The Middle East and North Africa Quiz

Answer: Tangier

Most of Morocco was turned into a French protectorate in the Treaty of Fez (1912), but Tangiers on the straits of Gibraltar was a special case: all the major European powers wanted to keep the straits a neutral zone for shipping purposes. As a result, a Convention in 1923 made Tangier an international zone and duty free port, governed jointly over the next 33 years by a combination of the UK, Spain, the USSR, Italy and the United States among others.

It was only incorporated into Morocco on independence.

Answer: An academic is prevented from delivering a paper on Berber poetry

When Mouloud Mammeri, a Berber anthropologist, was prevented from presenting a paper on ancient Berber poetry by the government on 10 March 1980, a widespread strike began among Berbers in Kabylia region, demanding recognition of the Tamazight language and greater cultural freedoms. Events culminated in the army storming a hospital and a university campus. Up to 32 people died in the violence.

After further extensive violence on the anniversary of the Berber spring on 2001, the Algerian government finally announced that it would give the Berber language official status.

Answer: The Arabs should accept Israel's existence in part of Palestine and set up a Palestinian State in the remainder

In March and April 1965, President Bourguiba visited the West Bank, then under Jordanian rule, and announced in Jerusalem that he believed that the Arab States should negotiate with Israel to establish two states in the former mandatory territory: Israel and Palestine, along the lines of the United Nations Partition Plan of 1947.

He continued to advocate this approach fairly consistently for the remainder of his premiership (until 1987).

Answer: Islamic

In March 1977, the Revolutionary Command Council led by Mu'ammar Qadhafi issued the "Declaration on the Establishment of the Authority of the People", which renamed Libya as the People's Socialist Libyan Arab Jamahiriyya (the final term means "government through the masses", and was a recent invention popularised by Qadhafi).

It also replaced itself as the ruling body with the General People's Congress, and declared that the constitution of the country was the Qur'an.

Answer: 2

In January 1952, the British forces stationed in the Suez Canal zone attacked an Egyptian police post, resulting in numerous Egyptian deaths. The British-installed monarchy, which had tried to keep the population sympathetic to the British presence, effectively knew then that the game was up.

They made one last attempt to purge the army of dissidents, but put up no resistance when the inevitable military coup occurred. King Faruq abdicated and went into exile within days.

Answer: Democrat Party

The Democrat Party was created only 4 years previously, in January 1946, but won 420 out of 487 seats in parliament in the May 1950 election. The Republican People's Party, which had ruled since 1923, was left with only 63 seats. Adnan Menderes, the founder and leader of the Democrat Party, served as Prime Minister, but was ousted in the coup of May 1960. Menderes was executed the following year, and the party was banned.

Answer: Yitzhak Rabin

Yitzhak Rabin (prime minister from 1974-77 and 1992-95) was born in Jerusalem, in 1922. Previous Prime Ministers were all born in Europe. David Ben-Gurion (1948-53, 1955-63) was born in 1886 in Plonsk, Poland. Moshe Sharett (1953-55) was born in 1894 in Kherson, Ukraine. Levi Eshkol (1963-69) was born in 1895, in Oratovo, Ukraine. Golda Meir (1969-74) was born in 1898 in Kiev, Ukraine. Subsequent prime ministers were also born in Europe: Shimon Peres (1977, 1984-86, 1995-96) was born in 1923 in Vishniva, Poland (now Belarus); Menachem Begin (1977-83) was born in Brest-Litovsk, Poland (now in Belarus); Yitzhak Shamir (1983-84, 86-92) was born in 1915 in Ruzinoy, Poland (now Belarus).

Answer: Jimmy Carter

In March 1977, President Jimmy Carter called for the creation of a "Palestinian homeland", and went on to call for dialogue with Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), with the support of the USSR and European governments. The idea of an international conference including both the Israelis and the Palestinians was mooted by Carter and the Soviet Union in October 1977, and was accepted by the PLO. Before plans progressed, however, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt flew to Jerusalem to capture the limelight, and offered to make peace separately with Israel.

Answer: Ta'if accords

The Ta'if accords, formulated in talks in Saudi Arabia, were accepted in October 1989 by the surviving deputies from the last elected Lebanese parliament, from 1972. They agreed to limit presidential prerogatives, to call for Syrian withdrawal to the Bekaa valley, and for Christians and Muslims to have equal representation in Parliament.

The civil war is finally brought to an end in 1991, when all remaining unlicensed militias are disarmed.

Answer: Renaissance

The full name of the party is the Arab Socialist Ba'th (Renaissance) party. It was originally established in 1940, calling itself just the Arab Renaissance, to revive the Arab national spirit and culture. Initially, its leading members were schoolteachers.

It became more of a political party throughout the 1940s, placing emphasis on unifying the different Arab states, and merged in 1952 with a Socialist Party to take on its current form. Rival wings of the Ba'th party ruled in Syria and Iraq.

Answer: Indian rupee

Both prior to and immediately after World War I, the British India Office was in charge of Persian Gulf policy. It took on responsibility for the three provinces that were captured from 1914-18 and combined to make up Iraq, and incorporated them into the Indian monetary system.

This remained the situation until 1931, when the Iraq Currency Board was established in London, and the New Iraqi Dinar was produced.

Answer: President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt

In March 1958, Nasser revealed evidence that King Sa'ud had attempted to bribe the leaders of Syria to engineer Nasser's assassination. The background was a decision by US President Eisenhower to abandon attempts to form alliances with the Arab republican governments (Egypt and Syria), and to concentrate their support on the conservative monarchies (Saudi Arabia and Jordan).

This led to deep divisions between the Arab countries, and it remains unclear if the US knew of King Sa'ud's plans. Sa'ud himself was sidelined by his own family after this event, and was eventually ousted and exiled in 1964.

Answer: Eritrea

The Hanish islands are in the Red Sea. Eritrea, which became independent in 1993, asserted its ownership of the islands. In November 1995, it ordered all Yemenis off the islands, and attacked them in December. After three days of intense fighting, a ceasefire was declared. Both sides agreed to submit the dispute to arbitration, and this resulted in a decision in favour of Yemen.

Answer: Qatar

The Federation of Arab Emirates was made up of the Trucial States (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, Fujayrah, Ra's al-Khaymah, Sharjah and Umm al-Qaywayn), Bahrain and Qatar. When the British announced their intention to withdraw from the Gulf territories, Bahrain and Qatar declared independence. Six of the remaining emirates formed the United Arab Emirates in 1971, with Ra's al-Khaymah acceding a year later.

Answer: Stomach cancer

Ayatollah Khomeini died of stomach cancer on 3 June 1989. One of his last acts was bestowing Ali Khamene'i with the formal religious status of Ayatollah, an act performed from his death bed, so that Khamene'i could fulfil the formal requirement to be the next leader of the Islamic Republic.