''Davar'' (, lit. ''Speech, Word'') was a Hebrew-language daily newspaper published in the British Mandate of Palestine and

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

between 1925 and May 1996. A similarly named website was launched in 2016, under the name ''Davar Rishon'' as an online outlet by the Histadrut.

History

Newspaper (1925–1996)

''Davar'' was established by Moshe Beilinson and Berl Katznelson, with Katznelson as its first editor, as the newspaper of the Histadrut. The first edition was published on 1 June 1925 under the name ''Davar – Iton Poalei Eretz Yisrael (lit. ''Davar – Newspaper of Eretz Yisrael Workers''). The paper was successful, and published several supplements, including ''Davar HaPoelet'' ('' emaleWorker's Davar'', a women's paper), ''HaMeshek HaShitufi'' (''Co-operative Economy''), ''Davar HaShvua'' (''Davar This Week'') and ''Davar LeYeldim'' (''Davar for Children''), as well as the union newsletter ''Va'adken'' (''Update''). By 1950 it had around 400 employees and had an extensive distribution system. Upon Katznelson's death in 1944 Zalman Shazar, later

President of Israel The president of the State of Israel (, or ) is the head of state of Israel. The president is mostly, though not entirely, ceremonial; actual executive power is vested in the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet led by the Prime Minister of Israel, pr ...

, took over as editor. Hana Zemer edited the paper between 1970 and 1990. After the formation of the Labor Party by the merger of Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi in 1968, '' LaMerhav'', the Ahdut HaAvoda-affiliated newspaper, merged into ''Davar''. Its last edition published on 31 May 1971 with ''Davar'' officially renamed "''Davar – Meuhad Im LaMerhav''" (lit. ''Davar – United with LaMerhav''). By the 1980s the paper was in severe financial difficulties. After Zemer retired in 1990, the paper had joint editors Yoram Peri and Daniel Bloch. The paper was renamed ''Davar Rishon'' and Ron Ben-Yishai took over as editor. However, the Histadrut closed the newspaper in 1996. Its building on the corner of Melchett and Shenkin streets in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

was demolished and replaced by an apartment block.

Online publication (2016–)

In 2016, ''Davar Rishon'' was relaunched as a web-only news publication. In April, 2019 the website was closed for several weeks in a labor dispute. It reopened with a new editorial desk. In October 2019 it started to publish also an English edition. In January 2020 it started to publish an Arabic edition.

Notable journalists

* Shmuel Yosef Agnon * Natan Alterman * Yossi Beilin (born 1948) * Moshe Beilinson * Dan Ben-Amotz (1924–89), radio broadcaster, journalist, playwright, and author * Amnon Dankner * Leah Goldberg * Haim Gouri (1923-2018), poet, novelist, journalist, and documentary filmmaker * Uri Zvi Greenberg * Tali Lipkin-Shahak * Aryeh Navon (cartoonist) * Dov Sadan * Yitzhak Yatziv * David Zakai

References

External links

Searchable archives
at Historical Jewish Press * {{Authority control 1925 establishments in Mandatory Palestine 1996 disestablishments in Israel Daily newspapers published in Israel Defunct daily newspapers Defunct Hebrew-language newspapers Defunct newspapers published in Israel Histadrut Internet properties established in 2016 Mass media in Tel Aviv Newspapers established in 1925 Newspapers disestablished in the 1990s Publications disestablished in 1996 Socialist newspapers Words and phrases in Modern Hebrew