Israel - Palestine Webquest

Directions: Please make a copy of this google document and save it to your google drive. For
each section of this webquest, you will be moving through the Article "Everything you need
to know about Israel-Palestine". Please answer the corresponding questions in the graphic
organizer. Please follow the directions in each section to guide you to the correct location.

Please submit the completed webquest to Canvas by 11:59 pm

Please use a different color font in the graphic organizer

History Channel Overview Video

Directions: Watch the video overview and take brief bullet point notes below.

Video Notes:
- Israel is the only Jewish state
- Known for its conflict with Palestine
- Jews and Muslims have ties to Israel because of Abraham (founder of both religions)
- Conquered and ruled by many groups
- Jews fled from Israel, Diaspora
- Manyv Jews returned to Palestine, under the rule of the Ottoman Empire
- Britain promised a Jewish Homeland
- The division of Palestine was supposed to happen but eventually Israel took too much land
- Other countries took more of Israel
- Palestinians fled to the West Bank and Gaza strip
- Violent clashes began; first and second intifada
- Oslo accords stalled the decision but resulted in more violence and tension

Note: As you are navigating the links located in the article, please click “Everything you need to know about
Israel - Palestine” on the bottom of each article to get back to the main page

Section 1: Questions

Directions: Before you begin exploring the article, what questions do you have about the conflict? Is there any
vocabulary or events that you have heard of but don’t understand? List them below.

We will check in after the webquest and see if you found answers to these questions.

Questions:
1. Where are the West Bank and the Gaza Strip? What is the tension there?
2. What did Israel’s Prime Minister do to anger the Palestinians?
3. What did President Trump do to increase tension in the region during his presidency?
I can read articles from that time and see watch news clips from that year.
I can watch a video that explains why the Prime Minister’s visit was provocative.
 Section 2: Exploring the Geography

Directions: You are going to click on the links below and read about each of the places listed. Please answer the
questions about each place. If you have additional questions after reading, please keep adding to your list in
Section 1.

Location: West Bank (this link will take you to the page “What is the West Bank?”)

How is this location involved in the Israeli - Palestinian conflict?

- It is a disputed area of land that is occupied by Israel but is the home of 3 million Palestinians who think
of it as their land
- It was the piece of land that Israel acquired after the six-day war and it houses many people that do not
want to be under Israel’s rule

What is something new you learned about this specific location?

- The West Bank borders the Dead Sea, a massive salt lake

Location: Gaza (this link will take you to the page “What is Gaza?”)

How is this location involved in the Israeli - Palestinian conflict?

- It is a small densely Palestinian-populated strip of land that is disputed between Israel and the
Palestinians
- The border between Gaza and Israel is violent and an ongoing blockade on Gaza exists
- The Hamas group governs this area and is a resistance group against Israel

What is something new you learned about this specific location?

- Clashes with Israel’s security forces occur and tear gas is used to fight at the border

Location: Jerusalem (this link will take you to the page “What is Jerusalem?”)

How is this location involved in the Israeli - Palestinian conflict?

- Jerusalem has important holy sites for both Jews and Muslims and its division is a main point of
disagreement between Israel and Palestine
- Israel claims it to be the Capital but internationally this was not accepted until former president Donald
Trump stated so
- Jerusalem is still divided but many more Jews have been settling formerly Palestinian areas

What is something new you learned about this specific location?

- The Temple Mount in Jerusalem holds 3 religious sites; the Western Wall, the al-Asqua Mosque, and the
Dome of the Rock all of which are important to the two groups

Section 3: Vocabulary

Directions: You are going to explore and learn more about some of the terms used to describe specific events or
groups involved in the conflict. Please take brief notes under each term. Bullet points are acceptable.

Note: click on the question to access the relevant article

What is the Nakba?
- Nakba is the Arab word for catastrophe
- The War in 1948 created a mass eviction of Palestinians from their home that caused a still ongoing
refugee crisis
- There are still more than 7 million Palestinian refugees
- A Palestinian peace point is for the right for Palestinians to return to their homeland but this is not
something Israel could consider since it would make Jews a minority
- It is seen very differently from the two perspectives
What is Hamas?
- Hamas is a Palestinian organization that constantly fights with Israel; Suicide bombing and Rockets are
used
- Very violent and militaristic
- It governs Gaza independently
- Their goal is to destroy Israel and replace it with a Palestinian state
- In 2006 the Palestinians won the Palestinian Authority legislative elections but did not agree to previous
deals
- The tensions between the PLO and Hamas escalated
What were the intifadas?
- Two uprisings against Israel by Palestinians
- One was in the 1980s and one was in the 2000s
- They really affected the population and led to a darker era in Israeli-Palestinian relations
- The first intifada began with peaceful demonstrations and then turned violent
- The Palestinians lost many people sing Israel responded with brute force to these protests
- The second one was more violent and was caused by the collapse of peace negotiations
- The Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon provocatively visited Temple Mount and escalated the conflict
- Palestinians used suicide bombings, rockets, and sniper fire to fight and 3,200 Palestinians were killed
- Fewer Israeli deaths (1,000)
- People became skeptical of peace negotiations

Section 4: Explore the website

Directions: Select another question that you are interested in.

What event or topic did you choose to learn more about?

I chose to learn about the relations between Israel and the U.S. and what caused this relationship.

What was something you learned?

I learned that Israel was viewed as a buffer against communism during the Cold war and eventually the U.S.
began to see Israel as the most stable democracy in the Middle East which led to their friendly relationship. The
U.S. has given Israel huge sums of money in aid and when President Trump formally recognized Jerusalem as
the capital, he caused more tension in the Middle East.

Once you have finished the Webquest, return to Section 1. Review the questions you had before starting the
webquest. Which questions do you have answers to? Do you have additional questions? Add them to your list!
Next, brainstorm ways you can find information to answer those questions. You can list your ideas under the
questions in Section 1.