Son of Hamas

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