Physical Geography of the Middle East
What two rivers are the principal features of Iraq?
Tigris, Euphrates
What underground resource in the Middle East has been of interest to other European countries?
oil
God promised to give Abraham and his descendants the land called what?
Canaan
The Kurds are the largest ethnic group in the world that does not have what?
a recognized national homeland
What is the observance that marks the coming of age of a Jewish boy or girl?
bar mitzvah
Most of Mesopotamia is in what modern country?
Iraq
During what war was an agreement made to divide the Ottoman Empire (or the Middle East)?
World War I
What movement was based on the desire to establish a Jewish homeland?
Zionist Movement
What country opposed Kurdish autonomy in 1920?
Turkey
What is the primary reason why many Jews in Europe became tailors, shopkeepers, artisans, and money lenders?
They were forbidden from owning property
The eastern end of the Fertile Crescent has been called what?
The cradle of civilization
What two countries made the agreement to divide the Ottoman Empire (or the Middle East)?
Great Britain, France
What organization passed a resolution calling for partitioning Palestine into a Jewish state and a Palestinian state with Jerusalem under international control?
the United Nations
From what ancient people do the Kurds believe they are descended?
Medes
What was the term for the Jews who lived away from Cannan?
diaspora
The term Middle East assumes that we are looking at the region from what perspective?
the West
What is the name given to the agreement made to divide the Ottoman Empire (or the Middle East)?
Sykes-Picot
What two unconnected areas did Palestinians declare to be the state of Palestine in 1988?
the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
What powerful Kurdish Muslim leader was sultan of Egypt and pushed the Crusaders out of Jerusalem?
Saladin
The book of Esther tells of the establishment of what feast to commemorate the deliverance of the Jews in Persia from the evil Haman?
Purim
What is the English name for the largest contiguous sand desert in the world, located on the Arabian Peninsula?
Empty Quaarter
What was the term for the area that a country ruled or had responsibility for?
protectorate
In what year did Israel declare itself to be a nation?
1948
Parts of what five countries make up the unofficial Kurdish homeland. Name four of the five.
Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Armenia, Iran
What are the three main branches of modern Judaism?
Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform