Deck 17: Israel and the Palestinians From 1948 to the 1970s

Question 1

Which is true of Israel's first election law?

A) It encouraged the existence of numerous political parties
B) Citizens voted for parties, not individuals
C) If a party received at least 1 percent of the vote, it gained representation in the unicameral legislature (Knesset)
D) All of these answers are correct

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following was NOT part of the construction of national identity in Israel?

A) Hebrew was established as a national language
B) Ties with the negative images of the European Jewish/diaspora past were severed
C) Political Zionism was disavowed; it was a tool of the past, no longer necessary since the establishment of the state
D) The establishment of the Law of Return, which, based on the principle of a Jewish homeland, gave every Jew in the world the right to immigrate to Israel

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Why did the dominant, secular Mapai Party in Israel make concessions to the Orthodox religious right elements within the Knesset?

A) The Mapai Party, although it had the most seats in the Knesset, could only form a government by seeking out coalition partners
B) The Orthodox community had the political backing of the United States
C) It was an effort to consolidate power with the president's community; only Orthodox Jews could hold the position of president in Israel
D) All of these answers are correct

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The notion that Arab regimes could only be persuaded to abandon their hostility to the existence of Israel by being subjected to constant reminders of Israel's military power was the doctrine of retaliation in force, also known as ______________

A) Armed Yishuv
B) Military Zionism
C) the Reserve System
D) Ben-Gurionism

Question 5

Poor conditions within Khan Yunis and other Palestinian refugee camps were the crucible for the formation of the Palestinian national consciousness, as well as places in which this group found recruits.

A) al-Shabaab
B) the Palestinian Liberation Organization
C) the Palestinian Arab Congress
D) al-Hurriya

Question 6

Which of the following statements about the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) is NOT true?

A) The PLO accepted the notion of a Jewish state in part of Palestine from its inception
B) The Arab defeat of 1967 was the catalyst that transformed the PLO from a body of Cairo-based bureaucratic notables into an independent resistance organization devoted to armed struggle against Israel
C) The PLO was not a single entity, but, rather, an umbrella organization under whose authority several different, and often fractious, resistance groups coexisted
D) Yasir Arafat was one of the founders of the PLO and its guerrilla group, al-Fatah

Question 7

After the June War, where did Palestinian exiles place their hopes for repatriation and the liberation of their homeland?

A) They believed Nasser would still manage to liberate Palestine
B) They trusted in Pan-Arabism, believing that the application of this doctrine would help their cause by regenerating Arab society as a whole
C) They believed the United Nations would return to them the territories Israel had obtained and occupied since the June War
D) Disillusioned with the Arab leadership, Palestinians concluded that Palestinians themselves would have to liberate their homeland

Question 8

Which of the following is NOT true of the post-1967 United States-Israel relationship?

A) The "special relationship" established in the late 1960s still exists today as a fixture of US foreign policy.
B) The United States raised economic and military assistance to Israel from $77 million in 1968 to $693 million in 1975
C) The United States hoped that Israel's military superiority would contribute to regional stability
D) Ties between Israel and the United States became strained after the 1967 war

Question 9

All of the following are true of Black September EXCEPT

A) Israel backed the Palestinian guerillas' attempt to topple the Hashimite dynasty in Jordan so that they might establish a Palestinian state
B) The post-1967 concentration of Palestinian militants posed a direct challenge to King Husayn
C) The PLO reconstituted itself in Lebanon, which became the main base of its operations up until the Israeli invasion of 1982
D) King Husayn ordered the Jordanian troops to bombard refugee camps in Jordan, killing over 3,000 Palestinians

Question 10

Which of the following is NOT true of the settlement policy adopted in Israel after 1977?

A) Begin and the Likud bloc favored increased Israeli settlement in the occupied territories
B) Begin's goal was to create such a large and dedicated Jewish presence in the occupied territories that no future government could possibly return the land to the Arabs
C) Begin and the Likud bloc promoted Jewish settlement in the Sinai Peninsula
D) The settlement policy was used as an instrument to divide Arab society into isolated segments and to prevent the emergence of a collective Palestinian identity

Question 11

Which of the following is NOT true of the Irgun?

A) It challenged the authority of IDF in the first year of Israel's independence
B) It helped sow the seeds of animosity between Begin and Ben Gurion
C) It was a nationalist terrorist organization
D) Ben Gurion was initially one of its leaders

Question 12

With one exception, where were all of Israel's prime ministers between 1948 and 1992 born?

A) Russia and Poland
B) Mandate Palestine
C) Germany and Poland
D) Mandate Palestine and Poland

Question 13

Which of the following is NOT true of Sephardic Jews?

A) Large numbers from Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, and Egypt immigrated to Israel in the first years after independence
B) They comprised roughly the same number as Ashkenazi Jews in the first wave of immigration to Israel
C) Upon immigration to Israel, their common Jewish identity allowed for similar assimilation as Ashkenazi Jews
D) By the late 1970s, the Sephardic community composed over half of the country's population and was making its numerical weight felt in political circles

Question 14

Which of the following is true of the Nationality Law passed by the Knesset in 1952?

A) Palestinian Arabs no longer had to carry special identification cards
B) Automatic citizenship was granted to any Jew in the world who chose to immigrate to Israel
C) All Israeli citizens were guaranteed equal rights
D) One of its key aims was to eliminate tensions between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs

Question 15

Which of the following is NOT a reason why a distinct Israeli identity-rather than simply a Jewish one- was seen as necessary for Israelis?

A) To shed the negative baggage of anti-Semitism that those of the European Jewish diaspora carried
B) To emphasize closeness of Israeli citizens to the physical Israeli terrain
C) To emphasize physical and emotional strength of its citizens
D) To prevent equating nationality with religion or ethnicity

Question 16

Which of the following is true of Israeli military conscription?

A) Only men 18 and over were conscripted
B) Women were the main group that received exemption
C) Because of the disruption to career and education planning, military conscription was ended by 1980
D) To maintain reservists in a high state of combat readiness, men remained in the active reserve until their late 40s; women, until their mid-30s

Question 17

Which of the following does NOT accurately describe the Revolt of Sephardim?

A) It is also referred to as Israel's "earthquake elections"
B) It brought to power Sephardic Jews and marginalized the Ashkenazi
C) Sephardic Jews helped oust the Labor Party because they were largely discontented with the status quo
D) It led to the emergence of Jewish religious nationalism in national politics

Question 18

Which of the following is NOT true of the relationship between Arab host states and the Palestinians?

A) All Arab host states afforded Palestinian refugees with the same rights
B) Arab states feared that Palestinian political activity would bring Israeli retaliation
C) The Arab states hosting refugees already had a surplus of unskilled labor and shortage of cultivatable land
D) The PLO initially represented the interests of the Arab states and elites over that of the majority of Palestinians

Question 19

al-Fatah is best described by which of the following statements?

A) It represented working class Palestinians in the PLO, much of its leadership lacked formal education
B) It was headed by Yasir Arafat
C) It began as a Palestinian guerilla organization that succeeded in transcending religious and class lines and in forging a cohesive Palestinian national identity
D) It was both headed by Yasir Arafat and succeeded in transcending religious and class lines to help forge a Palestinian national identity

Question 20

Which of the following was NOT a way in which settlements were acquired by Israel?

A) The Begin government took advantage of the confused post-Ottoman West Bank land regime to appropriate parts of the West Bank and Gaza
B) The Begin government used its military authority to appropriate private Arab land for security purposes
C) Israeli economic policies enforced the dependency of the Arab territories for development on Israel
D) All of these are true of Israeli acquiring of settlements

Question 21

During the formative years of Israeli statehood, a national identity that included a combination of secular and religious outlooks emerged.

Question 22

Israel's Law of Return was established to grant Arabs from the occupied territories the right to return to their homes and land.

Question 23

When it became apparent that core Arab states were aligning with the Soviet Union during the cold war, Israel abandoned its policy of neutrality in favor of a pro-Western foreign policy and close relations with the United States.

Question 24

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency was founded in 1950 to specifically oversee the welfare of the Palestinian refugee camps within Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the Gaza Strip.

Question 25

In 1974, the PLO received recognition as the sole representative of the Palestinians. That same year, it gained observer status in the UN General Assembly.

Question 26

Because of its limited population, Israel could not afford to keep a standing army. Instead, Israel's military program was a __________________ system that reduced its forces during peacetime and expanded rapidly in times of national emergency.

Question 27

During the 1970s, Israel and Palestinian guerilla organizations carried out attacks on one another, the most infamous of which involved Israeli Olympic team members being held hostage. This became known as the _____________ episode.

Question 28

To meet the needs of hundreds of thousands of Jewish immigrants after the 1948 war, Israel absorbed Palestinian land and property into the Israeli economy. This made it impossible for Israel to consider the __________________ of the Palestinian refugees.

Question 29

The election of __________________ and the Likud bloc in 1977 effectively eliminated the potential that Israeli occupied territories might be exchanged for peace.

Question 30

Chaim Weizmann, in 1949, became Israel's first __________________.

Question 31

What were the two, vastly divergent schools of thought in Israel regarding Israel's conquest of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights?

Question 32

What are some of the factors that changed for the Arab minority in Israel after 1970?

Question 33

Why did Israel's ties to the United States strengthen after the June War of 1967?

Question 34

Describe the circumstances that contributed to the "cycle of dependency" among Palestinian refugees.

Question 35

How did the election of Menachem Begin change Israel?

Question 36

Why is Israel sometimes referred to as "the party state"?

Question 37

Briefly explain the events and significance of the Altalena affair (1948).

Question 38

What is the difference between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews? Briefly compare their experiences in the new state of Israel.

Question 39

Describe the events that led up to the outbreak of "Black September" (1970).

Question 40

Briefly explain how the 1967 Arab-Israeli war (the June War) impacted Palestinian circumstances and attitudes.

Question 41

Israel's 1977 elections have been described as "Israel's earthquake elections". In what way did they transform Israel's political landscape? What effects did they have on Israel's policies in the West Bank?

Question 42

One historian argues that "The question of the relationship between religion and the state in Israel is probably the most complex, the most vexing, and potentially the most explosive problem bequeathed to Israel by Jewish history and by the country's own more recent background." To what extent do you agree with this statement?