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Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip gäz´e , (2003 est. pop. 1,330,000) rectangular coastal area, c.140 sq mi (370 sq km), SW Asia, on the Mediterranean Sea adjoining Egypt and Israel, in what was formerly SW Palestine, now officially administered by the Palestinian Authority .
People and Economy
The G...
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Palestinian Authority
Palestinian Authority (PA) or Palestinian National Authority, interim self-government body responsible for areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip under Palestinian control. The PA was authorized by the Oslo Accords (1993) and subsequent Palestinian agreements with Israel, and was established...
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Gideon
Gideon , or Jerubbaal , in the Bible, a 12th-century Israelite warrior of the tribe of Mannasseh, and one of the greater judges of Israel. The Book of Judges relates that Gideon was a strong opponent of the Baal cult. He defeated the Midianite oppressors and appeased the rival Ephraimites, thus...
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Gulf of Aqaba
Gulf of Aqaba northeastern arm of the Red Sea, 118 mi (190 km) long and 10 to 15 mi (16.1 to 24.1 km) wide, between the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas; a part of the Great Rift Valley. The gulf, which is entered through the Straits of Tiran, has played a major role in the tensions and wars between Is...
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Palestine Liberation Organization
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), coordinating council for Palestinian organizations, founded (1964) by Egypt and the Arab League and initially controlled by Egypt. Composed of various guerrilla groups and political factions, the PLO is dominated by Al Fatah, the largest group, whose leader,...
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Golan Heights
Golan Heights strategic upland region (2003 est. pop. 10,500), c.500 sq mi (1,250 sq km), SW Syria. It borders S Lebanon, NE Israel, and NW Jordan. It takes its name from the ancient city of Golan and was known as Gaulanitis in New Testament times. It is a rocky plateau overlooking Israel where e...
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Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu , 1949-, Israeli diplomat and politician, prime minister of Israel (1996-99), b. Tel Aviv. A member of the conservative Likud party, the self-assured Netanyahu, known universally in Israel as "BiBi," attended high school in the United States, where his father was a history pro...
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Jordan
Jordan officially Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, kingdom (2005 est. pop. 5,760,000), 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 north, on Iraq in the northeast, and on Saudi Arabia in the east and south. Amman is the country's capital a...
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Hamas
Hamas [Arab., = zeal], Arabic acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement, a Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist organization that was founded in 1987 during the Intifada ; it seeks to establish an Islamic state in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip (the former mandate of Pa...
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Yasir Arafat
Yasir Arafat , 1929-2004, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the coordinating body for Palestinian organizations, and head of Al Fatah, the largest group in the PLO. He was born in Cairo, but spent most of his youth in Jerusalem. After smuggling arms to Arab forces during the 1...
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