Middle East Today
Study Guide
1. Anti-Semitism: hatred of Jews because they are
Jewish.
2. Holocaust: a time when 6 million Jews were
killed in concentration camps during WWII
3. Zionism: Jewish belief that Jews deserve a
homeland in Zion
4. Which describes the Holocaust?: the
murder of millions of European Jews during
WWII
5. Why did so many countries in the United
Nations feel it was right to create Israel in
1948? Many felt the Jews deserved help due
to their suffering during the Holocaust.
6. What is Zionism? The belief that Jews
deserved to return to a homeland in Zion
where they had lived in Biblical times
7. What world organization created the new state
of Israel? The United Nations
8. How did Arabs living in Palestine in 1948 feel
about the creation of the new state of Israel?
They rejected it as unfair to them.
9. When war broke out in Palestine, what countries
joined with the Palestinian Arabs to try to stop
the creation of the new state of Israel?
Neighboring Arab countries
10. Which countries
border the Gaza Strip?
Israel and Egypt
11.What is the
approximate location of
the Dead Sea from
Jerusalem? Southeast
Dead
Sea
12. What country is
found at 31° N, 34°
E? Egypt
13. What was the outcome of the 1948 War between
the new state of Israel and the Arabs living in and
around Palestine? Israel won the war and the
new State of Israel was even larger than
originally planned.
14. What is a “refugee”? A person who had to leave
his home because of war.
15. What has become of many of the Palestinians
who became refugees in 1948? Many still live in
refugee camps.
16. What is the United States’ main
economic interest in Southwest Asia? Oil
17. Why did the United Nations try to stop
Iraq from taking over Kuwait in 1990? The
economies of many countries depend on
oil, and Iraq’s actions threatened their
supply.
18. Who are the Taliban? a group of radical
Muslims
19. Why did the U.S. bomb and invade
Afghanistan in 2001? They believed the
government was offering safety to alQaeda.
20. Why did the U.S. go to war against Iraq
in 2003? The U.S. government saw the
Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, as a threat
to peace and U.S. interests in the region.