The Essential Middle East [antikvár]

The best way to use this reference work is to look up the term(s) first in the General Index or the Subject Index. This general-purpose guide pertains to the Middle East, a region that includes Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, the Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. The reason for this selection is given under the entry: Middle East. The guide covers the following subjects: Arab-Israeli wars, biographies, Christianity and Chrisdan sects, civil wars, country profiles, ethnic groups, geography, government, Gulf wars, historical places, history, hostages, international agreements and treaties, Islam and Islamic sects, Judaism and Jewish sects, languages, literamre and writers, personalities, military and military leaders, miscellaneous, nonconventional biological-chemical-nuclear weapons, oil and gas, the peace process, politics, political ideologies, religious ideologies and ideologues, regional conflicts, reginal organizations, terrorism, tourist places, and the United Nations. I have included only those personalities who made an impact on the politics, military, religion, or literature of a country or the region, and who reached adulthood around the turn of the twentieth century or later. Likewise, I have included only those international agreements, protocols, or treaties that were signed, or initialed, in the twentieth century. In the case of political, religious, or politico-religious parties and personalities, I have paid as much attention to those in power, now or in the past, as to those out of power. Since standard ways of transliterating Arabic and Hebrew words require acutes, graves, ogoneks, and so on, and these are not used by the English-language news agencies or newspapers, I have opted for the spellings current in the English-language print media. Within this context I have been consistent—using, for instance, Halacha, not Halakha; Muslim, not Moslem; and Quran, not Koran. London May 2003 Dilip Hiro