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Bashir, Omar Hassan Ahmed al-

(Encyclopedia)Bashir, Omar Hassan Ahmed al- ōˈmär häˈsän äˈmĕd äl-bäshērˈ [key], 1944–, Sudanese military and political leader, president of Sudan (1994–2019). He graduated from the Sudanese milita...

Arabs

(Encyclopedia)Arabs, name originally applied to the Semitic peoples of the Arabian Peninsula. It now refers to those persons whose primary language is Arabic. They constitute most of the population of Algeria, Bahr...

Beersheba

(Encyclopedia)Beersheba bērshēˈbə, bērˈshēbə [key] [Heb.,=seven wells or well of the oath],...

Hezbollah

(Encyclopedia)Hezbollah [Arab., = Party of God], Lebanese Shiite political party and militia. Founded in 1982 with Iranian help to oppose Israeli forces occupying S Lebanon, Hezbollah launched guerrilla attacks...

Meir, Golda

(Encyclopedia)Meir, Golda māērˈ [key], 1898–1978, Israeli political leader, b. Kiev, Russia, originally named Golda Mabovitch. Her family emigrated to the United States in 1906, settling in Milwaukee. She beca...

Christopher, Warren Minor

(Encyclopedia)Christopher, Warren Minor, 1925–2011, U.S. government official, b. Scranton, N.Dak. He studied law at Stanford (1946–49) and was a clerk to Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas (1949–50). A ...

Intifada

(Encyclopedia)Intifada ĭntēfăˈdĕ [key] [Arab.,=uprising, shaking off], the Palestinian uprising during the late 1980s and early 90s in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, areas that had been occupied by Israel since...

Jordan, country, Asia

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Jordan, officially Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, kingdom (2015 est. pop. 8,117,000), 35,637 sq mi (92,300 sq km), SW Asia. It borders on Israel and the West Bank in the west, on Syria in the nor...

Tantawi, Hussein

(Encyclopedia)Tantawi, Hussein (Mohamed Hussein Tantawi Soliman), 1935–, Egyptian field marshal. Joining the army in 1956, he became defense minister (1991) and commander-in-chief of the armed forces (1995). He s...

Rabin, Yitzhak

(Encyclopedia)Rabin, Yitzhak yĭtskhäkˈ räbēnˈ [key], 1922–95, Israeli general and statesman, b. Jerusalem, the first native-born prime minister of Israel (1974–77, 1992–95). His extensive military exper...