Test 1
Human Rights and the Israeli Palestinian Conflict
MIDTERM TEST
Prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh, 26 February 2012
1. The first key Zionist who helped establish political Zionist Jewish communities in Palestine was:
A)David BenGurion
B)Edmond deRothschild
C)Theodore Hertzl
D)Leon Pinsker
E)Alfred Dreyfus
Answer B
2. The Philistines/Filistu/Palestine were first mentioned in documents/authenticated records:
A)>3000 years ago
B)At the time of Jesus
C)By Aristotle
D)By Roman rulers
E)By Arab travelers in the 6th century AD
Answer A
3. The first uprising in Palestine against the political Zionist project was in the year:
A)1881
B)1921
C)1929
D)1936
E)1987
Answer A
4. The first use of armed resistance in Palestine against the Zionist project and/or its sponsors was in:
A)1920-1925
B)1930s
C)1948
D)1960s
E)1970s
Answer B
5. Martin Buber, Judas Magnes, and Albert Einstein were all
A)Political Zionists
B)Cultural or Religious Zionists
C)Self-hating Jews
D)Israeli academics
E)Supporters of the political Zionist leadership in Palestine
Answer B
6. The early Canaanites included all these groups except
A)Phoenicians
B)Philistines
C)Nebateans
D)Babylonians
E)Jebusites
Answer D
7. The total population of Palestine (Christians, Muslims, and Jews) in 1917 was closest to:
A)700,000
B)1.5 million
C)3 million
D)4 million
E)5 million
Answer A
8. The main hardships suffered by the remaining Palestinians inside the new state of Israel in 1948 include all the following EXCEPT:
A)They were subjected to martial law between 1948-1966
B)Many villages declared "unrecognized" receiving no government services
C)They had much of their remaining land taken from them
D)New discriminatory laws were introduced as well as pressures on school education
E)They had no legal residency right in the new state of Israel
Answer E
9. Israel's basic laws include all these laws that discriminate against non-Jews EXCEPT
A)Israeli law of return allowing any Jews to acquire citizenship while denying it to Palestinian refugees
B)Land laws including absentee property law
C)Press laws
D)Knesset election laws to prevent anti-Zionists from running for election
E)National service laws that favor Jews who serve in the Army
Answer C
10. Famous Palestinians from 1948 areas include all the following EXCEPT
A)Tawfiq Ziyad
B)Mahmoud Darwish
C)Azmi Bishara
D)Ghassan Kanafani
E)Sheikh Raed Salah
Answer D Ghassan was always a refugee, Mahmoud Darwish was not a refugee though expelled later for a while and returned
11. The first political organization among 1948 Palestinians after the foundation of the state of Israel on their lands came under which ideological system:
A)Communist/socialist
B)Pan-Arab nationalist (Nasserite)
C)Islamist
D)Palestinian nationalist (local)
E)Arab Israeli centrist (local)
Answer A
12. In 1974, Yasser Arafat addressed the United Nations for the first time. These factors all likely played a role in his arrival at the UN for the first time EXCEPT:
A) The PLOs 10 point program of 1974 that allowed a change in International standing
B) The USA agreed to recognize the PLO after the PLO agreed to recognize resolution 242 and 338
C) There was a change in geopolitical structure of the Middle East after the October 1973 war (Egypt and Syria versus Israel)
D) The Arab summit had declared the PLO the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians
E) Popular struggle and armed resistance ensured prominence of the Palestinian cause
Answer B (that came only after 1988)
13. All of these are recognized key unique Palestinian dates for which Palestinians hold commemorations EXCEPT:
A)Nakba Day (15 May 1948)
B)Deir Yassin (7 April 1948)
C)Labor Day (1 May 1948)
D)Naksa Day (6 June 1967)
E)Land Day (30 March 1976)
Answer C
14. All of these actions were forms of non-violent popular resistance in the 1920s in Palestine EXCEPT
A)Demonstrations
B)Petitions
C)Boycotts
D)Strikes and Economic disruptions
E)Defacing the British issued currency
Answer E
15. All of these are characteristics of the UN Partition plan of 1947 EXCEPT
A)It allocated more lands for the "Jewish state" than the "Arab State"
B)It had provisions for removal of villages to make the two countries more uniform
C)It was issued when Palestine had 2/3rd of its population Christian and Muslim (1/3rd Jewish)
D)It proposed Internationalizing Jerusalem area
E)It was adopted after much pressure from the USA administration (President Harry Truman)
Answer B
16. The Palestinian Refugee rights (and/or refugee rights in general) are recognized in all these documents except
A) UN General Assembly Resolution 194
B) Universal Declaration of Human Rights
C) Hague and Geneva Conventions
D) UN Security Council Resolution 242
E) The Oslo accords
Answer E
17. What was on the minds of refugees immediately after their expulsion from Palestine?
A) Survival (food and shelter)
B) Getting back home
C) Political organization
D) A and B
E) A, B, and C
Answer D
18. Today the largest numbers of Palestinians in the world are where?
A) In historic Palestine
B) In Jordan
C) In Lebanon
D) In Syria
E) In South America
Answer A
19. Every date in our history (even tragedies) had both positive aspects or outcomes and negative. Please mention one negative and one positive aspect for each of those events. Try not to include the obvious- a massacre obviously has people killed so that is negative. I am looking for thoughtful informed answers that show you were reading, listening, and analyzing.
A) The 1936-1939 uprising
Negative: Decimation of Palestinian leadership, increased arming of Zionists, economic devastation etc
Positive: Forced Britain to limit migration of Zionists, cost ther British occupiers significant resources, created many Palestinian role models (heros)etc
B)The Naksa of 1967
Negative: Occupation creates hardships, 300,000 new refugees (some for second time), defeat of Aran armies shaking confidence, blow to pan-Arabism
Positive: Palestinians learned to rely on them,selves not other arabs strengthening of many Palestinain factions; unity of palestinain cause increased. Palestinains frm 1948 areas reconnected with their relatives and conationalists; strengthening of civil society (NGOs) etc.
C)The 1982 Sabra and Shatila Massacre
Negative: Besides the 2000+ murdered, the Palestinains felt very vulnerable and exposed. Some questioned the departure of the PLO just a few montsh aearlier and blamed it on that. Increase in hatred and animosity in Lebanon between Christians and Muslims (Christian Phallange affiliated with Israel committed the massacre)...
Positive: Strengthening and reintroduction of the PLO in the camps. Huge media embarassment for Israel. Sharon was removed from public office and Israel was forced to withdraw significantly from Lebanon (to the Litani river). September 1982 became a rallying cry for more resistance. Family and friends joined together but also Palestinain factions at odds with each other joined forces again (increase in Palestinian unity).
20. Give the Palestinian versus the Israeli Zionist positions on these topics (argue the case from each perspective) and what does International law say about it
A) On the right of Palestinian refugees to return
Palestinian Position: Palestinains were violently and ethnically cleansed from their homes and lands. 530 villages and town were illegally destroyed. The right to return (RTR) is an inalienable individual and collective rights supported by International law and humanitarian law. It is also supported by UN GA reslution 194. No peace can come without the right of return implemented.
Israeli Zionist position:There is no RTR. Arabs left because tehir leaders told them to leave so that they can kick the Jews into the sea and then they could come back. Also there was an exchange of population because there are hundreds of thousands of Jews who came to Israel from Arab countries ("refugees"). Israel needs to maintain stable Jewish state and Palestinians form a demographic danger. Etc.
International law position: During conflicts people leave their countries but according to accepted norms of international law (Hague Conventions, UDHR etc) they must be allowed to return to ethir homes and lands regardless of the reason they left. Palestinains have bnoth collectiev and individual rights. A special agency was established by the UN (UNRWA) to take care of their humanitarian needs until they return.
B) On Israel as "a Jewish state"
Palestinian Position: Recognizing Israel as a Jewish state means abrogating rights like the RTR and legitimizing land theft. It also jeopardizes the already tenuous position of Palestinisns inside the Green line (1948 Palestine). Etc.
Israeli Zionist position: Israel is the country for "the Jewish people". There are many majority Muslim countries and why not have this one Jewish state.
International law position: Tinternational law recognizes that some countries can have majorities belonging to one religion. But International Law does not allow for artificially creating such a majority via ethnic cleansing or other war crimes/crimes against humanity. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other convention forbid discrimination or religious based ideological racism. There is an international convention against the crime of apartheid and it is applicable here (Israel fulfils all its criteria).
21. The transition from Ottoman Rule to British rule in Palestine after the end of World War 1 was a dramatic shift for the Palestinian society. Mention at least four such changes that impacted life negatively for the Palestinian natives. (A sentence or two on each)
A) Changes in land laws transferred land ownership to European colonial Jews
B) School segregation (Jews, Christians and Muslims used to go to same schools under ottoman Turkish rule)
C) Establishment of autonomous Jewish communities with their own systems including militias
D) Transfer of the levers of the economy and economic concessions to Zionists and exclusion of native Palestinians from these and from labor
22. List at least three possible contributing factors or hypotheses to explain why the British government decided to issue the Balfour Declaration 2 November 1917.
A) (most proven) It was a quid pro quo for helping push the USA to enter the war . Zionists lobbied the Wilson administration in the US to enter the war in exchange for the Declaration
B) Due to Weissman's services to the British in WWI (inventing new explosive material)
C)Because Britain saw the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine as serving its interests in the oil rich Middle East.
23. I do not expect you to have memorized PLO charter articles but can you state two points to prove the thesis/theory that the text of the PLO Charter was highly influenced by the politics and narrative of exile (having been written by those in exile!).
Unity of the Palestinian nation. Palestinains remain Palestinain regardless of where they area.
The primacy of return.
The connection to the land of the ancestors.
Arab unity (because most lived now in Arab countries)
Bonus 1: What was the impact of the Oslo accords (1993) on the Palestinians inside the Green line (1948 areas)?
Felt isolated and not connected. Had to rerly on themselves. Had to accept that in a potential two state solution, they would have to remain inside "Israel" and fend for themselves. No longer felt part of the PLO which was now submerged within the Palestinian authority limited to the WB & Gaza. New institutions created and new trends to participate in Israeli politics materialized etc
Bonus 2: The Balfour declaration said that while it supports "a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine" it should be understood that "nothing will be done to jeopardize the civil and religious rights of the non-Jewish communities in Palestine". Why did Palestinians complain about this language?
It recognized "national" "rights" for a religious community while only "civil and religious rights" for the native people. The language is also biased as Palestinains are defined merely as "non-Jews". Palestinians also do not believe thee is such a thing as "the Jewish people" let alone having a collective right to a national home in Palestine (no more than there are "the Christian people" or "the Muslim People" with collective rights). Judaism is a religion, no more and no less.
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