July 26, 1967 — Allon Presents West Bank Plan
Yigal Allon, a member of the government and a retired general, presents a strategic proposal for Israel’s retention of the Jordan Valley after the Six-Day War. The Allon Plan calls for a series of settlements and military installations as a buffer against an attack from the east. The plan includes peace with the Arabs, the preservation of Israeli security, the maintenance of a Jewish majority in Israel and the opportunity for Palestinian independence.
July 27, 1955 — El Al Flight Is Shot Down
Bulgarian fighter jets shoot down El Al Flight 402 en route from London’s Heathrow Airport to Israel.
The weekly flight includes stops in Vienna, Austria, and Istanbul, Turkey, and the Lockheed Constellation veers off course between those cities into Bulgarian airspace. Two Bulgarian MiG-15s trail Flight 402 for almost 120 miles, then shoot it down just before it reaches the Greek border. All 51 passengers and seven crew members are killed
July 28, 1923 — Opera Arrives in Land of Israel
Mordechai Golinkin’s production of Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata” in a movie theater marks the beginning of opera in the British Mandate of Palestine. Golinkin wrote his thesis in Moscow on “The Vision of the Hebrew Art Temple of Opera Work in Palestine” before trying to make that vision a reality. His Palestine Opera stages 16 productions by 1945, including “Dan Hashomer,” the first opera written in Hebrew.
July 29, 1849 — Zionist Intellectual Max Nordau Is Born
Max Nordau is born to an Orthodox Jewish family in Pest, Hungary. He breaks from the family tradition of rabbis, scholars and community leaders when he moves to Berlin, earns a medical degree, works as a journalist and becomes a prominent social theorist. Events such as the Dreyfus Affair push Nordau to embrace Zionism. He drafts the Basel Plan, the blueprint for a Jewish state in Palestine, and advocates the development of the “new Jew.”
July 30, 1992 — Yael Arad Wins Israel’s First Olympic Medal
Tel Aviv native Yael Arad, 25, becomes the first Israeli to win an Olympic medal, taking the silver in judo in the half-middleweight (61-kilogram) class at the Summer Olympics in Barcelona. She dedicates her medal to the 11 Israelis killed at the Munich Olympics 20 years earlier. In 1993 she wins the European championship and takes silver at the world championships. She competes in the 1996 Olympics and coaches at the 2000 Games.
July 31, 1988 — Jordan Drops Claim to West Bank
Jordan’s King Hussein announces that he is giving up political claims to the West Bank, although he seeks to retain influence over Jerusalem. His announcement leaves the PLO to serve as the representative of the Arab residents of the area. King Abdullah I, Hussein’s grandfather, annexed the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1950 and changed the country’s name from Transjordan, but Jordan lost the territory in the June 1967 war.
Aug. 1, 2016 — Composer Andre Hajdu Dies
Andre Hajdu, a prolific composer and ethnomusicologist, dies at 84 in Jerusalem. Hajdu was born in Hungary and studied under composer Ferenc Szabó, pianist Erno Szégedi and ethnomusicologist Zoltan Kodaly. With Kodaly’s guidance, Hajdu published research on Roma music and culture. He visited Israel for the first time in 1966, moved to Jerusalem that year, and taught at the Tel Aviv Music Academy and Bar-Ilan University.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.