sessions. For example, if you have 8 members of each faction (i.e., 8 Arabs; 8 Zionists) then 2 from each faction should speak on Option A, 2 more on Option B, 2 more on Option C, and 2 more on Option D.

You may also want to have them write papers on these options.

UNSCOP

Each member of the UNSCOP should write and deliver a speech in game play session #5. In addition, you may ask them to write a “Majority report” and a “Minority report” to the UN General Assembly if you want them to engage in additional writing.

Journalists

Journalists will give 4 “media reports” over the course of the game, 1 at the beginning of game play sessions 2, 3, 4, and 5.

You may ask them to write an additional final long magazine article at the end of the game, reporting on the final outcomes, if you want them to engage in more writing.

Modifying the Game

This game is relatively simple, basic, and discipline-general. It can be modified according to the student learning outcomes of the course in which you teach it.

Also, the game has been constructed with open-source materials, mostly online links to stable sites like Wikimedia Commons, so that students can play the game without having to purchase any books or materials. As such, it’s important to discuss with your students the pitfalls and limitations with open-source materials (i.e., the so-called “Wikipedia problem”). For those interested, I’ve included a list of non-open source materials that could be used to supplement what’s included in the gamebook.