UPSC Essentials | Daily subject-wise quiz : International Relations MCQs on Westbank, Neom, Bahia state and more (Week 57)

(a) The western part of Westbank shares its border with the Mediterranean Sea

(b) The southern part of Westbank shares its border with Dead Sea.

(c) The Jordan River makes the boundary of Westbank on the eastern side.

(d) It does not share any border with Egypt.

QUESTION 2

Consider the following countries:

1. Lebanon

2. Egypt

3. Jordan

4. Iran

How many of the above countries share a border with Israel?

(a) Only one

(b) Only two

(c) Only three

(d) All four

QUESTION 3

Neom, a $500 billion smart city project was recently in news. It is associated with:

(a) India

(b) United States

(c) Saudi Arabia

(d) UAE

QUESTION 4

Recently, the high-level mediation talks were held in Kenya to end a conflict that has crippled the country’s economy for years. The country mentioned here is:

(a) Sudan

(b) Djibouti

(c) Nigeria

(d) South Sudan

QUESTION 5

Bahia state was recently in news due to deforestation, land grabbing and human rights violations. It is located in:

(a) Peru

(b) Australia

(c) Argentina

(d) Brazil

ANSWERS TO THE MCQs

1. (a)

FYI:

— Charred homes and automobiles dot this hilltop community surrounded by olive orchards, a stark reminder of Palestinians‘ vulnerability to escalating violence from Israeli settlers.

— According to the health ministry in Ramallah, approximately 500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since the war began, with soldiers shooting the vast majority of them.

— The war has clearly increased tensions between settlers and Palestinians.

— The West Bank is bordered by Israel on three sides and Jordan on the east. It also shares a boundary with the Dead Sea to the southeast.

— The Jordan River defines the eastern border of the Westbank.

— Westbank does not border the Mediterranean Sea.

Therefore, option (a) is the correct answer.

2. (c)

FYI:

— The idea of a UN-proposed two-state solution – the creation of Israel and Palestine – was rejected by Palestinians in 1947.

— A powerful Israeli state took control, following a war that led to the displacement of around 700,000 Palestinians. This was known as the Naqba or the catastrophe.

— The Palestinian territories, which include the West Bank to the east and the Gaza Strip to the southwest, border Israel from the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan to the east, the Red Sea to the south, Egypt to the southwest, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west.

Therefore, option (c) is the correct answer.

3. (c)

FYI:

— Colonel Rabih Alenezi, a former intelligence officer, told the BBC that Saudi Arabia had sanctioned the use of lethal force to clear land for Neom, a $500 billion smart city project directed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

— The Line, a car-free metropolis spanning 200 metres wide and 170 kilometres long, aspires to transform urban living.

— However, development has been slow, with only 2.4 kilometres expected to be completed by 2030, according to the BBC article.

— Satellite photographs released by the BBC show the demolition of three villages — al-Khuraybah, Sharma, and Gayal — to make way for Neom. The Huwaitat tribe lived in these settlements, and they were labelled “rebels” by the government.

— Neom will be the “world’s first zero-gravity vertical city” having “zero cars, zero pollution and zero carbon emissions,” the ambitious megacity, spanning 26,500 square kilometers along the Aqaba Gulf and Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coastline, is positioned to be 33 times larger than New York City.

Therefore, option (c) is the correct answer.

4. (d)

FYI:

— High-level mediation discussions on South Sudan began in Kenya, with African presidents urging an end to the conflict, which has ravaged the country’s economy for years.

— The discussions are between the government and rebel opposition groups that were not included in the 2018 accord that ended a five-year civil war that killed 400,000 people.

— Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera, Zambia’s Hakainde Hichilema, Namibia’s Nangolo Mbumba, and the Central African Republic’s Faustin-Archange Touadera also attended the launch, which followed an African Union agriculture conference.

— Mike Hammer, the US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, welcomed the talks.

— “The United States applauds Kenya’s commitment to regional stability and support for peace in South Sudan,” the U.S. Embassy in Kenya wrote on X, after the launch.

— The chief mediator in the South Sudan peace process, Lazarus Sumbeiywo, exuded confidence that the talks would resolve the outstanding issues.

Therefore, option (d) is the correct answer.

5. (d)

FYI:

— Major brands such as Zara and H&M sell clothing made from cotton grown on Brazilian farms. A new study has linked these to deforestation and land grabbing.

— According to the research, this raw material was generated specifically for eight Asian companies that will manufacture around 250 million retail items between 2014 and 2023.

— Cotton for export is primarily grown in the western portion of Brazil’s Bahia state, an area immersed in a tropical and extremely biodiverse savanna known as the Cerrado.

— The vegetation in the Cerrado is frequently unlawfully burned to make way for crops and farming. According to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, deforestation has more than doubled over the last five years.

Therefore, option (d) is the correct answer.

Previous Daily Subject-Wise-Quiz

Daily subject-wise quiz — Polity and Governance (Week 57)

Daily Subject-wise quiz — History, Culture, and Social Issues (Week 57)

Daily subject-wise quiz — Environment, Geography, Science and Technology (Week 57)

Daily subject-wise quiz — Economy (Week 56)

Daily subject-wise quiz – International Relations (Week 55)

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