Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Oman

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Oman ōmänˈ [key], officially Sultanate of Oman, independent sultanate (2015 est. pop. 3,287,000), c.82,000 sq mi (212,380 sq km), SE Arabian peninsula, on the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Se...

Saleh, Ali Abdullah

(Encyclopedia)Saleh, Ali Abdullah älēˈ äbdŭlˈä säˈlĕ [key], 1942–2017, Yemeni political leader, b. Bayt al-Ahmar. Saleh joined the army in 1958 and rose through the ranks, becoming a colonel in 1982. An...

Gulf Cooperation Council

(Encyclopedia)Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), officially Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, organization (est. 1981) promoting stability and economic cooperation among Persian Gulf nations. Its me...

Begin, Menachem

(Encyclopedia)Begin, Menachem mĕnäˈkhĕm bāˈgĭn [key], 1913–92, Zionist leader and Israeli prime minister (1977–83), b. Russia. He became (1938) leader of a Zionist youth movement in Poland, where he also...

Habash, George

(Encyclopedia)Habash, George, 1925?–2008, Palestinian guerrilla leader. When Israel was established (1948), he fled to Lebanon, where he attended the American Univ. of Beirut (M.D., 1951). He practiced medicine i...

Nasser, Gamal Abdal

(Encyclopedia)Nasser, Gamal Abdal gəmälˈ ăbˈdəl näˈsər [key], 1918–70, Egyptian army officer and political leader, first president of the republic of Egypt (1956–70). A revolutionary since youth, he wa...

Hamas

(Encyclopedia)Hamas hämäsˈ [key] [Arab., = zeal], Arabic acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement, a Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist organization that was founded in 1987 during the Intifada; it seeks ...

Palestine, region, Asia

(Encyclopedia)Palestine pălˈəstīn [key], historic region on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, at various times comprising parts of modern Israel, the West Bank and Gaza (recognized internationally by ...

Darwish, Mahmoud

(Encyclopedia)Darwish, Mahmoud, 1941–2008, widely considered the Palestinian national poet, b. Barwa, Palestine (now in Israel). He was born to middle-class Sunni Muslim farmers, who were displaced when soldiers ...

Tunis

(Encyclopedia)Tunis to͞onĭs [key], city (1994 pop. 674,100), capital of Tunisia, NE Tunisia, on the Lake of Tunis. Access to the Gulf of Tunis (an arm of the Mediterranean) is by a canal terminating at a subsidia...