Basic Geography of Palestine Trivia Quiz

Answer: The map of Palestine shows two separate tracts of land

Palestine consists (according to its map) of two separate tracts of land: the Gaza strip in the south, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, and the West Bank - a landlocked tract of land between Jerusalem and the River Jordan.

But the situation is more complicated than just two tracts of land: the West Bank is partly Palestinian (area A), partly Israeli (area C), and partly disputed (area B: claimed by Palestine but administered by Israel). Area A and B contain more than 200 small exclaves, each usually confined to a city, town, village or hamlet. The Camp David agreements of 1988 provide that Israel should hand over area C to Palestine after the two governments make a final agreement on this territorial transfer - a final agreement that has not yet been negotiated in 2023, the time of writing this quiz.

National maps showing more than one capital city are rare, as most countries have only one capital city.

Maps always shown upside down or maps without scale ratio are of course quite useless figments of my wild imagination.

Answer: Lebanon

The Gaza strip has a small frontier to the south with Egypt. The west of the Gaza strip borders the Mediterranean Sea. All the rest of the Gaza strip (so north and east) border Israel.

The West Bank has a border with Jordan in the east. The rest of the West Bank borders Israel.

Lebanon only borders Israel to the south, the Mediterranean Sea to the west, and Syria to the north and the east.

Answer: Mount Nabi Yunis

The Mount Nabi Yunus rises to a height of just over 1,000 m. It is situated in the southern part of the West Bank, near Hebron - about 40 km by road south of Jerusalem. The distance as the crow flies is much smaller, but for some reason (perhaps the presence of the mountain) Google Maps advises a large detour.

Mount Catherine is the highest peak in Egypt, at 2,629 m.
Jabal Umm ad Dami is the highest peak in Jordan and reaches 1,854 m above sea level.
Mount Ararat is the highest mountain in Turkey, at 5,137m. It would be the mountain on which Noah's ark stranded.

Answer: Jordan

The West Bank borders the river Jordan, the largest river in or near Palestine, with a total length of 251 km. The River Jordan starts in Lebanon, flows through Syria and Israel, and then for about 100 km it forms the frontier between Jordan and Palestine. The River Jordan mouths into the Dead Sea.

The Nile flows from Ethiopia and Uganda through South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt.
The Tigris starts in Turkey. After a small stretch through Syria it flows through Iraq.
The Ganges flows through India and Bangladesh.

Answer: Dead Sea

The Dead Sea is a very salty lake on the frontier between Jordan, Palestine and Israel. It has only one main tributary: the River Jordan.

Because of the high evaporation, the Dead Sea accumulates salt deposits, which are deadly to most life in the lake. Only a few types of bacteria can survive.

The Dead Sea is continuously shrinking and descending below the sea level, as the supply via the river Jordan is less than the amount of water that evaporates. The Jordan government has plans for laying a pipeline between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea, extracting and desalinizing Red Sea water for agricultural purposes and diverting the rest into the Dead Sea, thus raising the Dead Sea water level.

The Sea of Galilee is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is also known as Lake Tiberias.
The Caspian Sea is a lake bordering Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The Aral Sea is a lake bordering Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Answer: Nablus

As anyone who knows a few words of Greek can tell, the Greek for "new city" is Nea Polis - also the ancient name for the Italian city of Naples. So Nablus is the correct answer.

Nablus was founded in 72 AD as a Roman city in Samaria. On the north is Mount Ebal and to the south is Mount Gerizim, so the use of a typical square city map (as was habitual in Roman times and as also can be found in some of the newer American cities) proved difficult. Streets would still intersect at more or less right angles, but the map seems squeezed in the north-south axis.

Some of the places to visit just outside Nablus are Joseph's tomb and the Greek Orthodox Church of Jacob's Well. Indeed: Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, would have lived in this region, as well as Jacob's sons (including Joseph). But there are also several mosques, Turkish bath houses and ancient palaces. One typical specialty is the soap factories, of which about a quarter still are active making soap from olive oil.

The red herrings are cities with which Nablus has signed "twin city" pacts. Poznan is in Poland, Stavanger in Norway, and Dublin of course in Ireland.

Answer: Al-Aqsa

The Al-Aqsa university in Gaza was probably named after the Jerusalem mosque. Al-Aqsa is Arabic for "the furthest" as in distance to Mecca. The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is one of the most important mosques in the old town of Jerusalem.

Al-Aqsa University has faculties for Applied sciences; Art and human sciences; Education; Fine arts; Management and financing; Media; Sports; and Information technology.

As for the red herrings: Salaam Aleikum is Arabic for "Peace be with you", a common greeting.
Abdul Rahman and Shah Jahan were important Muslim leaders who gave their names to a mosque (but not in Jerusalem). There is also an Abdur Rahman university in India.

Answer: Rafah

The most southern part of Palestine is the Gaza strip, divided into five administrative districts. These are from north to south North-Gaza, Gaza (proper), Deir al Balah, Khan Yunis, and Rafah. All these districts have very high population densities - from 3,161 inhabitants per square kilometre for Khan Yunis to 8,457 inhabitants per square kilometre in Gaza.

Rafah district has the only border post with Egypt, and this is the only way supplies of food, water, medicine and fuel can be imported into the Gaza strip while the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues. Indeed: Israel blockades all other border posts as long as the Israeli government senses a threat from Palestinian groups.

Aqaba is a Jordanian harbour. Sharm el Sheikh is an Egyptian resort. Bizerte is a city in the far north of Tunisia.

Answer: Jericho

According to the well-known story in the Old Testament, Jericho was a walled city when the people of Israel (led by Joshua) entered the "promised land" Canaan, where they would settle. But the Canaanites would fight the Israelites, and Joshua decided to capture the city of Jericho first. The walls were too strong, until the Israelites marched several times around the walls sounding their trumpets - and then the walls came crumbling down.

The present-day Jericho lies on Palestine territory in the West Bank, very close to the border with Jordan. Archaeological excavations in the neighbourhood have not unearthed evidence that there was a walled city over there in the era indicated in the Old Testament.

Petra is in Jordan, far south of Amman.
Suez is in Egypt, far south-west of Jerusalem.
Aleppo is in Syria, far north of Amman.

Answer: Ramallah

Ramallah is a city rebuilt around 1500 AD, but with renewed use of bricks from houses in the time of King Herod the Great (about 37 BC - about 4 BC). There are very few trustworthy sources as to the history of Ramallah at that epoch. Under the Ottoman Empire (up till 1918) most inhabitants were Christians, but as many Christian inhabitants emigrated (especially to the USA) and many Muslims immigrated, the vast majority of inhabitants of Ramallah in the 21st Century is Muslim.

Palestine was recognized as an independent state by over 2/3 of the members of the UNO General Assembly. But the state of Palestine has not (yet?) the full membership of the United Nations: it is merely an observer, without voting rights. A request for full membership was introduced in 2011.

The Palestinian Authority (more or less equal to the government of the Palestine state) has taken use of several buildings in Ramallah. So have other important organizations, such as the Palestine Security Exchange.

Bordeaux (France), Trondheim (Norway) and Johannesburg (South-Africa) are some of the twin cities of Ramallah.