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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where do Elias and his friend Faraj decide to go?

2. What is frustrating to Elias?

3. What story does Elias's father explain to his children?

4. What of the Bible is a mystery to Elias?

5. How do the Zionist act after the British leave?

Short Essay Questions

1. What type of journal did Elias begin when he was at school? How long did this journal last?

2. What happens in Palestine when the United Nations steps into the conflict?

3. Who was taken out of Gish from Elias's family and who was left?

4. With what was Elias suspected of doing by Zionist soldiers and what was the final outcome of that accusation?

5. What did a second Supreme Court rule about the town of Biram and what happened after that ruling?

6. What would a current student of the Middle East find strange about Palestine in the late 1940's?

7. What did Elias begin to do after so many people were taken from the village of Gish? What did he believe about the situation?

8. How did Elias's teachers view him at the seminary and why?

9. What did the Bishop suggest for Elias?

10. What did Elias see in Jesus and how did he feel about Jesus? How did Elias see his interaction with Jesus?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Elias himself was the victim of the Zionists, when he and his friends were singled out as culprits in the cutting of a telephone line. He and his father were interrogated for hours and Elias beaten. Though it was later discovered that a truck had inadvertently driven over the wire, severing it, there was never an apology or an admission of a mistake. Discuss the following:

1. What might an apology have done to the situation? Why do you think the Zionist do not offer one?

2. Are hours of interrogation and a beating overboard for the offense? Why or why not?

3. In response to these events, Elias chooses to retreat to solitude, again talking to Jesus and coming to the conclusion that somehow he would become a part of God's plan for peace. Do you think this is a worthwhile plan? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Within the new government itself, however, all was not cohesive. Factions had developed, all vying for power, and differing on treatment of the native Palestinians. The elders of the former village of Biram seized upon this opportunity to petition the Israeli Supreme Court for permission to return to their homes. Though this petition was granted, Zionist soldiers still would not allow them in. Discuss the following:

1. What do you think are the reasons the Zionist soldiers will not allow the villagers to reclaim their homes based on a court order by the Jewish government?

2. Why do you think the Jewish government does not intervene? Could they be afraid of the more radical Zionist themselves?

3. How often do you think a court victory is empty--both in the Palestinian situation and in other situations. Discuss with examples from the text and your own knowledge.

Essay Topic 3

When Elias' father, brothers and other men of Biram are making their way back to their homelands, they walk through Syria and receive no help from Arab villages, who saw them as "dirty Palestinians" and dangerous to their own well-being. Discuss the following:

1. Are the Syrians justified in not offering help to the returning Palestinians?

2. Why do you think the Syrians would call Elias' father, brothers and other men of Biram "dirty Palestinians"? Is this a means of making themselves feel better?

3. How do you think Elias' father, brothers and other men of Biram could be dangerous to the Syrian's well being?

(see the answer keys)

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