May 22, 2019

On Saturday, May 18, at the Expo Tel Aviv in Israel, Duncan Laurence of the Netherlands won the Eurovision Song Contest with his song “Arcade.” The soaring ballad narrowly won over songs by Italian, Russian, and Swiss artists in the contest’s Grand Final. Held every year since 1956, Eurovision is the world’s largest and longest-running annual television song competition. Laurence was the first entrant from the Netherlands to win since 1975, when the group Teach-In won for its Dutch-language song “Ding-a-dong.”

Duncan Laurence of the Netherlands lifts a bouquet and the glass microphone trophy after winning the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel, on May 18, 2019. Credit: © EUPA-IMAGES/Shutterstock

This year’s Eurovision featured a performance by the United States megastar Madonna during the Grand Final “half-time,” but the five-day contest may be best remembered for a number of political protests. In 2018, Israeli singer Netti won for her song “Toy,” giving Israel hosting duties in 2019. The contest faced boycotts and protests because of the controversial policies of the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the occupied Palestinian territories. The most startling moment came during the Eurovision semifinals, when the live broadcast was hacked with a fake alert of a missile attack and animated images of explosions in Tel Aviv, the host city. Throughout the contest, Palestinian banners and flags crept into the show.

In the end, however, music ruled the day at Eurovision. Laurence’s simple piano performance won out over a number of elaborately staged productions (including fog machines, rockets, and even gravity-defying dances on flexible poles). An impressive showing by Tamara Todevska (8th place for her song “Proud”) reminded the viewing audience that the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is at last—as of 2019—simply North Macedonia.

Long before “American Idol,” “The Voice,” “The X Factor,” or even “Star Search,” there was Eurovision. The show began as the “Eurovision Grand Prix” in 1956 and became the “Eurovision Song Contest” in 1968. Each year, primarily European countries submit one entry—one artist with one new and original song—to the Eurovision contest. Despite the great variety of nations participating, most songs are in English. The songs are each performed live—often with elaborate stage shows—and votes from the television audience are combined with those of a professional international jury to gradually narrow the competition to the Grand Final round. The final songs are then performed, and voting determines the overall winner, who performs again and receives the glass microphone trophy. This year’s competition began with 41 national entries; 26 took part in the Grand Final. Each year’s winning nation hosts the following year’s contest.

More than 50 nations have participated in Eurovision. All active members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) can take part in the contest. The EBU is a professional association of national broadcasters that negotiates and advocates on behalf of public broadcasters in Europe. The EBU also includes numerous non-European nations. It operates the Eurovision network, the world’s largest provider of international sports and news broadcasts.

The Swedish group ABBA’s superstardom began with the 1974 Eurovision contest, and the show kick-started the career of the French-Canadian star Céline Dion (singing for Switzerland) in 1988. Other Eurovision winners have included the French singer France Gall (1965) and the British group Katrina and the Waves (1987). In 1958, Italy’s Domenico Modugno placed third at Eurovision with his song “Nel Blu Di Pinto Di Blu,” better known as “Volare” (made famous by the American singer Dean Martin). In 1994, Eurovision first presented the Irish dance production Riverdance to international audiences. Ireland has won Eurovision seven times, more than any other country.

May 16, 2018

On Monday, May 14, representatives from 32 nations attended the opening of the new United States Embassy in Jerusalem, the capital and largest city of Israel. The other 54 foreign delegations in Israel, however, avoided the ceremony, choosing to distance themselves from an event seen as controversial by much of the world. As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu applauded with family members of U.S. President Donald Trump in Jerusalem, the embassy opening spurred a much different response in the nearby Gaza Strip, a small Palestinian-administered area between Israel and Egypt. There, Israeli security forces fired into massive crowds of protesting Palestinians, killing 60 people and injuring more than 2,700 others.

Palestinian protestors run from exploding tear gas canisters and gunfire by Israeli security forces near the Gaza Strip border with Israel on May 14, 2018. Credit: © Mohammed Abed, AFP/Getty Images

Jerusalem is a city bitterly divided by history, politics, and religion, and it lies at the center of a larger Arab-Israeli conflict. The conflict has included several wars between Israel and certain Arab countries that have opposed Israel’s existence since it was formed in 1948. The conflict has also involved a struggle by Palestinian Arabs to establish their own country in some or all of the land occupied by Israel.

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Protests over the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem took place about 50 miles (80 kilometers) away along the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

In 1948, Jerusalem was declared an international city under the control of the United Nations. Fighting there soon divided the city between Israeli and Jordanian-Palestinian control. Israel claimed West Jerusalem as its capital, while Palestinians saw East Jerusalem as the capital of their future independent state. The city remained divided until 1967, when Israel captured the whole city in the Six-Day War. After another war in 1973, an awkward peace has held in an Israeli-controlled Jerusalem.

During all that time, foreign governments diplomatically kept away from Jerusalem and declined to officially recognize it as Israel’s capital. Foreign delegations were instead located in Tel Aviv, a city to the northwest. In December 2017, however, President Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. He also announced that the U.S. Embassy would move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Trump’s decisions were widely condemned by the international community, and they were perceived by outraged Palestinians as mortal blows to their claims on East Jerusalem.

In late March 2018, Palestinian protestors in Gaza began gathering at the border fence, where they demanded entry to lands they once inhabited in Israel. (Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have lived as refugees since Israel’s formation, and the “right of return” to their one-time homes is a dearly held principle.) The protests—sponsored by Hamas, a political group with hopes of restoring historic Palestine—were meant to draw attention to the Palestinian situation in the weeks leading up to the new U.S. Embassy’s opening. Israeli border troops reacted harshly to those earlier demonstrations, killing more than 40 Palestinians before Monday’s much larger protests and the coinciding spike in violence. Israel has been condemned for its seemingly excessive use of force against the largely unarmed protestors. Israel and the United States claim, however, that the bloody response is validated by the violent actions or intentions of some of the protestors.

May 15, 2018

On Saturday, May 12, Israel’s Netta Barzilai (usually simply called “Netta”) won the Eurovision Song Contest with her song “Toy.” The attention-grabbing anthem features Netta’s versatile voice clicking and chicken clucking into a boisterous dance song that carries a strong statement for female independence and against sexual exploitation and harassment—a direct result of the related Me Too movement. Netta is the first Israeli to win the hugely popular European contest since 1998, when pop singer Dana International took top prize with the song “Diva.” Greek-Albanian star Eleni Foureira, who represented Cyprus with the song “Fuego,” took second place this year just behind Netta. Cesár Sampson of Austria finished third with “Nobody but You.”

Netta raises the glass microphone trophy at the close of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon, Portugal. Credit: Wouter van Vliet, EuroVisionary (licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0)

Held every year since 1956, Eurovision is the world’s largest and longest-running annual television song competition. This year’s contest took place at Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal. Each year’s winning nation hosts the following year’s contest. In 2017, Portuguese singer Salvador Sobral won Eurovision with the song “Amar Pelos Dois” (Love for Both of Us).

Long before “American Idol,” “The Voice,” “The X Factor,” or even “Star Search,” there was Eurovision. The show began as the “Eurovision Grand Prix” in 1956 and became the “Eurovision Song Contest” in 1968. Each year, primarily European countries submit one entry—one artist with one new and original song—to the Eurovision contest. Despite the great variety of nations participating, most songs are in English. The songs are each performed live—often with elaborate stage shows—and votes from the television audience are combined with those of a professional international jury to gradually narrow the competition to the “Grand Final” round. The final songs are then performed, and voting determines the overall winner, who performs again and receives the “glass microphone” trophy. This year’s competition began with 43 national entries; 26 took part in the Grand Final.

More than 50 nations have participated in Eurovision. All active members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) can take part in the contest. The EBU is a professional association of national broadcasters that negotiates and advocates on behalf of public broadcasters in Europe. The EBU also includes numerous non-European nations. It operates the Eurovision network, the world’s largest provider of international sports and news broadcasts.

Swedish group ABBA’s superstardom began with the 1974 Eurovision contest, and the show kick-started the career of French-Canadian star Céline Dion (singing for Switzerland) in 1988. Other Eurovision winners have included French singer France Gall (1965) and the British group Katrina and the Waves (1987). In 1958, Italy’s Domenico Modugno placed third at Eurovision with his song “Nel Blu Di Pinto Di Blu,” better known as “Volare” (made famous by American singer Dean Martin). In 1994, Eurovision first presented the Irish dance production Riverdance to international audiences. Ireland has won Eurovision seven times, more than any other country.

April 9, 2018

Hebrew is one of the world’s oldest living languages. Hebrew has been the main language of the Jewish people since the beginning of Jewish history. It is also one of the two official languages of the state of Israel, along with Arabic.

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Hebrew vowels are indicated by vowel points placed with a consonant. Some vowel points are shown here with the letter Daleth. Credit: WORLD BOOK illustration

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asian family. It comes from the same source as the Arabic and Aramaic languages. The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters. Most are consonants, but a few can represent either a consonant or a vowel. Vowels are not usually written, but they can be indicated by a system of dots and lines. Like Arabic and Aramaic, Hebrew is written from right to left.

Throughout history, Jewish communities developed their own ways of pronouncing Hebrew words. In the United States, the two most common pronunciation styles are the Ashkenazic and the Sephardic. The Ashkenazic originated in central and eastern Europe; the Sephardic originated in Spain.

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The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters, shown here in alphabetical order from right to left, as Hebrew is written. The illustration shows 26 letters, because 4 letters have two forms—with or without a dot—that stand for different pronunciations. Credit: WORLD BOOK illustration

For centuries, the Hebrew language was often considered sacred, called lashon ha-kodesh (holy language). Most of the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, is written in Hebrew. The compilation of Jewish law called the Mishnah, which dates from A.D. 70 to 200, is also written in Hebrew.

In A.D. 135, Roman armies killed or scattered the Jews of Judea and renamed the area Palestine. By about A.D. 200, a Hebrew-speaking community no longer existed. As a result, Hebrew died out as a spoken language and was used only in religious writing and in scholarly discussions for almost 1,700 years.

In the later 1700’s, a religious cultural movement called the Haskalah emerged among German and Polish Jews. The goal of the movement was to modernize traditional Jewish beliefs and practices. Haskalah is Hebrew for enlightenment. The Haskalah stimulated an interest in the revival of Hebrew for nonreligious uses, leading to the establishment of newspapers and magazines in the language. Jewish writers began to turn to Hebrew as a literary language.

Hebrew became popular among Jewish poets and novelists during the 1900’s and early 2000’s. Leading Hebrew writers include the eastern European poet Chaim Nachman Balik and the Israeli novelists and short story writers Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Aharon Appelfeld, David Grossman, Amos Oz, and A. B. Yehoshua. Agnon shared the 1966 Nobel Prize for literature.

Hebrew underwent a revival as a spoken language beginning in the late 1800’s. At that time, Jews from many lands began to settle in Palestine. Many started speaking Hebrew as their everyday language, passing it on to their children.

November 29, 2017

Seventy years ago today, on Nov. 29, 1947, the United Nations agreed to divide the historic land of Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state, allowing for the formation of the nation of Israel. The Jews in Palestine and most western nations accepted this plan, but Palestinian Arabs and many Arab nations rejected it.

Jews parade a captured Arab vehicle through Tel Aviv on May 14, 1948, the day the Jewish state of Israel was established in the historic region of Palestine. Credit: © Corbis/Hulton-Deutsch Collection

Palestine had been under British control since 1917, and the United Kingdom supported the creation of a Jewish state in the Biblical Holy Land. Sympathy for the Jewish cause grew during the Holocaust, the killing of millions of Jews during World War II (1939-1945). In 1946, the newly created United Nations drafted a partition plan that divided Palestine into different Arab and Jewish sections, while the city of Jerusalem came under international control.

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The United Nations partition plan of 1947 divided Palestine into Arab and Jewish areas. The Jewish area became the independent nation of Israel in 1948. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

Israel officially came into existence on May 14, 1948, under the leadership of David Ben-Gurion. On May 15, Arab armies attacked Israel, aiming to destroy the new nation. By early 1949, Israel had defeated the Arabs and gained control of about half the land planned for the new Arab state. Israel incorporated the gained territory into the new country, adding about 150,000 resentful Arabs to its population. Hundreds of thousands of other Palestinian Arabs settled as refugees elsewhere, and Arab-Israeli conflicts and tensions have occurred ever since. Today, only small areas of the planned Arab state—the Gaza Strip and the West Bank—are under nominal Palestinian Arab control.

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Palestine today consists of the nation of Israel and the Arab areas of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Israel partially occupies the West Bank. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

June 6, 2017

Fifty years ago this week, Israel and the Arab countries of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria fought a brutal war that lasted just six days. From June 5 to June 10, 1967, Israel defeated the combined forces of the other nations and preserved the young nation’s existence. The Six-Day War, also known as the June War or the Arab-Israeli War of 1967, was a crucial moment in the history of the Middle East. Far from settling rival national and religious issues, the war created further divisions between the region’s people and led to later conflict and tensions that continue today, 50 years after the last shot was fired.

The Arab-Israeli conflict erupted into war in June 1967. Israeli tanks, shown here, along with other Israeli air and ground forces, defeated the forces of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. Credit: AP Photo

Israel and the region’s surrounding Arab nations have been at odds—and often in open conflict—ever since Israel was established in 1948. In 1967, tensions and border skirmishes in Syria, Israel’s neighbor to the northeast, led to an air battle between Israeli and Syrian warplanes. Egypt, pledging support for Syria, sent thousands of troops into the Sinai Peninsula southwest of Israel. Egypt also cut off the important Israeli port of Elat from the Red Sea. Syrian troops then massed on the Israeli border, and Jordan (southeast of Israel) joined the Egyptian-Syrian alliance. Arab leaders—most notably Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser—called for Israel’s destruction. Some 330,000 Arab troops surrounded Israel, along with about 2,000 tanks and 600 warplanes. Israel’s forces included about 250,000 troops, 1,000 tanks, and 250 warplanes. The Israelis were outnumbered, but they were better equipped, trained, and coordinated. After failed diplomatic efforts, Israel struck before the Arab forces could attack.

Early on June 5, 1967, Israeli warplanes struck several Egyptian air bases. The attack destroyed hundreds of Egyptian planes. At the same time, Israeli tanks and infantry smashed into Gaza and the Sinai, routing Egyptian ground forces. By June 7, Israel had taken the Sinai.

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In the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel faced the combined armies of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The fighting took place from June 5 to June 10 and ended in a decisive Israeli victory. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

Late in the morning on June 5, Jordanian artillery and warplanes struck positions in northern Israel, including Tel Aviv and west Jerusalem. Israel responded with air strikes that wiped out the Jordanian air force. That afternoon, Israeli troops began battling Jordanian forces in and around Jerusalem. Israeli warplanes destroyed Jordan’s reinforcement convoys. By the morning of June 7, only pockets of Jordanian troops remained in Jerusalem. Israeli forces then entered and gained control of Jerusalem’s walled Old City. By nightfall on June 7, Israel had taken the West Bank.

Syrian artillery and warplanes attacked Israeli targets along the Syrian border on June 5. Later that day, Israeli warplanes destroyed most of the Syrian air force. After fighting in the Sinai and the West Bank ended, Israel turned its attention to Syria’s heavily defended Golan Heights. Early on June 9, Israeli warplanes battered Syrian troops entrenched on the heights. By noon, Israeli ground forces had entered Syria. Fierce battles erupted all along the border, but Israeli troops soon controlled the Golan Heights. A cease-fire on June 10 ended the Six-Day War.

About 800 Israelis died in the Six-Day War, and another 2,400 were wounded. Combined Arab casualties (people killed, wounded, missing, or captured) were about 50,000, including more than 14,000 dead.

In November 1967, the United Nations called for Israel to withdraw from territories it gained in the war. In return, the Arab countries were to recognize and accept the nation of Israel’s right to exist. Israel, however, refused to give up the captured territories, and the Arab countries renewed their opposition to Israel.

Egypt and Syria again attacked Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War (also called the Ramadan War, the October War, or the Arab-Israeli War of 1973). This larger conflict ended in a stalemate. The Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt in 1979. Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005 but maintains control of its borders. Israel still occupies the Golan Heights and parts of the West Bank.

March 4, 2015

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke to a joint session of the U.S. Congress concerning foreign policy with Iran. The speech was a breach with usual protocol, as House Leader John Boehner invited Netanyahu to address Congress without consulting with U.S. President Barack Obama. Netanyahu’s speech, just two weeks before he is up for re-election, openly criticized Obama’s Iran initiative concerning nuclear development in that nation. Some 50 Democratic members of Congress refused to attend the speech.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference in Washington, Monday, March 2, 2015. Credit: AP Photo

The disagreement centered on more than just politics and protocol. President Obama—along with European allies, Russia, and China—is trying to persuade the government of Iran to agree to a pact to limit their nuclear holdings. The agreement specified the number of centrifuges Iran was allowed and called for Iran to permit international inspections of its nuclear sites. Should Iran exceed the number of centrifuges or refuse to cooperate with international inspectors, the governments urging the pact believe there would be enough time for them to act before Iran was able to build a bomb.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has stated that Iran has a history of duplicity concerning pacts and agreements and of making statements threatening the state of Israel. Netanyahu argues that Iran should be allowed no centrifuges or nuclear material. As Iran is unlikely to agree to such terms, however, international inspections of sites would be impossible. The current pact negotiated by Obama may be the best of several less-than-perfect options.

Other World Book articles:

• Iran (2009-a Back in Time article)
• Iran (2010-a Back in time article)
• Iran (2011-a Back in time article)
• Iran (2012-a Back in time article)
• Iran (2013-a Back in time article)
• Israel (2013-a Back in Time article)
• Nuclear energy
• Nuclear weapon

July 21, 2014

The Israeli military has confirmed that 4 Israeli soldiers and 10 Palestinian militants were killed inside Israel this morning, after gunmen managed to enter Israeli territory through hidden tunnels. Earlier in the day, 5 Palestinians were killed and 70 others injured when Israeli missiles struck a hospital in Gaza. According to Palestinian physicians, the missiles hit the hospital’s reception, intensive care unit, and operating rooms. Air strikes also killed more than 30 members of two Palestinian families today.

Yesterday was the deadliest of the conflict so far: more than 100 Palestinians were killed, and 13 Israeli soldiers lost their lives in combat in Gaza. Israel sent ground troops into Gaza on July 17 after days of heavy air barrages failed to halt Hamas rocket fire. According to the Israel Defense Forces, the target of the ground operation are Hamas’s network of tunnels, which Palestinian militants use to cross into Israel and carry out attacks, as they did today.

Palestinian supporters of Hamas, a radical Islamic organization and political party, rally in Gaza City. Hamas militants and Israel are currently engaged in bitter fighting that has left hundreds dead. (© Mohammed Abed, AFP/Getty Images)

The current Israeli-Hamas hostilities began when a Palestinian boy was murdered on July 2 in an apparent reprisal for the murder of three Israeli teenage boys, whose bodies were found in the West Bank on June 30. An autopsy revealed that the Palestinian boy, Mohammad Abu Khieder, was burned alive, setting off a public outcry in both the West Bank and Gaza as well as in Israel.

The Palestinian death toll from the two-week conflict now exceeds 500, the majority of them civilians. Israel has lost 25 soldiers and 1 civilian.

Additional World Book article:

• Middle East 2007 (a Back in Time article)

July 30, 2013

Negotiators from Israel and the Palestinian Authority have agreed to revive formal peace talks within the next two weeks, United States Secretary of State John Kerry announced today. The announcement concluded two days of informal discussions between delegates from the two governments held in Washington, D.C. The goal of the upcoming talks will be a comprehensive agreement leading to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. The Palestinian Authority serves as the government for Palestinians in much of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, territories that, along with Israel, makes up the historic region of Palestine. “Everyone involved here believes that we cannot pass along to another generation the responsibility for ending a conflict that is in our power to resolve in our time,” Kerry stated at a press briefing. He noted that the negotiators hope to reach a “final status” agreement by May 1, 2014.

The United States-brokered talks will be the first direction negotiations between the two parties in five years. A recent decision by the Israeli Cabinet to release 104 Palestinian prisoners cleared the way for the current discussions. Many of the prisoners have been behind bars since before the signing of the Oslo accords of 1993.

Palestine today consists of the nation of Israel and the Arab areas of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Israel partially occupies the West Bank. (World Book map)

The peace talks would also need to address such major issues as the presence of Israeli forces in an independent Palestinian state and the future of Jerusalem, which both sides claim. The talks would also need to deal with the status of Palestinians refugees or descendants of the more than 700,000 refugees who fled or were driven out of Israel when it was created in 1948. Some are people who were forced to leave the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, which were occupied by Israel in 1967 during the Six-Day War.

At a dinner for the delegates on Monday evening, U.S. President Barack Obama expressed cautious optimism for the talks. “This is a promising step forward, though hard work and hard choices remain ahead,” he said. “The most difficult work of these negotiations is ahead and I am hopeful that both the Israelis and Palestinians will approach these talks in good faith and with sustained focus and determination.”

Additional World Book articles:

• Abbas, Mahmoud
• Arab-Israeli conflict
• Hamas
• Netanyahu, Benjamin

March 21, 2013

President Barack Obama arrived in Israel yesterday for a state visit and said upon his arrival that, “I see this visit as an opportunity to reaffirm the unbreakable bonds between our nations.” Although the president declared that “peace must come to the Holy Land,” little was expected on efforts to restart the peace process. International affairs experts suggested that the Syrian civil war and Iran’s nuclear ambitions would dominate talks between the president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

While in Israel, President Obama discussed the lack of progress made towards a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Obama told Israeli officials that the continued building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank was not considered by the United States “to be constructive, to be appropriate, to be something that can advance the cause of peace.” The West Bank, a land between Israel and Jordan, was historically a part of Palestine. The West Bank was annexed by Jordan in 1950. In 1967, Israel defeated Jordan, Egypt, and Syria in the Six-Day War and captured the West Bank. In 1994, Israel began a withdrawal from the West Bank after a peace accord between Israel and Palestinians was signed the previous year. In 2002, however, Israel began reoccupying many West Bank areas after Israel and the Palestinian Authority failed to reach a final peace agreement. The Israeli settlements in the West Bank have complicated efforts to implement a “two-state solution,” that is, statehood for Palestine and Israel, with each state recognizing the other. The West Bank is nearly divided in two by settlements.

A map showing the West Bank, flanked by Israel and Jordan. (World Book map)

After speaking in Israel, President Obama today visited the West Bank. In Ramallah, Obama restated that the Palestinians deserve a state of their own. The president went on to declare that the only way that could occur was with “direct negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis themselves.” The Palestinians have demanded that Israelis put a freeze on building settlements before negotiations begin.

Additional World Book articles:

• Israel
• Oslo accords
• Palestinian Authority