Abdallah, Amir: Son of Amir Husayn of Mecca, participant in the Arab Revolt, and ruler of Transjordan (1921-1951).

Abduh, Muhammad: Egyptian Muslim reformer (d. 1905).

Abdulhamid II: Ottoman sultan (1876-1909), advocate of pan-Islam and opponent of constitutional government.

Abu Bakr: First caliph (632-634), who suppressed tribal revolts and began conquests outside the Arabian peninsula.

Abu-Kir (Abukir Bay), Battle of: British victory over Napoleon (1798).

Abu-Talib: Muhammad's uncle and protector (d. 619).

adaptation: the process by which an organism achieves a beneficial adjustment to a particular environment over time, and the characteristics that result from the process; in applying such a concept to societies, one might analyze which customs, etc., tend to aid survival in the given geopolitical environment, and which tend to inhibit survival in such a setting.See modernization.

advanced: a value-laden term popularly used when comparing societies with one another, usually on the basis of technological complexity (as opposed to moral grounds, for instance, or "fit" with its environment).

Afghani, Jamal al-Din al-: Influential pan-Islamic agitator and reformer (d. 1897).

Agha Khan: Modern leader of Ismaili Shia Muslims.

Agnon, S(hmuel) Y(osef): Israeli Hebrew novelist (1880-1970) who won the 1966 Nobel Prize for literature.

Agudat Yisrael: International ultraorthodox political and religious movement founded in 1912. Originally opposed to establishment of the State of Israel, it later became one of Israel's political parties. The small minority among the ultraorthodox that refuses to recognize the State of Israel condemns Agudat Yisrael for having "sold out" to the Zionist.

al-Ahd: Nationalist secret society of Arab officers in the Ottoman army before and during World War I.

al-Ahram: Influential Cairo daily newspaper; labeled "semi-official," in recognition of its close ties to the government.

AIPAC: American Israel Public Affairs Committee, influential pro-Israel lobby.

Aisha: Abu-Bakr's daughter, one of Muhammad's wives, and leader of the forces opposing Ali at the Battle of the Camel (656).

Alawi: Offshoot of Shia Islam prevalent in part of northern Syria; today, about 10% of the Syrian population, but Hafiz al-Asad, president since 1970, is an Alawite, so their importance outweighs their numbers. Well-represented in the Syrian military.

Ali: Fourth of the early caliphs (656-661), regarded by Shia Muslims as the first imam after Muhammad.

Alignment (Labor Alignment): Alliance of the Israel Labor Party and the left-wing socialist Mapam, formed in 1969. It was the ruling alliance until its defeat in the election of 1977, returned to power, then lost the 1996 direct election for prime minister when Labor's Shimon Peres lost to Likud's Binyamin Netanyahu by less than 1% of the vote.

aliyah: Immigration of Jews to Palestine or Israel; literally, "ascending," as in ascending to the bima (altar) to read the Torah in Sabbath services or, earlier, "ascending to Jerusalem" to the Temple (second one destroyed in 70 A.D.).

Allenby, Edmund: Commander of Egyptian Expeditionary Force in World War I, conqueror of Palestine, later High Commissioner for Egypt (1919-1925).

Allon, Yigal: Israel's minister of labor under premier David Ben-Gurion and foreign minister under premier Yitzhak Rabin. Also a well-known archaeologist; (1918-1980).

amir: Muslim prince or ruler.

Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry: Delegation that visited Palestine in 1946, urging continuation of mandate and admission of 100,000 Jews.

Anglo-Egyptian Treaty: 1936 pact defining Britain's military position in Egypt, denounced by Egypt in 1951, and officially terminated in 1954.

Anglo-Persian Oil Company: Firm holding petroleum exploration, drilling, and refining rights in Iran, renamed Anglo-Iranian Oil Company; nationalized by Mosaddiq in 1951; now, British Petroleum (BP).

anthropology: the study of human behavior and its origins, containing four major subdisciplines: archaeology; cultural anthropology; linguistics; and physical anthropology.

Aqaba: (1) Gulf from the Red Sea; (2) port city in southern Jordan at the head of that gulf; (3) military goal of T.E. Lawrence's charge out of the desert that highlighted the film, "Lawrence of Arabia."

al-Aqsa: Important Jerusalem mosque whose golden dome (Dome of the Rock) covers the place Muslims believe Muhammad left to ascend to heaven, and dominates the city skyline.

Arab: (1) native speaker of Arabic; (2) person who identifies with Arabic cultural tradition; (3) inhabitant of Arabia; (4) citizen of a country in which the predominant language and culture are Arabic; (5) camel nomad.

Arab League: political association of Arab states, founded in 1945.

Arab Legion: Former name of the British-trained and -led army of Transjordan and Jordan.

Arab nationalism: Movement or ideology working toward unification of all Arab countries and their independence from non-Arab control.

Arab Revolt: British-backed rebellion of Arabs, mainly in the Hijaz, against Ottoman rule (1916-1918).

Arab socialism: Ideology calling for state control of Arab economies.

Arab Socialist Union: Egyptian political party (1962-1978).

Arabi, Ahmad: Egyptian army officer and nationalist who led a revolution and Egypt's Dual Control (1881-1882).

Arafat, Yasir: Palestinian Arab nationalist, founder of al-Fatah, and PLO leader since 1969. Now head of Palestinian Authority (PA), precursor to Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.

Aramco: Arabian American Oil Company, which developed the petroleum industry in Saudi Arabia.

archaeology: the study of material remains, usually from the distant past, to describe and explain human behavior. Since the Middle East has been home to so many civilizations, it is a fertile ground for archaeological investigation. Some have said that archaeology is the national hobby of Israel.

Arif, Abd al-Salam: Arab nationalist leader of Iraq (1958, 1963-1966).

Armenia: (1) mountainous region of eastern Anatolia; (2) the kingdom of the Armenians, conquered by the Turks in the eleventh century; (3) an independent country north of Turkey, between the Black and Caspian seas, formerly a Soviet Republic. Population is Christian.

asabiyah: feeling of group solidarity.

al-Asad, Hafiz: President of Syria (1970-).

Ashkenazim: Jews whose recent ancestors came from Eastern or Central Europe; literally "German" Jews, although practical meaning extends more widely, as indicated.

Assassin: Member of a militant group of Ismaili Shiites who fought against the Seljuks and other Sunni rulers between 1092 and 1256. The word "assassin" comes from "Hashashin," that is, "hashish users," since it was reputed that the Assassins got high on hash before going into action.

Aswan: (1) city in Upper Egypt; (2) site of the High Dam, built for Egypt by the Soviet Union (1958-1970).

Atatürk, Kemal: founder of modern Turkish republic. See Mustafa Kemal.

authoritarian: type of government in which power is highly concentrated and concerned with giving orders to the populace, as opposed to seeking input or consensus. There is a range of authoritarian rule, running from "soft" (allowing limited input and pluralism, usually within certain defined limits -- "mailed fist inside velvet glove") through "hard" (bare-knuckled despotism -- totalitarianism).

Ayatollah: title given to respected Shia legal expert.

Ayyubid dynasty: Salah al-Din and his descendants, who ruled in Egypt (1171-1250) and Syria (1174-1260).

Azerbaijan: (1) Mountainous region of northwest Iran; (2) independent country northwest of Iran, between Black and Caspian seas, formerly a Soviet Republic. Inhabited by Azeris, a Muslim Turkic people.

al-Azhar: a Muslim mosque-university in Cairo of enormous prestige.

Camel, Battle of the: first clash between two Muslim armies (656), in which Talhah, Zubayr, and Aisha challenged Ali unsuccessfully.

Camp David: (1) US president's vacation home in northern Maryland; (2) site of intensive peace talks by Begin, Carter, and Sadat in September 1978; (3) adjective applied to the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty or to the subsequent process of negotiations between the two countries.

capitalism: an economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately owned, and run for private profit. Capitalism is notably flexible and appears in various forms other than the pure, unadulterated "free market," completely unfettered by political constraints beloved by many theorists. Most contemporary capitalist countries have adopted some socialist aspects in order to blunt the more unforgiving results of capitalism, in which supply and demand alone determine prices and wages. Such an unbridled system contains too many twists and jolts to be politically comfortable for most countries.

Capitulations: system by which Muslim rulers allowed extraterritorial immunity from local laws and taxes to subjects of Western countries.

cartel: cooperative arrangement among producers or distributors of goods or services to control supply -- thereby controlling prices. See OPEC.

Carter Doctrine: US policy statement in 1980 declaring any foreign invasion of the Gulf to be an attack on US vital interests.

Caucasus: mountain range between the Black and Caspian seas.

CENTO: Central Treaty Organization; see Baghdad Pact.

Circassian: native or descendant of a native of the Caucasus region.

Committee of Union and Progress (CUP): see Young Turks.

Conservative Judaism: branch of Judaism which modifies Orthodox Judaism, without sacrificing or abandoning most of the traditional faith.

Constantinople: city on the Bosporus and Sea of Marmora, originally named Byzantium, later named Istanbul.

Constitutionalists: (1) persons who believe that governments should uphold a set of basic laws limiting their rulers' powers; (2) the name adopted by Iranian nationalists around 1906.

Copt: Egyptian (or Ethiopian) Monophysite Christian.

Cordoba: Spanish city, capital of later Umayyads (756-1030).

coup-d'état: overthrow of a government; if non-violent, called "bloodless." Often simply referred to as a "coup."

Crane, Charles: American plumbing manufacturer and philanthropist.

Crimean War: conflict among powers having imperial interests in the Middle East (1853-1856), in which Russia was defeated by Britain, France, and the Ottoman Empire.

Cromer, Lord: Evelyn Baring, British consul in Egypt (1883-1907), a financial and administrative reformer (and imperialist), who was resented by Egyptian nationalists.

Crusades: European Christian military expeditions against Muslims (and sometimes vs. Greek Orthodox Christians) between the 11th and 15th centuries. (In 1204, Crusaders sacked Orthodox Christian Constantinople.) culture: the set of knowledge, values, and language shared by members of a society that define what is important, right, and acceptable.

Cyrenaica: region corresponding to eastern Libya.

dar al-Harb: (Arabic) literally, house of war; refers to non-Muslim world.

dar al-Islam: (Arabic) literally, house of Islam; refers to those areas with Muslim majorities, the "Muslim World."

Dayan, Moshe: (1915-1981) Israeli general and political figure, war hero in 1956 and 1967, defense minister and high-profile figure on international stage (his eye patch was a readily identifiable trademark). He ended his career opposed to Jewish settlement of the West Bank.

Dayr (Deir) Yasin: Palestinian village near Jerusalem, site of the massacre of Arab civilians by the Irgun (April 1948).

Demirel, Süleyman: longtime Turkish political leader (1950s -).

democracy: political system in which a free and responsible people participate actively in a political community under the law, in a context of political, social, economic, and legal equity. Today it is fashionable for societies to describe themselves as "democratic," and frequently the forms are adopted without the substance. An example is the widespread use of elections to legitimize rule, but many of these elections are not "free and open" by true democratic standards.

Desert Shield: US name for the multinational military operation opposing Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait; renamed Desert Storm when the coalition attacked Iraq in January 1991.

devshirme: Ottoman system of taking Christian boys, converting them to Islam, and training them for military or administrative service.

Dhahran: East Arabian city, site of first oil strike (1938).

dhimmi: non-Muslim resident of the Ottoman Empire.

Eden, Sir Anthony: British statesman, prime minister during the Suez Crisis (1956).

Eisenhower Doctrine: Official US policy statement opposing spread of communism in the Middle East (1957).

Eitan, Rafael: General, Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces from 1978 to February 1983, when he retired in the wake of criticism following the massacre at Sabra and Shatila, Lebanon. He is now out of retirement and is an active right-wing politician currently serving as head of Tzomet and Minister of Agriculture/Environment/Deputy PM in the Netanyahu government.

Elburz: mountain range in northern Iran.

elite: refers to strongest, ablest, most prestigious, or most affluent members of a group, party, organization, class, or society.

Enlightenment: cultural movement in 18th century Europe marked by belief in Reason, the perfectability of humankind, secularism, anti-clericalism, and the scientific method. This was a major influence on the makers of both the American and French revolutions.

Enver: Young Turk revolutionary leader.

Ertogrul: Turkish ghazi leader (d. ca. 1280), father of Osman I, founder of Ottoman dynasty.

Eshkol, Levi: Israel's prime minister (1963-1969).

ethnic cleansing: a term coined in the 1990s, it refers to a policy of deliberately driving out or killing populations of different ethnic groups so one group can take over the vacated land. This has been practiced by combatants in the current war in the former Yugoslavia, mostly by Bosnian Serbs. One could argue that US policies toward Native Americans peaking in the late 19th century constituted ethnic cleansing on a vast scale. Any great transfer of different populations in order to create homogeneous or "ethnically pure" territories.

ethnicity: a more narrowly defined subset of a culture, usually shared by people in a specific geographic area.

ethnocentrism: the belief that one's own culture is inherently superior to all others.

eunuch: a castrated man in charge of an Oriental harem or employed as a chamberlain or officer by an Oriental potentate.

Falashas: Ethiopian Jews, many of whom have managed to escape persecution in their ancient homeland and emigrate to Israel. Living in isolated conditions, this Jewish community was cut off for some 2000 years from Jewish history elsewhere.

faqih: (1) Muslim legal expert; (2) under Iran's 1979 constitution, the final lawmaking authority; (3) official title of the Ayatollahs Khomeini and Khamanei.

Faruq (Farouk): pleasure-loving king of Egypt (1936-1952).

fascism: a one-party, autocratic system of government, with state control maintained by the military and secret police, political censorship and propaganda. The individual is subordinated to the needs of the state. Usually, most of the power is in the hands of a charismatic and/or authoritarian leader; often, there is a cult of the leader that is constantly encouraged via the controlled media.

al-Fatah: ("Victory") Palestinian guerrilla group founded by Yasir Arafat.

al-Fatat: Arab nationalist student group before World War I.

Fatima: Muhammad's daughter, who married Ali.

Fatimid dynasty: Arab family of Ismaili Shiites claiming descent from Ali and Fatima, ruling North Africa (909-972) and Egypt (969-1171), and vying with other dynasties for control of Syria, Hijaz, and Yemen.

fatwa (fetwa): official pronouncement or decree by religious authorities, such as the death warrant pronounced on British author Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran.

Faysal: son of Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud, and king of Saudi Arabia (1964-1975).

Faysal I: son of Amir Husayn of Mecca (Hashemi), leader of the Arab Revolt; headed provisional Arab government in Damascus (1918-1920) ousted by the French, and later king of Iraq (1921-1933).

Faysal II: king of Iraq (1939-1958).

Feast of [Abraham's] Sacrifice: Id al-Adha (Arabic) or Kurban Bayram (Turkish), annual Muslim holiday commemorating Abraham's obedience to God's command by offering his son, Ishmael (Ismail); tenth day of the pilgrimage month. [In Jewish tradition, Abraham offered his other son, Isaac; the disagreement is worth noting for further discussion.]

Feast of the Fast-Breaking: Id al-Fitr (Arabic) or Ramazan Bayram (Turkish), annual Muslim holiday following the month of Ramadan.

fellahin: Egyptian peasantry.

Fertile Crescent: modern term for the lands extending from the eastern Mediterranean, through Syria and Mesopotamia, to the Gulf.

feudalism: a way of life (prevalent in western Europe during the Middle Ages) based upon a hierarchical structure of authority, rights, privileges, and responsibilities, through contract, heredity, and landholdings. There is virtually no social mobility is such a rigid system of class structure.

fez: crimson brimless head-covering worn in the later Ottoman Empire and in some successor-states, outlawed in Turkey by Kemal Atatürk.

Fez Plan: Arab-Israeli peace plan proposed by the Arab Summit in September 1982, so named because the summit was held in the Moroccan city of Fez.

fidaiyin (fedayeen): commandos, or people who sacrifice themselves for a cause, often applied to Palestinians fighting against Israel or to militant Shiites.

fiqh: the science of Islamic law (jurisprudence).

fitnah: term applied to several civil wars in early Islam.

Galilee: mountainous area of northern Israel, containing many Arab villages.

garrison town: city set up by early caliphs to house Arab soldiers when not out on campaigns, such as Basra, Kufah, and Fustat.

al-Gaylani, Rashid Ali: leader of the 1941 Arab nationalist government in Iraq, overthrown by the British.

Gaza Strip: small part of southwest Palestine held by Egyptian forces in 1948 and inhabited wholly by Arabs (except for a few later Jewish settlements), administered by Egypt (1948-1956 and 1957-1967), captured by Israel in 1956 and 1967, and administered by Israel since 1967. One of the two basic geographic components of the nascent Palestinian state (the other is the West Bank).

Geneva Conference: December 1973 meeting of Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, co-chaired by the US and USSR; adjourned since then.

genocide: the deliberate destruction of an entire people.

geopolitics: the combination of geography, topography, natural resources, demography, and military analysis, and how their interplay shapes politics and international relations.

Gesher: "Bridge," a political party founded in 1996 by David Levy, as a vehicle for his own ambitions and as a platform for centrist Likud views. Gesher, Tsomet, and Likud fielded a joint Knesset list in the June 1996 elections won by Netanyahu.

al-Ghazali, Abu-Hamid: Major Muslim theologian (d. 1111).

ghazi: Muslim military adventurer or border warrior.

ghulam: male slave, usually in the army or administration.

Gibraltar: (1) mountain in southern Spain; (2) straits between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea (originally Jebel Tariq, named after the Berber who commanded the Muslim conquest of Spain).

Gidi Pass: strategic point in western Sinai, captured by Israel in 1956 and 1967 and relinquished to a UN force in the 1975 Sinai agreement.

globalism: a broad world-view; concern for wider implications of policies; thinking comprehensively; "thinking big."

Glubb, Sir John Bagot: British commander of Jordan's Arab Legion, dismissed in 1956. Also known as "Glubb Pasha."

Gokalp, Ziya: Theoretician of Turkish nationalism (d. 1924).

Golan Heights: mountainous area of southwestern Syria, occupied by Israel since 1967 and scene of intense fighting in 1973. Annexed by Israel but still claimed by Syria.

Granada: capital of the last Muslim state in Spain, reconquered by Christians Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492.

grand vizier (vizir): in the Ottoman Empire, the chief advisor and administrator, a bit like an appointed prime minister.

Greater Land of Israel Movement: advocates Israel's retention and annexation of Arab territories occupied during the Six-Day War of 1967, especially of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank).

Great Zab, Battle of the: decisive Abbasid victory over the Umayyads (749).

Greek Orthodox: pertaining to the branch of Christianity that accepts the spiritual authority of the patriarch of Constantinople (currently Bartholomew), and espouses the Christological doctrines adopted at Nicaea (325) and Chalcedon (451).

Grunzweig, Emil: (1950?-1983) Young scholar killed in Jerusalem in February 1983 when a grenade was thrown into a group of Peace Now demonstrators calling for the dismissal of defense minister Ariel Sharon.

Gulf, The: body of water separating Iran from the Arabian peninsula and connecting the Shatt al-Arab to the Arabian Sea. Known to many as the Persian Gulf, and to others as the Arabian Gulf.

Gush Emunim: (Hebrew) "Bloc of the Faithful," a group of nationalist and religiously observant Israeli settlers on the West Bank.

Gur, Mordecai ("Motta"): (1930- ), Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces from 1974 to 1978, later a Labor member of the Knesset.

Habib, Philip: US negotiator among Syria, Lebanon, and Israel (1981-1982).

Habsburg: German family that ruled over the Holy Roman Empire (1273-1806) and Austria, later Austria-Hungary (up to 1918).

Hadassah: Zionist women's organization founded in 1912 in the US with the declared aim of "promoting Jewish institutions and enterprises in Palestine and fostering Zionist ideals in America." Its most famous project is Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem.

hadith: a statement, documented by a chain of reliable witnesses, concerning a saying or action of Muhammad, or an action by one of his companions that he approved; hence, an authoritative source of the Sharia.

Haganah: Jewish Agency's army in Palestine (1920-1948).

Hagar: Abraham's second wife, mother Ishmael, ancestor of the Arabs.

Hagia (Sancta) Sophia: since the Ottoman conquest in 1453, a famous mosque in Istanbul SInce Atatürk, a museum); formerly, the largest Eastern Orthodox Christian cathedral in the world when the city was Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire.

Ibn Rushd: Muslim philosopher (d. 1198), known in the West by his Latin name, Averroës.

Ibn Saud: Arab leader (d. 1953) who conquered most of the Arabian peninsula between 1902 and 1930; also known as "Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd al-Rahman."

Ibn Sina: Muslim philosopher, theologian, and scientist (d. 1037), known in the West by his Latin name, Avicenna.

Ibrahim: son of Muhammad Ali (Mehmet Ali), conqueror and governor of Syria (1832-1840).

Ibrahim Pasha: right-hand man and grand vizier of Süleyman the Magnificent, whom he had executed in 1536.

ijtihad: use of reasoning to determine a specific Muslim rule.

ideology: whole systems of belief and thought, "isms," such as capitalism, communism, monotheism, socialism.

IDF (Israeli Defense Forces): The Israeli Army.

Ikhwan: (1) sedentarized bedouin soldiers of Ibn Saud; (2) members of the Society of the Muslim Brothers.

imam: (1) Muslim religious or political leader; (2) one of the succession of Muslim leaders, beginning with Ali, regarded as legitimate by the Shia; (3) leader of Muslim congregational worship.

imperialism: the domination or rule, directly or indirectly, by one country over others. Historically, the typical empire included multinational groups under the rule of another group; for instance, the Ottoman Empire contained a variety of "subject peoples" in addition to the Turks from whom the rulers came. Later, imperial domains included "overseas empires," such as the British Empire, so far-flung that it was said of it, "The sun never sets on the British Empire." That type of empire ended by roughly 1960. Today, imperialism is thought of as the domination and exploitation of one country by another, even if the dominated country is nominally "independent."

Imperial Rescript: Ottoman promise of equal rights and status to all subjects, regardless of religion (1856); also known as the Hatt-i-Humayan (Turkish).

Inonu: (1) site of two Turkish victories over Greeks in western Anatolia (1921); (2) surname taken by Ismet, Turkish leader in these battles, later Turkey's representative at the Lausanne Conference (1923) and president of the republic (1938-1950 and 1961-1965).

instability: (1) pertaining to uncertain or tumultuous conditions in a society; (2) in arms races, uncertainty that occurs when a new weapons system for which there is no immediate deterrent is introduced; the situation is then called "destabilized."

intifada: (Arabic) literally, "a throwing off;" Palestinian upsrising against Israeli occupation that began spontaneously in late 1987.

iqtá: land grant from a ruler for military or administrative services rendered by a client.

Iran-Contra Affair: Reagan administration's arms sales to Iran (1980s) to secure release of American hostages in Lebanon and donation of the proceeds to aid Contra insurgents in Nicaragua. This was a secret operation specifically forbidden by the Congress; when it became public after an secret CIA flight was shot down over Nicaragua, the Congressional hearings were front-page news. Oliver North, the operations chief of this affair, became famous overnight; thn-Vice President Bush's role became a controversial issue in his subsequent presidential campaign. President Reagan claimed to know nothing of the operation.

Iran-Iraq War (1st Gulf War): ideological and territorial conflict (1980-1988) that caused immense damage and terrible casualties but led to no decisive conclusion.

Irgun Tzvei Leumi: Palestine Jewish underground military organization active from 1937 to 1948, led most of the time by Menachem Begin, originally founded to retaliate against Arab attacks. It was opposed to the Haganah. Arabs, and some Jews, considered the Irgun a terrorist organization.

Jacob: son of Isaac and mythic ancestor of the Jews.

janissary: Christian conscript foot-soldier in the Ottoman army, converted to Islam and trained to use firearms.

Jarring, Gunnar: UN mediator between Israel and the Arab states (1967-1971).

Jehovah: anglicized version of Yahweh, the Hebrew name for God.

Jemal: Young Turk leader and governor of Syria (1915-1918).

Jenghiz Khan (Genghis): Mongol commander, conqueror, and ruler of most of Asia (d. 1227).

Jerusalem: main city in Judea, major religious center for Jews, Christians, and Muslims; proclaimed by Israel to be its capital. In Arabic, al-Quds.

Jewish Agency: organization provided for in the Palestine mandate to work with Britain to set up Jewish national home; later became the main organization facilitating Jewish immigration and absorption into Israel.

Jewish National Fund: Zionist land-purchasing and development agency in Palestine/Israel, founded in 1901.

Jezreel: major valley in northern Israel.

jihad: (1) defense of Islam against attackers: (2) Muslim struggle against evil within oneself, one's associates, and the umma. Often called the "Sixth Pillar" of Islam.

jinn: invisible creatures living on earth, capable of doing good or harm.

jizya: per capita tax paid by non-Muslim males under Muslim rule..

Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of: state formed from the Emirate of Transjordan and parts of Arab Palestine (the West Bank) annexed by Abdallah in 1948. The West Bank was lost to Israeli occupation in 1967. Capital: Amman.

Judea: mountainous area of eastern Palestine/Israel.

Jumayyil, Amin (Gemayel): President of Lebanon (1982-1988).

Jumayyil, Bashir (Gemayel): Prominent Phalangist leader, elected Lebanon's president in 1982, but killed before he could take office. This murder led directly to Israel's highly controversial invasion of Lebanon in 1982.

Jumblatt, Walid: Lebanese Druze leader.

Kahane, Meir: founder and former leader of the radically militant Jewish Defense League in the US. Emigrated to Israel, where he headed an ultraextremist nationalist group, was elected to the Knesset; he was assassinated while visiting the US in 1990.

Karameh: Jordanian village, site of 1968 Israeli attack, in which Palestinian fidaiyin claimed victory.

Karbala: city in Iraq, site of Husayn's rebellion and martyrdom (680); since then a Shia holy city and pilgrimage center.

Karlowitz: treaty in 1699 in which Ottomans ceded Hungary to Austria.

Katznelson, Berl: Writer and ideologist of the labor movement in Palestine (1887-1944).

al-Kawakibi, Abd al-Rahman: Arab nationalist writer (d. 1902).

Kemal, Mustafa: Atatürk, (Turkish), literally Father of the Turks; general, statesman, and westernizing president (d. 1938) who founded the present-day secular Republic of Turkey on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire.

Kemalism: Atatürk's principles of Turkish nationalism and western reform.

Kenan, Amos: Israeli writer and journalist who frequently criticizes the politics of the leading political parties in Israeli.

Khadija: Muhammad's first wife (d. 619).

kharaj: land tax paid by peasants on agricultural produce.

Kharijite: "seceder" who opposed Ali after he accepted the arbitration of the Battle of Siffin (657) and killed him (661); later an anarchist group believing that any sinless Muslim could be caliph.

Khazar: Turkic tribe north of the Caspian Sea, converted to Judaism in the 8th century.

khedive: "Viceroy," title of Egypts' ruler (1867-1914).

Khomeini, Ayatollah Ruhollah: religious leader of Iranian revolution (1978-1979) and leading faqih (1979-1989). Fiercely anti-communist and anti-Western Shia imam who called the US the "Great Satan." Spiritual leader of theocratic Islamic Republic of Iran after the overthrow of the Shah.

Khurasan: Persian province east of Caspian Sea; center of many dissident movements in early Islamic history.

Khuzistan: oil-rich province of southwestern Iran.

kibbutz: (plural kibbutzim), Jewish settlement, originally agricultural, now increasingly industrial, in which most property is collectively owned.

al-Kindi: Muslim philosopher and scientist (d. 873).

King-Crane Commission: US committee sent by 1919 Peace Conference to ascertain Syrian and Palestinian Arab political aspirations, but its report, sympathetic to Arab nationalism, was not acted upon.

Kinneret, Lake: Sea of Galilee, between northeast Israel and Golan Heights. Knesset: Israel's 120-member parliament, having 120 members.

Kollek, Teddy: (1911- ) Mayor of Jerusalem from 1965-1992; blamed by ultraorthodox for all violations of religious laws in the Holy City.

Kook, Abraham Isaac: (1865-1935) First Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Palestine, who combined strict religious orthodoxy with fervent Jewish nationalism and a tolerant attitude toward irreligious pioneers.

Kook, Zvi Yehuda: (1891-1981) Only son and spiritual heir of Chief Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. He was the spiritual mentor of the Gush Emunim movement.

Koprulu: 17th century family of Ottoman viziers.

Kosovo, Battle of: site of the Ottoman defeat of Serbia (1389), cherished by Serbs the birthplace of Serbian nationhood. Today, an autonomous region of independent Republic of Serbia, with a predominantly Albanian population, Kosovo is considered a Balkan tinder-box.

kufiyah: white or colored headcloth worn by men in Arabia and parts of the Fertile Crescent. Yasir Arafat wears one folded in the shape of the map of Palestine as part of his political fashion-imagery.

Kuneitra (El Quneitra): main city in the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in 1967, fought over in October 1973, and returned to Syria in 1974.

Kurd: member of a linguistic-cultural group concentrated in southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, northwestern Iran, and parts of Syria. They are Sunni Muslims, and a "stateless" people. About half a million Kurds live in Europe, most of them in Germany. They are a controversial political element in both Iraq and in Turkey. Further complicating their situation, they have a tradition of internecine warfare.

laissez-faire: (French; literally "let alone") an economic theory which advocates that the government should exercise as little control as possible in trade, industry, and business. This attitude underpins the theory of the "free market" economy, and its purest form is expressed by the Libertarian movement.

Lampson, Miles: British high commissioner and ambassador to Egypt (1934-1946).

Lausanne: Swiss city, (1) site of 1923 conference and treaty between Turkey and its World War I allies, replacing the Treaty of Sèvres; (2) site of abortive 1949 peace conference between Israel and the Arab states.

Lawrence, T(homas) E(dward): (1888-1935), "Lawrence of Arabia." British intelligence officer who helped inspire the Arab revolt, gifted writer and advocate of Arab nationalism. Author of Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

legitimate, legitimacy: in politics, the source(s) of right-to-govern in the eyes of the governed, which varies from society to society. According to the Divine Right of Kings theory of government, legitimate power was vested in the monarch "by Grace of God;" in the US, for instance, legitimacy comes from elections designed to express the "will of the people" ("We the People of the United States..."). According to Machiavellian theory, "might makes right."

Lepanto, Battle of: European naval victory over the Ottomans (1571).

Levant: the areas along the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, from Greece east and south to Egypt.

Levantine: pertaining to the people of the Levant, especially to non-Muslims.

Levy, David: (1938- ) former construction worker who was deputy prime minister of Israel from 1981 to 1992; left the Likud coalition to start his own right-wing party; leading Israeli politician of Moroccan origin. As of 1996, Levy has made an alliance with Likud; in return for such support, he was named Foreign Minister in Benjamin Netanyahu's government when the latter was elected Prime Minister in the spring of 1996. He is the founder/leader of the Gesher movement.

Likud: coalition of Israel's right-wing parties, formed in September 1973, in power from 1977 to 1984; afterward, shared power with Labor Alignment (1984-1990) and currently (since 1996) as main government bloc. Formerly headed by the late Menachem Begin; present party leader is Binyamin Netanyahu.

Lubavitcher: a branch of the Hasidim, an ultraorthodox Jewish sect, whose late leader, Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, resided in Brooklyn and was almost worshipped in his role as a religious sage.

madhab: Sunni legal rite or school.

madrasa: any Muslim school, formerly a Sunni law school.

mahdi: "rightly-guided one," precursor of the Judgment Day.

Mahdi, The: Muhammad ibn Abdullah, the leader of a rebellion against Egyptian (and later, British and Egyptian) control in Sudan in 1881. His forces destroyed the punitive expedition led by British General Charles "Chinese" Gordon in Khartoum in 1885. Though the Mahdi himself died during the siege, his successor held off the British and Egyptians for another thirteen years until subdued by General Kitchener.

Mahfouz, Naguib: (1911- ) Egyptian; most successful and well-known novelist in the Arab world, winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature, interpreter of distinctive life of Alexandria and Cairo, especially in the period from 1920s to 1960s. Was nearly killed by Islamic extremists in an assassination attempt in 1994.

Mahmud II: Ottoman sultan (1808-1839), westernizing reformer who massacred the Janissaries in 1826.

Majlis: Iran's bicameral legislature.

Maliki: rite of Sunni Muslim jurisprudence, which originated in Medina and stresses use of hadiths as an authoritative legal source.

Nahalal: first moshav (1921) established in Palestine, laid out in concentric circles, with the homes of the settlers grouped around a central section of public buildings and the fields and gardens forming the outermost circles.

Nahhas, Mustafa al-: leader of Egypt's Wafd party (1927-1952).

Najaf: city in Iraq where Ali was assassinated (661); hence, a Shia pilgrimage center.

Nasir, Jamal Abd al- (Gamal Abdel Nasser): leader of the 1952 military coup that overthrew Egypt's monarchy; later prime minister, then president (1954-1970); charismatic focus of pan-Arab, nonaligned, and Egyptian nationalist aspirations.

Nasirism: Western term for the political philosophy and program of Nasir, including nationalism, neutralism, and Arab socialism.

nationalism: (1) desire of a group of people to preserve or obtain common statehood; (2) ideology stressing loyalty to the nation-state, or seeking the independence of a particular national group. In its purest form, nationalism holds that there is no higher authority than the nation-state; that such a state can do virtually anything to protect its interests as the nation-state itself defines them. The French diplomat Talleyrand said, "Nations have no permanent friends, only permanent interests."

nationalize: the taking over of a private business interest and running it under state control. Two of the most famous examples of nationalization in the Middle East were (a) Mosaddiq's takeover of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in 1951, and (b) Nasir's takeover of the Suez Canal Company in 1956.

National Pact: 1943 agreement among Lebanon's religious and political groups, tying political posts to demographic profile of country at that time among Christians, Sunni and Shia Muslims. Formula broke down when thousands of Palestinian refugees entered Lebanon, upsetting demographic balance. Civil war ensued (1976-1986).

National Religious Party: Israeli political party formed in 1956, dedicated to the establishment of the Jewish people in its ancient homeland in accordance with the laws of the Torah. It has its own kibbutzim and moshavim, has always been represented in Israel's cabinet, and makes its influence felt in the observance of basic Jewish tenets in government institutions.

nation-state: a sovereign political unit in which the political boundaries correspond more or less to the areas in which a particular ethnic population resides. A good example is Japan. Today, Serbia and Croatia are seeking to create nation-states which include as many of their respective ethnic populations as possible; multiethnic Bosnia, which lies between them and contains such populations but also Muslims and mixed-ethnic people, thus proves problematic. Nation-states remain the basic political unit on the world stage; the UN is made up of member states (some of them more ethnically homogeneous than others).

Negev: desert in southern Israel.

Netanyahu, Binyamin: Graduate of MIT, served in a variety of posts, including considerable time in the US and as Israel's ambassador to the UN. He was elected Prime Minister by less than 1% of the vote in Israel's first direct leadership election in June 1996. Considered a hard-liner vs. the Arabs, Netanyahu must now oversee Israel's part in a peace process he has vehemently disagreed with.

New (Young) Ottomans: Turkish political movement in 1870s demanding a constitution, parliamentary government, and other Ottoman westernizing reforms.

nizam-i-jedid: military and political reform program promulgated by Selim III but crushed by the Janissaries in 1807.

Noble Respcript of the Rose Chamber: Ottoman government promise of judicial and administrative reforms (1839), sometimes called the Hatt-i-Sherif of Gulhane, ushering in the Tanzimat reform era.

Nuri al-Said: pro-Western Iraqi leader and longtime survivor of dangerous Iraqi political scene until overthrown in coup (d. 1958).

olim: Jewish immigrants to Israel.

Olmert, Ehud: (1945- ) Likud politician who defeated longtime Jerusalem mayor and Labor figure Teddy Kollek in 1993; former cabinet member.

OPEC: Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, a group formed in 1960 to maintain a minimum price for oil; an example of a cartel.

Orthodox Judaism: traditional form of Judaism as dictated by the Old Testament, Talmud, and rabbinic commentaries. The only branch of Judaism that has full legal standing in Israel.

Osman I: founder of the House of Osman, or Ottomans. His descendants, soldiers, administrators, and language were called Osmanli.

Ottoman Empire: a multinational Islamic state (1299-1922) that began in northwestern Anatolia and spread throughout the Balkans, most of southwest Asia, and the North African coast.

Ottomanism: idea of loyalty to the Ottoman state (as opposed to separatist nationalism) encouraged by 19th century Ottoman westernizers (Young Ottomans).

Oz, Amos: Israeli author and social commentator who has noted the parallels between Zionism and Palestinian nationalism. Wrote In the Land of Israel.

Özal, Türgüt: Turkey's prime minister (1983-1989) and president (1989-1993).

Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): group formed in 1964 by Arab heads of state; later, the umbrella organization for most Palestinian military, political, economic, and social organizations; now, a political party heading the Palestinian Authority.

Palestinian: inhabitant of Palestine; now the term used for Arabs who live in Palestine, came from there, or descend from emigrants from Palestine. pan-Arabism: movement to unite all Arabs in one state, especially popular from 1945 to about 1974.

Palestinian Authority: Since the Oslo Agreement (1993), the Arafat-led government of the West Bank and Gaza, still subject to pressure from Israel but, nevertheless, the precursor of an independent Palestinian state. Arafat has been bitterly criticized by some Palestinians, notably the Palestinian-American academic Edward W. Said, for his autocratic, anti-democratic rule. The most celebrated cases involved brutality against some prisoners, including some who died while in custody.

pan-Islam: idea or movement calling for unity of all Muslims, promoted by late 19th- and early 20th-century Ottoman governments.

pan-Slavism: movement to unite all Slavs, especially under Russian leadership.

pan-Turanism: attempt to unite all peoples speaking Turkic languages.

Paris Peace Conference: meeting of the victorious Allies after World War I to establish peace in Europe and the Middle East; produced the Versailles Treaty, so-called because the ceremonies took place in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, just outside of Paris.

Partition Plan for Palestine (UN): proposed division of the Palestine mandate into Jewish and Arab states, approved by the UN General Assembly on November 29, 1947. The Jewish state became the basis for the State of Israel.

Passfield White Paper: British official report blaming Jews as well as Arabs for the 1929 Wailing Wall riots in Palestine.

Peace Now: Israeli peace movement launched in 1977, unaffiliated with any political party. Its adherents attract worldwide attention by the large demonstrations that they stage to protest against any move of the Israeli government that they feel will delay peace between Israel and her Arab neighbors. They generally oppose permanent Jewish settlement in the West Bank and hope that "legitimate representatives" of the Palestinian Arabs will emerge as partners in peace negotiations.

Peel Commission: British committee that visited Palestine in 1937; first to recommend partition of the mandate into Jewish and Arab states.

Peres, Shimon: (1923- ) Israel's prime minister (1984-1986), a leading member of the Labor Alignment; currently, foreign minister of Israel.

Persia: older name for Iran.

petrodollars: hard currency earned by oil-exporting countries.

Phalanges: paramilitary organization dedicated to preserving Maronite Christian dominance in Lebanon.

Pinsker, Leo: Russian Zionist, author of Auto-Emancipation.

pogrom: organized massacre of Jews, often with official approval.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP):Marxist Palestinian group led by George Habash, noted for its extremism and airplane hijackings.

positive neutralism: Nasir's policy of not siding with either the communist countries or the West, but seeking to reconcile the two blocs. Also called "non-alignment."

qadi: a Muslim judge.

qanun: a law promulgated by a ruler, as opposed to the rules or laws contained in the Sharia.

Qasim, Abd al-Karim: President of Iraq (1958-1963), Nasir's rival in Arab politics. He took power in a coup and lost his power and his life in another.

qawm: Arab clan.

Qom: Shia religious and educational center in Iran.

Quran (Koran): the collection of revelations that Muslims believe God entrusted to Muhammad via Gabriel, and one of the main sources of Islamic law, literature, and culture.

Quraysh: leading tribe of northwest Arabia, especially Mecca.

al-Quwatli, Shukri: Syrian leader of the 1950s.

rabbi: an ordained Jewish clergyman, teacher, scholar.

Rabin, Yitzhak: (1922-1995) Israeli prime minister (Labor Alignment), was chief of staff of the IDF during the Six-Day War of 1967 and was subsequently Israeli's ambassador to the US. Also was prime minister from 1974-1977, when he resigned in the wake of a financial scandal. He later pursued policy of peaceful disengagement with the Palestinians. Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist just after he had addressed a huge peace rally in the fall of 1995, a murder that shocked Israel and threw an unexpected complication into the "peace process."

racism: any doctrine claiming that one race or people is categorically and inherently superior to another.

Sabra: (1) a Jewish native of Israel.

Sabra: (2) Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, site of a massacre in 1982.

Sadat, Anwar al-: President of Egypt from 1970-1981, who travelled to Israel, signed Camp David peace treaty in Washington with Jimmy Carter and Menachem Begin; assassinated by Muslim extremists opposed to that treaty and to his westernization and authoritarian policies.

Salah al-Din: Arabic name for a Kurdish military adventurer who took over Egypt from the Fatimids (1171) and Syria from the Zengids (1174), defeated the Crusaders (1187), and regained Jerusalem for Islam, but failed to expel the Crusaders from Acre; also known as "Saladin."

Talmud: collection of Jewish law and tradition.

Tanzimat: program of intensive westernizing reform enforced by the Ottoman government, especially from 1839-1876.

tarboosh: brimless, cone-shaped, flat-topped hat, usually made of felt; see fez.

Taurus: mountain range in southern Anatolia.

Tehiya Party: (Renaissance Party) Israeli political party that considers some aspects of the Likud's foreign policy too moderate, opposing the autonomy plan for the West Bank and further concessions to the Arabs.

Temple: when the word is capitalized, refers to one of several edifices built in Jerusalem as the main centers of Jewish worship in biblical times; the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.

Territories: Israeli name for lands in West Bank and Gaza occupied since 1967.

terrorism: any coercive act directed against noncombatants in order to attain political ends; often used in the Middle East as a propaganda term.

theocracy: government in which there is no distinction between civil and religious law, as was the case in Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony, or in much more recent-day experiments in Iran or Sudan, where the Sharia was used as the law of the land. This is in direct contrast to the US, in which the First Amendment prohibits the establishment of religion.

Thrace: area on the northern shore of the Aegean Sea.

Tikrit: in Iraq, hometown of Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti, the country's ruler, and most of his high officials.

timar: land grant by Ottoman sultans for military service.

Timur Leng (Tamerlane): Central Asian Turkish conqueror of Khurasan, Iran, Iraq, and Syria (1369-1405).

Tiran: straits linking the Gulf of Aqaba to the Red Sea.

Tobacco Strike: Iranian boycott of tobacco (1891-1892) after Nasiruddin Shah had sold the concession to process and market tobacco to a British company.

Transjordan: emirate east of the Jordan River created by the British in 1921 from out of their Palestine mandate to provide a throne for the eldest son (Abdallah) of Sharif Amir Husayn of Mecca. Now called the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Transoxiana: land northeast of the Oxus River (Amu Darya) conquered by the Arabs in the 8th century and later invaded successively by the Turks and Mongols.

Transylvania: mountainous region overlapping Romania and Hungary, today entirely within Romanian borders although it contains a large Hungarian minority.

tribe: a group of people (often nomadic) sharing real or fictitious descent from a common ancestor, as well as common traditions, customs, and leaders. "Tribal mentality" or "tribalism" survives today in very different surroundings, a point made by Thomas L. Friedman in his book, From Beirut to Jerusalem.

Truman Doctrine: US policy statement (1947), promising US aid to Greece and Turkey against communist aggression.

Tsomet (also Tzomet): Israeli political party headed by Rafael Eitan, a hard-line right-winger now Minister of Agriculture and Environment, and Deputy PM in the Netanyahu cabinet.

Turk: (1) speaker of a Turkic langauge; (2) citizen of Turkey.

Twelve-Imam Shia: branch of Islam whose Muslims believe that the leadership of the umma should have gone to Ali and his descendants, of whom the 12th is hidden but will someday return to restore righteousness; also known as "Imami," "Jafari," or "Twelver" Shia.

ulama: collective term for Muslim scholars and jurists.

Ultraorthodox Judaism: not a separate sect, but movements and attitudes that most Jews consider extreme interpretations of traditional doctrine. "Ultras" fiercely oppose other Jews whose lifestyles and traditions vary from their own path, considering others "sell-outs" and ultimately, destroyers of the distinctive Jewish tradition. The others consider the Ultras close-minded, intolerant, and unreasonable. Analogous to fundamentalists.

Umar I: second of the Rashidun caliphs (634-644) and leader of the early Arab conquests.

Umar II: Umayyad caliph (717-720) who reduced discrimination against non-Arab converts to Islam.

Umayyad dynasty: clan of the Quraysh tribe that ruled the Muslim world as a whole (661-750) and Spain until 1030.

umma: the political, social, and spiritual community of Muslims.

Uniate Catholics: Christians of various Middle Eastern rites who have chosen to enter communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

United Arab Republic: union of Egypt and Syria that lasted from 1958 to 1961.

UN Disengagement Observer Force: international army stationed between Syria and Israel since 1974.

UN Emergency Force: international army stationed between Egypt and Israel (1957-1967 and 1974- ).

UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA): international organization providing aid and education to Palestinian Arabs since 1949.

Urban II: Pope (1088-1099) who called the First Crusade.

Uthman: third of the Rashidun caliphs (644-656).

vizir: (also vizier, wazir) government minister in a Muslim state.

Wafd: unofficial Egyptian delegation to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference; Egypt's main nationalist party (1923-1952; revived in 1978).

Wahhabi: fundamentalist Muslim sect founded by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (d. 1787), now dominant in Saudi Arabia.

Wailing Wall: the remaining wall of the Second (Jewish) Temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D., (thus called the "Wailing Wall," as millions of pilgrims have prayed and grieved there), a focal point for Jews in Jerusalem, the major Jewish shrine in that city.

Wailing Wall Incident: fracas in Jerusalem (1929) leading to widespread Arab attacks against Jews there and elsewhere in Palestine.

Wallachia: Balkan region now part of Romania.

waqf: (Arabic) (Turkish = vakif) Muslim endowment of land or other property, usually established for a beneficent or pious purpose.

watershed: when referring to an event, it means a clear-cut break between all that preceded and all that followed. A good example of a watershed event is the successful explosion of the first atomic bomb in New Mexico in July 1945.

Weizman, Ezer: (1924- ) a founder of Israel's air force and minister of defense from 1977-1980. A nephew of Chaim Weizmann, he is now following in his uncle's footsteps as President of Israel.

Weizmann, Chaim: (1874-1952) chemist who was the British Zionist leader who helped to bring about the Balfour Declaration; Israel's first president (1948-1952).

West Bank: area of Arab Palestine annexed by Jordan in 1948 and captured by Israel in 1967; called "Judea and Samaria" by some Israelis.

Western Wall: see Wailing Wall.

White Paper: British policy statement (1939) limiting Jewish immigration and land purchase rights within the Palestine mandate, criticized by Zionists and particularly galling to them since it came just as Hitler was launching the Holocaust. The British were also under intense pressure from Arabs to halt growing Jewish immigration.

White Revolution: the broad program of reform proclaimed by Iran's Shah (1963).

Wingate, Orde: British officer who trained the Jewish Brigade to fight on the side of the Allies in World War II, and a hero in Israel. The nation's physical education institute is named after him.

Yathrib: original name of Medina.

Yom Kippur: The Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, ending the High Holy Days following the New Year (Rosh Hashanah).

Yom Kippur War: see October War.

Young Turks: group of Turkish nationalists who took control of the Ottoman government in 1908, restored its constitution, and instituted westernizing reforms; their main organization was the Committee of Union and Progress (C.U.P.).

Yehoshua, A. B.: (1936 - ) Israeli writer of Sephardic descent.

Zagros: mountain range in SW Iran.