Background reading
Short histories of every piece of the map, the famous partition plans and peace offers, and Israel's neighbours. Each page links back to the quiz.
Places
- Gaza StripA narrow 41 km strip on the Mediterranean and one of the most densely populated places on earth.
- West BankHill country west of the Jordan River, called Judea and Samaria for most of history: the heartland of the ancient Jewish kingdoms, and the origin of the…
- East JerusalemThe Old City and its holy sites (the Western Wall, the Temple Mount / Haram al-Sharif with al-Aqsa, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre), plus the…
- Galilee & the NorthNorthern Israel: Nazareth, Tiberias, Safed, Akko and the Jezreel Valley. It is the only region of Israel with an Arab majority.
- Coastal PlainIsrael's economic and population center: Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Haifa, Netanya, Rishon LeZion and Ben Gurion Airport.
- West Jerusalem & corridorWest Jerusalem, where the Knesset, the Supreme Court and Yad Vashem stand, plus the corridor down to the coastal plain, including Beit Shemesh.
- NegevThe southern desert, covering more than 60% of Israel's land. It includes Beersheba, Dimona, Eilat and the kibbutzim near Gaza.
- Golan HeightsA volcanic plateau above the Sea of Galilee. It is a trick question: it was never part of Palestine.
Famous maps
- 1937 Peel planBritain's Peel Commission made the first proposal to partition the land. A small Jewish state would get the Galilee and the northern coastal plain, about…
- 1947 UN planUN General Assembly Resolution 181 split Mandate Palestine into a Jewish state (about 56% of the land, much of it the Negev desert) and an Arab state (about…
- Jordan & Egypt, 1949–67After the 1948 war, Jordan held the West Bank and East Jerusalem and annexed them in 1950. Egypt ran Gaza under military rule. For 19 years every square…
- 1967 linesThese are the 1949 armistice lines (the “Green Line”) that held until the 1967 war. UN Security Council Resolution 242, the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and…
- 2000 & 2008 offersAt Camp David in July 2000, Israel offered, by US accounts, Gaza and about 91% of the West Bank. The Clinton Parameters that December raised it to 94–96%…
Neighbours
- Egypt and IsraelEgypt and Israel: peace treaty since 1979. 1948: Invaded the new State of Israel. Held Gaza until 1967. 1956: Suez Crisis: Israel took Sinai, then withdrew…
- Jordan and IsraelJordan and Israel: peace treaty since 1994. 1948: Took the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and annexed them in 1950. 1967: Joined the Six-Day War and lost…
- Lebanon and IsraelLebanon and Israel: no peace treaty. 1948: Joined the Arab invasion. A 1949 armistice followed. 1970s: After Black September the PLO moved its base to…
- Syria and IsraelSyria and Israel: no peace treaty. 1948: Joined the Arab invasion. 1967: Lost the Golan Heights in the Six-Day War. 1973: Attacked with Egypt in the Yom…
Explainers
- What does “From the river to the sea” mean?Which river, which sea, and what the slogan claims: its origins with the PLO and Hamas (and Likud), what people mean by it, and how governments treat it.
- Where does the name “Palestine” come from?The name “Palestine” is 3,000 years old: from the Philistines and Herodotus to Hadrian’s Syria Palaestina, the Arab Jund Filastin and the British Mandate.