NewsTracker Answers for week of Aug. 17, 2020

Q: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) last week agreed to normalize diplomatic ties with Israel after that nation suspended its plans to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank territory. Where is the oil-rich UAE which juts into the Persian Gulf?

Circle the area on this map


Q: The UAE is the third Arab nation to establish ties with Israel since it declared independence in 1948. Which neighboring Arab nation was the first to make peace with Israel?

A. Egypt

B. Jordan

C. Lebanon

D. Syria


A. Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty in 1979. Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994. Israel is bordered to the southwest by Egypt, to the west by the Mediterranean Sea, to the north by Lebanon, to the northeast by Syria and to the east the by the West Bank – territory it captured from Jordan in a 1967 war and has occupied ever since.


Q: Israel and the UAE both face serious threats from which large country that lies across the Persian Gulf from the UAE?

A. Afghanistan

B. Iran

C. Pakistan

D. Saudi Arabia


B. Iran’s officials condemned last week’s announcement and warned the UAE it faced a “dangerous future.” Iran is a majority Shia Muslim state and fierce rival to other gulf nations ruled by Sunnis, Islam’s largest religious sect. The gulf states of Oman and Bahrain supported the UAE deal, and Israel said they could be the next to formalize ties.


Q: The UAE has what type of government?

A. Direct democracy

B. Federal Republic

C. Federation of monarchies

D. Parliamentary democracy


C. The UAE is ruled by a council of Shiekhs who are absolute monarchs of the seven emirates comprising the nation. Israel is a parliamentary democracy. But, about 2.6 million Palestinian Arabs in the occupied West Bank cannot vote for the Israeli parliament. Officials worry that large numbers of Arab voters would threaten Israel’s status as a Jewish state.


Q: The diplomatic deal with the UAE halted Israel’s plans to annex a big part of the occupied territory on the West Bank of the Jordan River. Who in the West Bank was upset by the announcement of the deal?

A. Arab Palestinians

B. Jewish settlers

C. Both


C. The thousands of Israeli Jews who moved into enclaves on the West Bank were upset that their settlements would not officially become part of Israel. Arabs who have been demanding a separate Palestinian state were upset that the UAE made the deal without consulting them. They worry their struggle is losing unified support of other Arab nations.