Final Exam Study Guide: Settlement Case Studies & Middle East History

Vocabulary flashcards covering key settlement case studies, historical movements like Gush Emunim, the administrative zones of the Oslo Accords, and the stages of conflict in the West Bank from 1967 to the mid-1990s.

Ma‘ale Adumim

Established in $1975$ and located at approximately $31.85^\circ \text{N}$, $35.25^\circ \text{E}$, it is one of the largest official Israeli settlements in the West Bank, situated east of Jerusalem.

Kfar Tapuach

Founded in $1974$ near Nablus at approximately $32.05^\circ \text{N}$, $35.18^\circ \text{E}$, this settlement reflects the ideological foundation of religious and nationalist fervor behind settlement policies.

Gush Emunim

Known as the "Bloc of the Faithful," this militant religious-nationalist movement founded in $1974$ viewed the $1967$ military victories as divine redemption and initiated independent civilian outposts to settle the West Bank.

Likud Party

The right-wing political party that rose to power in $1977$ under Menachem Begin, overturning previous Labour policies to promote the permanent colonization of "Judea and Samaria."

Six-Day War

The $1967$ conflict in which Israel launched a preemptive strike on June $5, 1967$, resulting in the seizure of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula, and Golan Heights.

Ottoman Land Laws

$19\text{th}$-century legal codes weaponized by the Israeli state to reclassify fallow Palestinian tracts as state-owned public domain to facilitate land confiscation.

The First Intifada

A spontaneous national rebellion starting in December $1987$ triggered by a fatal vehicle crash in Gaza, transformed from twenty years of boiling anger over military occupation into coordinated resistance.

UNLU (Unified National Leadership)

The underground leadership during the First Intifada that coordinated neighborhood popular committees to manage secret schools, food cooperatives, and medical clinics.

Oslo I Accord

Signed in September $1993$, this agreement secured mutual recognition between Israel and the PLO and created a phased, five-year interim timetable for Palestinian self-rule.

Area A

Zones comprising roughly $18\%$ of West Bank land where the Palestinian Authority (PA) holds exclusive civil and security control over dense urban centers like Ramallah and Nablus.

Area B

Zones comprising roughly $22\%$ of West Bank land where the Palestinian Authority (PA) manages civil administration, but Israel retains overriding military security control.

Area C

The largest administrative zone swallowing approximately $60\%$ of the West Bank, containing all major settlements and bypass roads under absolute Israeli civil, planning, and military control.

Bypass Roads

A network of exclusive settler-only transit routes built on seized land that fragments Palestinian territory and isolates local villages from one another.

Balkanization

The administrative and physical fragmentation of the West Bank into disconnected enclaves (islands), particularly through the division of Areas A, B, and C.

Illegal Outposts

Makeshift communities established by radical settler youth without official government permits, which the state often retroactively legalizes and supports with infrastructure.

UNEF (United Nations Emergency Force)

The international force expelled from the border by Gamal Abdel Nasser in May $1967$, just before the Egyptian blockade of the Straits of Tiran.