Son of Hamas (30 page)

Read Son of Hamas Online

Authors: Mosab Hassan Yousef,Mosab Hassan Yousef

Imad Akel

Leader of Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas military wing; killed by Israelis

Ismail Haniyeh

Elected Palestinian prime minister in 2006

Izz al-Din Shuheil al-Masri

Sbarro pizza parlor suicide bomber

Jamal al-Dura

Father of twelve-year-old Mohammed al-Dura, who Palestinians say was killed by IDF soldiers during a demonstration by Palestinian security forces in Gaza

Jamal al-Taweel

Hamas leader in the West Bank

Jamal Salim

Hamas leader killed in assassination of Jamal Mansour in Nablus

Jamil Hamami

Cofounder of Hamas in 1986

Jibril Rajoub

Head of security for the Palestinian Authority

Juma’a

Gravedigger in cemetery near Mosab’s childhood home

King Hussein

King of Jordan (1952–1999)

Kofi Annan

Seventh secretary-general of the United Nations (1997–2006)

Leonard Cohen

Canadian singer and songwriter who wrote “First We Take Manhattan”

Mahmud Muslih

Cofounder of Hamas in 1986

Majeda Talahme

Wife of Hamas terrorist Saleh Talahme

Mohammad

Founder of Islam

Mohammad Daraghmeh

Palestinian journalist

Mohammed al-Dura

Twelve-year-old boy allegedly killed by IDF soldiers during a Fatah demonstration in Gaza

Mohammed Arman

Member of Hamas terrorist cell

Mosab Talahme

Oldest son of terrorist Saleh Talahme

Muhammad Jamal al-Natsheh

Cofounder of Hamas in 1986 and head of its military wing in the West Bank

Muhaned Abu Halawa

Member of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades

Najeh Madi

Covert leader of Hamas

Nissim Toledano

Israeli border policeman killed by Hamas

Ofer Dekel

Shin Bet officer

Rehavam Ze’evi

Israeli tourism minister assassinated by PFLP gunmen

Saddam Hussein

Iraqi dictator who invaded Kuwait in 1990

Saeb Erekat

Palestinian cabinet minister

Saeed Hotari

Dolphinarium suicide bomber

Salah Hussein

Covert leader of Hamas

Sami Abu Zuhri

Hamas spokesman in Gaza

Shada

Palestinian worker killed by mistake by an Israeli tank gunner

Shimon Peres

Ninth president of Israel, who assumed office in 2007; has also served as prime minister and foreign minister

Shlomo Sakal

Israeli plastics salesman, stabbed to death in Gaza

Tsibouktsakis Germanus

Greek Orthodox monk murdered by Ismail Radaida

Yahya Ayyash

Bomb maker credited with advancing the technique of suicide bombing in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Yasser Arafat
– Longtime chairman of the PLO, president of the PA; died in 2004

Yisrael Ziv

Israeli major general for the IDF

Yitzhak Rabin

Fifth prime minister of Israel (1974–1977; 1992–1995); assassinated by right-wing Israeli radical Yigal Amir in 1995

Zakaria Botros

Coptic priest who has led countless Muslims to Christ, via satellite television, by exposing the errors in the Qur’an and revealing the truth of Scripture

Glossary

abu

Son of

adad

Number

adhan

Muslim call to prayer, five times a day

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades

Terrorist group, formed during the Second Intifada out of various resistance groups, that carries out suicide bombings and other attacks against Israeli targets

Al-Aqsa Mosque

Islam’s third holiest site from which Muslims believe Mohammad ascended into heaven; located on the Temple Mount, Jews’ holiest site and believed to be the location of the ancient Jewish Temples

Al-Fatihah

The opening sura (passage) of the Qur’an, read by the imam or religious leader

Al-Jazeera

Arab satellite television news network; based in Qatar

Allah

Arabic word for God

Allenby Bridge

Bridge across the Jordan River between Jericho and Jordan; originally built by British General Edmund Allenby in 1918

baklava

Rich pastry made with layers of dough, filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with honey

Black September

Bloody confrontation between the Jordanian government and Palestinian organizations in September 1970

Caliphate

Islamic political leadership

Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP)

Secular Marxist-Leninist organization opposing the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza

dinar (dee'-nahr)

Official currency of Jordan, used throughout the West Bank in addition to the Israeli shekel

emir

Arabic for chief or commander

Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades (Eza-deen' al Kas-sam')

Military wing of Hamas

Fatah

Largest political faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization

fatwa

Legal opinion or decree concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar

feda’iyeen
(fedai-yeen')

Freedom fighters

Force 17

Yasser Arafat’s elite commando unit

hadith
(hah'-dith)

Oral traditions of Islam

hajj

Pilgrimage to Mecca

Hamas

Islamic resistance movement in the West Bank and Gaza, listed by the United States, European Union, and others as a terrorist organization

Hezbollah

Islamic political and paramilitary organization in Lebanon

hijab

Head covering or veil worn by Muslim women in some cultures

IDF (Israel Defense Forces)

Israel’s military force, including ground forces, air force, and navy

imam

Islamic leader, usually of a mosque

intifada

Rebellion or uprising

Islamic Jihad

Islamic resistance movement in the West Bank and Gaza, listed by the United States, European Union, and others as a terrorist organization

jalsa

Islamic study group

jihad

Literally means “struggle” but interpreted by militant Islamic groups to call for armed struggle, even terrorism

Kalashnikov

Russian AK-47 assault rifle; invented by Mikhail Kalashnikov

Knesset

Legislative branch of the Israeli government

Ktzi’ot

Israeli tent prison in the Negev where Mosab spent time

Kurds

Ethnic people group, most of whom live in Kurdistan, which covers parts of Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey

Labor Party

Socialist/Zionist left-wing political party of Israel

Likud Party

Right-wing political party of Israel

maj’d
(mah-jeed')

Hamas security wing

Maskobiyeh (mahs-koh-bee'-yah)

Israeli detention center in West Jerusalem

Mecca

Islam’s holiest site, located in Saudi Arabia, where the prophet Mohammad founded his religion

Medina

Islam’s second holiest site; the burial place of Mohammad located in Saudi Arabia

Megiddo

Prison camp in northern Israel

Merkava

Combat tank, used by the Israeli Defense Forces

minaret

Tall spire of a mosque from which a Muslim religious leader calls the faithful to prayer

mi’var

At Megiddo, a processing unit where prisoners stayed before being moved into the camp population

Molotov cocktail

A petroleum bomb, usually a gasoline-filled glass bottle with a rag wick, that is ignited and thrown at a target.

mosque

Muslim place of worship and prayer

Mossad

National intelligence agency of Israel, comparable to America’s Central Intelligence Agency

mujahid
(moo-jah-ha-deed')

Muslim guerilla soldier

Munkar and Nakir

Angels believed to torment the dead

occupied territories

The West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights

Operation Defensive Shield

Major military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces during the Second Intifada

Oslo Accords

The 1993 agreements reached between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization

Ottoman Empire

Turkish empire that lasted from about 1299 to 1923

Palestinian Authority (PA)

Formed in 1994, according to the terms of the Oslo Accords, as the governing body of the West Bank and Gaza

Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)

Political/resistance organization, led by Yasser Arafat from 1969 to 2004

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)

Marxist-Leninist resistance organization in the West Bank and Gaza

Qur’an (kor-ahn')

The holy book of Islam

rak’ah

Islamic sets of prayers and postures

Ramadan

Month of fasting to commemorate the receipt of the Qur’an by Mohammad

sawa’ed

Agents for the Hamas security wing in the Israeli prison camps; threw balls containing messages from one section to another

Scud

Ballistic missile developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War

sharia

Islamic religious law

shaweesh

A prisoner chosen to represent other inmates with the Israeli prison administrators; a “trusty”

sheikh (shake)

Muslim elder or leader

Shi’a

Islam’s second largest denomination after Sunni

Shin Bet

Israeli intelligence service, comparable to America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation

shurah
council

In Islam, a panel of seven decision makers

shoter
(sho-tair')

Hebrew for Israeli prison guard or police officer

Six-Day War

Brief war in 1967 between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, and Syria

Sunni

Islam’s largest denomination

sura

Chapter in the Qur’an

Temple Mount

In Old Jerusalem, the location of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, the oldest Islamic building in the world; also believed to be location of First and Second Jewish Temples

wudu

Islamic ritual purification

Time Line

1923

End of the Ottoman Empire

1928

Hassan al-Banna founds the Society of the Muslim Brothers

1935

The Muslim Brotherhood is established in Palestine

1948

The Muslim Brotherhood takes violent action against the Egyptian government; Israel declares its independence; Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq invade Israel

1949

Hassan al-Banna is assassinated; Al-Amari refugee camp established in the West Bank

1964

Palestine Liberation Organization founded

1967

Six-Day War

1968

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacks an El Al 707 and diverts it to Algiers; no fatalities

1970

Black September, in which thousands of PLO fighters are killed by Jordanian troops, as Jordan expels the PLO

1972

Eleven Israeli athletes killed by Black September at the Munich Olympics

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