Middle East: 1908 to 1956

Question 1

What year was the Balfour Declaration?

Answer 1

1917

Question 2

What year was the Biltmore Declaration?

Answer 2

1942

Question 3

What was the level of Jewish Immigration in Palestine in 1919?

Answer 3

60000

Question 4

What was the level of Jewish Immigration in Palestine in 1929?

Answer 4

160000

Question 5

What was the level of Jewish Immigration in Palestine in 1939?

Answer 5

430000

Question 6

What years were the First Arab-Israeli War?

Answer 6

1948-9

Question 7

What year was Israel founded as a nation?

Answer 7

1948

Question 8

What did the concept of Jewish Nationalism come to be known as?

Answer 8

Zionism

Question 9

Who was the leading figure of Zionism?

Answer 9

Herzl

Question 10

What did the Balfour Declaration promise?

Answer 10

'’The establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jews.’’

Question 11

What year was the McMahon-Hussein Letters?

Answer 11

1915

Question 12

What were the McMahon-Hussein Letters?

Answer 12

A promise by the British to the ruler of Mecca, Sharif Hussein, that he would rule over an Arab Palestine if he revolted against the Ottomans.

Question 13

What year was the Sykes-Picot Agreement?

Answer 13

1916

Question 14

What was the Sykes-Picot Agreement?

Answer 14

A secret agreement between the French and British to split up the Arab territories upon the defeat of the Ottoman Empire.

Question 15

What were the British Mandates?

Answer 15

• Transjordan
• Palestine
• Iraq

Question 16

What were the French Mandates?

Answer 16

• Syria
• Lebanon

Question 17

What year was the Suez Crisis?

Answer 17

1956

Question 18

What is the Suez Crisis also known as?

Answer 18

The Second Arab-Israeli War

Question 19

When was the British White Paper?

Answer 19

1939

Question 20

What was the British Government White Paper?

Answer 20

• Independent Palestine to be created within 10 years.
• Limiting of Jewish immigration: A quota of 10000 Jewish immigrants would be allowed for each of the following 5 years.

Question 21

What years was the Arab Rebellion against Britain?

Answer 21

1936-9

Question 22

What was the Haganah?

Answer 22

The Jewish Defence Force, which would form the basis of the Israeli Army.

Question 23

What decade was the Haganah set up?

Answer 23

1920s

Question 24

What was the Jewish Agency?

Answer 24

The governing body of the Zionist movement in Palestine during the British Mandate.

Question 25

What was the Arab Higher Committee?

Answer 25

A committee of Palestinian Arab leaders. Formed in an attempt to direct the Arab Rebellion.

Question 26

What year was the Arab Higher Committee formed?

Answer 26

1936

Question 27

Who helped to train and organise the Haganah during the Arab Rebellion?

Answer 27

The British

Question 28

What were the causes of the Arab Rebellion?

Answer 28

• Palestinian Arabs were becoming landless and impoverished due to Zionist settlement expansion.
• Arab Higher Committee called for a general strike by all Arab workers, but Jewish workers replaced them.

Question 29

What were the 3 reasons for the British to make the Sykes-Picot Agreement?

Answer 29

• WW1 not going well, needed to maintain French alliance.
• Extensive trading links in the Middle East (oil).
• Wanted to protect the Suez Canal.

Question 30

What year was the UN Partition Plan?

Answer 30

1947

Question 31

What did the UN Partition Plan call for?

Answer 31

A division of Palestine to set up a Jewish and Arab state.
- Kissing points at the intersections of land.

Question 32

What was the Arab response to the UN Partition Plan?

Answer 32

Arab Higher Committee rejected it.

Question 33

What was the Jewish response to the UN Partition Plan?

Answer 33

Jewish Agency officially accepted it despite the exclusion of Jerusalem.

Question 34

Who was the first leader of Israel?

Answer 34

David Ben-Gurion