History of Africa and the Middle East practice questions.

Determine which 1978 agreement, brokered by US President Carter, led to a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel signed the following year.

• The Balfour Declaration
• The Camp David Accords
• The Sykes-Picot Agreement
• The Oslo Accords

Answer: The Camp David Accords

The Camp David Accords (1978) between Sadat and Begin produced the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty; the other agreements belong to different periods and issues.

Identify the first democratically elected President of post-apartheid South Africa, inaugurated in 1994.

• Archbishop Desmond Tutu
• Nelson Mandela
• Thabo Mbeki
• Steve Biko

Answer: Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first Black president in 1994 following the country's first non-racial elections, ending formal apartheid.

Determine which term describes the political process by which African and Middle Eastern territories gained independence from European colonial rule, mainly after 1945.

• Cultural assimilation
• Decolonisation
• Mercantilism
• Partition

Answer: Decolonisation

Decolonisation refers to the dismantling of colonial empires and the achievement of independence by former colonies; assimilation and mercantilism describe colonial-era policies.

Identify what the United Nations General Assembly recommended in November 1947.

• Partition into Arab and Jewish states with Jerusalem under international administration
• A single federal state with guaranteed representation for both communities
• The continuation of the British Mandate under United Nations supervision
• The transfer of the territory to the administration of the Arab League

Answer: Partition into Arab and Jewish states with Jerusalem under international administration

Resolution 181 proposed two states in economic union and a corpus separatum for Jerusalem. The Zionist leadership accepted it and the Arab states and Palestinian leadership rejected it, so the plan was never implemented and the borders it drew never took effect.

State the territorial outcome of the war of 1948-1949.

• Israel held more territory than the partition plan proposed, with armistice lines but no peace treaties
• The partition boundaries of Resolution 181 were established as recognised international borders
• Jerusalem was placed under the international administration the United Nations had proposed
• An independent Palestinian state was established in the West Bank and Gaza

Answer: Israel held more territory than the partition plan proposed, with armistice lines but no peace treaties

The 1949 armistice agreements drew military lines, not borders, and stated so expressly. Egypt administered Gaza and Jordan annexed the West Bank, so no Palestinian state emerged. The distinction between an armistice line and a border governs every later dispute.

Identify the agreement that preceded the Suez war of 1956.

• A secret understanding at Sevres between Britain, France and Israel
• A defence pact between Egypt and the Soviet Union guaranteeing the canal
• A United Nations mandate authorising the reopening of the waterway by force
• An American undertaking to finance the Aswan Dam if the canal were internationalised

Answer: A secret understanding at Sevres between Britain, France and Israel

Israel would attack, Britain and France would then intervene as separators of the combatants and retake the canal. American and Soviet pressure forced a withdrawal, so a military success became a political defeat and marked the end of British and French primacy in the region.