Amal. A young boy who went to school with Kamal and his siblings. Kamal watched as he was subjected to physical torture for stealing.
Amira, See Saleem, Amira.
Anani, Zakariah (or Zak). A student of the Koran, Zak traveled with Kamal and another Muslim recruit named Walid on speaking assignments to recruit other young Muslims.
Arafat, Yasser. Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization and president of the Palestinian National Authority, he was the leader of the Fatah political party, which he founded in 1959. He died in 2004.
Assad, Hafez al-. President of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000. Strongly anti-Zionist and a major supporter of Palestinian guerrilla organizations, he came into power after leading a coup in late 1970.
Azziz, Abu. An imam (religious leader) Kamal met when he took refuge in the mosque in Beirut. Member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Bakr, Abu. An early convert to Islam and senior companion to the prophet Muhammad. After Muhammad died, Bakr became the first >Muslim ruler.
Banna, Hassan al-. A schoolteacher and the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Barak, Ehud. An Israeli politician, former prime minister and the current minister of defense, deputy prime minister, and leader of Israel’s Labor Party.
Basha, Omar Al-. Plumber who worked high-rise buildings. Kamal went to work for him as an errand and clean-up boy.
Bobby and Patrick. Two IRA (Irish Republican Army) soldiers who trained at the camp with Kamal. After carrying out terrorist acts from England to Italy, Omar and Kamal killed them on orders from Abu Mustafa.
Eli. Kamal’s best childhood friend (a Christian).
Elshafay, James. American high-school dropout recruited into jihad and arrested in the United States for planning to bomb New York’s Penn Station during the 2004 Republican National Convention.
Emad. Kamal’s uncle, whom the imam from the neighborhood mosque knew.
Faisel. A Palestinian driver who took Kamal to the training camp in the Sahara.
Farouge. An Armenian shop keeper in Kamal’s Beirut neighborhood.
Fatima. The prophet Muhammad’s daughter by his first wife. She was the wife of Ali.
Fatima. Kamal’s grandmother.
Fouad. (See Saleem, Fouad) Gaddafi, Muammar. The de facto leader of Libya since a 1969 coup. Although Gaddafi holds no public office or title, he is accorded broad honorifics in government statements and the official press.
Gemayel, Pierre Abdel. Founder of the Lebanese Phalanges, a political and military force which he led for almost fifty years. The Phalangist Party, geared toward Lebanese Maronite Christians, focused on the need for a strong Lebanese state. Harsh opponent of Palestinian refugees. He died in 1984.
Habbal, Sarri. A Muslim man who often drove Kamal to the training camp. He arranged for Kamal’s job at the gift shop. He was also a thief and a gigolo.
Haroon. One of two fedayeen who rode in the Zodiac with Kamal on the mission to Haifa. He was half-Palestinian and half-Lebanese.
Hasson, Adham Amin. A man illegally in the United States, charged with providing material support to terrorists in 2002.
Hayat, Hamid. Resident of Lodi, California, convicted of attending a terrorist training camp in Pakistan in 2006.
Hayat, Umer. Resident of Lodi, California, charged with providing material support to terrorists. After his trial ended in a deadlock, he pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI. His son, Hamid, was convicted of attending a terrorist training camp in Pakistan in 2006.
Hussein. Son of Ali ibn Abi Talib. He was killed in a battle for power of the fifth Calipha.
Hussein, ibn-Talal. King of Jordan from 1952 until his death in 1999. Pious Muslims considered him to be a direct descendant of the prophet Muhammad.
Ibrahim, Abu. A Palestinian fida’i (fedayeen soldier) and leader of Kamal’s Fatah/PLO cell.
Ibrahim. (See Saleem, Ibrahim) Iskendar. One of the Shia Kurd boys who bullied and harrassed Kamal in Beirut.
Issa. A Lebanese fedayeen who challenged Kamal at the training camp and spoke to him disrespectfully.
James, Kevin. A U.S. national and founder of Jam’iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh, a radical Islamic organization that identifies the U.S. government and Jews as major targets. He recruited co-conspirators Levar Washington, Gregory Patterson, and Hammad Riaz Samana to carry out attacks on the National Guard, Los Angeles International Airport, two synagogues, and the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles.
Jihad, Abu. A Sunni Palestinian who visited the mosque in Beirut and recruited Kamal for Fatah (Arafat’s armed force).
Karim, Abdul al-. Kamal’s uncle for whom Kamal worked as a child.
Khalid. Kamal’s uncle.
Mahmoud. One of Kamal’s uncles.
Marie. One of Kamal’s Christian childhood friends from the Beirut neighborhood.
Marwan. The concierge of the Baath party office, he and his wife were taken hostage by Kamal and his fellow terrorists in order to obtain access to the Baath headquarters.
Mezin. Baathist leader on Kamal’s first mission.
Mohammed. One of Kamal’s childhood friends from the Beirut neighborhood.
Mu’awiyah. An early Islamic leader and founder of the great Umayyad Dynasty of caliphs. He fought against the fourth caliph, ’Ali (Muhammad’s son-in-law), seized Egypt, and assumed the caliphate after ’Ali’s assassination in 661. He restored unity to the Muslim empire and made Damascus its capital. He reigned from 661 to 680.
Mughrabi, Dalal. A female Palestinian terrorist who participated in the Coastal Road Massacre in 1978. In all, she and her companions killed thirty-five civilians including several Americans and thirteen children and wounded seventy-one others along Israel’s coastal highway. Along with the other terrorists, she was killed when she blew up a hijacked bus on Israel’s coastal highway. Many Muslims now consider her a martyr.
Muhammad, Prophet. Considered the central human figure of the religion of Islam, Muhammad, born in the year 570, is regarded by Muslims as a messenger and prophet of God, the last and greatest law-bearer in a series of prophets.
Mukhtar. A young boy who went to school with Kamal and his siblings.
Mustafa, Abu. Palestinian leader and the secretary general of the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine from July 2000 until he was killed by Israeli forces in 2001.
Nabil. A young boy who went to school with Kamal and his siblings.
Nasser, Gamal Abdel. Second president of Egypt from 1956 until his death in 1970. He led the Egyptian Revolution in 1952 and was a co-founder of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
Nizhar. The Lebanese leader of the mission against Haifa.
Omar. Father of Mohammed, Kamal’s childhood friend.
Omer. (See Saleem, Omer.)
Padilla, Jose. An American citizen convicted of conspiracy in the United States in May of 2002.
Patterson, Gregory Vernon. A U.S. national, he joined co-conspirators Levar Washington and Hammad Riaz Samana and Kevin James to plan attacks on the National Guard, Los Angeles International Airport, two synagogues, and the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles.
Qaffin. One of two adult fedayeen (Palestinian freedom fighters) who escorted Kamal and other recruits on a mission to transport weapons to the Palestinians.
Rabin, Yitzhak. An Israeli politician and general. He was the fifth prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office: 1974–1977 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995.
Rahman, Abdul. A Sunni imam (religious leader) in Beirut who rescued Kamal from a gang of Shia bullies and gave him refuge in the mosque. He later introduced Kamal to extreme Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Royer, Randall Todd. A communications expert and civil rights director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). He was indicted in 2003 for terrorist activities in connection with the Virginia Jihad Network.
Sadat, Anwar. Third president of Egypt, serving from 1970 until his assassination in 1981. He succeeded Gamal Abdel Nasser and bro
ught much political reform to Egypt.
Sadequee, Ehsanul Islam. Georgia Tech student who cased and videotaped the Capitol and World Bank for a terrorist organization in 2006.
Sadr, Musa as-. An Iranian-born Lebanese philosopher and prominent Shia religious leader who spent many years of his life in Lebanon as a religious and political leader.
Salam, Saeb. A Lebanese politician, who served as prime minister four times between 1952 and 1973. He was well connected with the Saudis and led one of the factions after Black Saturday (See Events).
Saleem, Amira. Kamal’s oldest sister.
Saleem, Fouad. Kamal’s oldest brother.
Saleem, Ibrahim. Kamal’s older brother.
Saleem, Omer. Kamal’s younger brother.
Saleem, Sayed Mohammed. Kamal’s father.
Samana, Hammad Riaz. A permanent U.S. resident from Pakistan, he joined co-conspirators Levar Washington and Gregory Patterson and Kevin James to plan attacks on the National Guard, Los Angeles International Airport, two synagogues, and the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles.
Samra. The wife of Baath party office concierge Marwan. She was taken hostage by Kamal and his fellow terrorists in a raid against the Baath party headquarters.
Shafiq. Kamal’s uncle.
Shoebat, Walid. One of the two Muslim men who traveled with Kamal on speaking engagements. The grandson of a Muslim chieftain, he became an advocate for Judaism after reading the Jewish Bible and was marked for death by the jihadists.
Siraj, Shahawar Martin. A Pakistani national in league with James Elshafay in a plot to bomb New York’s Penn Station during the Republican National Convention in 2004.
Tahsein. One of two fedayeen who rode in the Zodiac with Kamal on the mission to Haifa.
Tawfiq, Abu. An imam (religious leader) Kamal met when he took refuge in the mosque in Beirut. Member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Washington, Levar Haley. A U.S. national, he joined co-conspirators Gregory Patterson and Hammad Riaz Samana and Kevin James to plan attacks on the National Guard, Los Angeles International Airport, two synagogues, and the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles.
Yahya. A friend of Kamal’s from the training camp. He was killed during an early mission.
Yassin, Sheikh Ahmed. An Islamic cleric from Gaza and the founder of Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement.
Yazid. The son of Syrian governor Mu’awiyah.
Yousef, Abu. Leader of the camp where Kamal was trained as a terrorist, and Kamal’s main mentor in Fatah and the PLO.
Zachariah (or Zak). See Anani.
Places
Abu Dhabi. The capital and second most populous city in the UAE (United Arab Emirates) and the seat of government for the emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Aleppo (or Halab). One of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, located in northern Syria. The largest governorate in Syria, it serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate.
Avivim. An Israeli moshav (a type of cooperative agricultural community) located in far northern Israel in Upper Galilee less than 3,000 feet from the Lebanese border. Founded in 1958, it was abandoned soon after and resettled in 1963 by immigrants from North Africa—mostly Moroccan Jews.
Chad. Officially known as the Republic of Chad, a landlocked country in central Africa. Chad is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and, across Lake Chad, Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west.
Dubai. One of the seven emirates in the UAE (United Arab Emirates).
Fort Dix. A U.S. Army installation and basic training center in New Jersey named for Major General John Adams Dix, a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Civil War.
Gaza Strip. A long, narrow coastal strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea, bordering Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the north and east. The approximately 1.4 million Gazan residents are Palestinian Arabs. The Gaza Strip is not recognized internationally as part of any sovereign country, but it is claimed by the Palestinian National Authority as part of the Palestinian territories.
Golan Heights. A strategic plateau and mountainous region at the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains. The geographic area lies within, or borders, the countries of Israel, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan.
Green Line. The 1949 Armistice lines established between Israel and its neighbors (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria) after the 1948 Arab-Israel War. The Green Line separates Israel not only from these countries but also from the territories Israel captured during the 1967 Six-Day War (West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, and Sinai Peninsula). Its name is derived from the green ink used to draw the line on the map during the talks.
Haifa. The largest city in northern Israel and the third largest in the country. Haifa has a mixed population of Jews and Arabs.
Hamra District. A shopping district in Beirut, Lebanon. It hosts a good number of hotels, furnished apartments, and coffee shops that cater to visitors and students from the American University of Beirut and the Lebanese American University located nearby.
Herat (or Aria). The third largest city in Afghanistan, located in the western province of Herat, a fertile area known for its wine production.
Kandahar (or Qandahar). The capital of Kandahar Province in southern Afghanistan, it is the country’s second-largest city and the religious headquarters of the Taliban, an Islamic, fundamentalist movement.
Karantina. A strategically situated slum district in Beirut, Lebanon, controlled by forces from the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization). It is inhabited mainly by Kurds and Armenians, along with some Lebanese and Palestinian Muslims.
Karbala. A city in Iraq considered by Shia Muslims to be one of the holiest cities in the world after Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, and Najaf Located southwest of Baghdad, it is best known for the battle of Karbala in October of the year 680.
Kuwait. A sovereign Arab emirate on the coast of the Persian Gulf enclosed by Saudi Arabia to the south and Iraq to the north and west. A constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. Kuwait City serves as its political and economic capital. The name is a diminutive of an Arabic word meaning “fortress built near water.”
Marroush. A chain of Moroccan restaurants owned by Marouf Abouzaki. Primarily located in London, where it has eleven restaurants, it has expanded to Beirut, Lebanon, as the Beirut Express.
Masjid al-Bakar. A mosque in Beirut, Lebanon, located in the center of the populous Sunni Muslim territory.
Mogadishu. An important regional seaport located in the Benadir region of Somalia on the Indian Ocean. Since the collapse of Somalia’s central government in 1991, Mogadishu has endured seventeen years of fighting between rival militias. It is considered one of the most dangerous and lawless cities in the world.
Nablus. A Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, about 39 miles north of Jerusalem. Located in a strategic area between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.
Niger. A landlocked country in western Africa, named for the Niger River. It is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. More than 80 percent of its territory is covered by the Sahara Desert.
Ribiana Sand Sea. Located in Africa’s Libyan Desert, these dune fields, created by the wind, rise up to 110 meters and cover 25 percent of the Libyan Desert.
Riyadh. The capital and largest city in Saudi Arabia, it is also the capital of the Riyadh Province in the center of the Arabian Peninsula.
River Litani. An important waterway in southern Lebanon, rising west of Baalbek in the fertile Bekaa Valley and emptying into the Mediterranean Sea north of Tyre (one of Lebanon’s largest cities). It is the longest river that originates and flows entirely within the borders of Lebanon.
Raouché. A residential and commercial area located at Beirut’s western-most tip, known for its upscale apartment buildings, restaurants, and seaside sidewalk. Just off the coast of Raouché is a natural landmark called the Pigeo
ns’ Rock, two massive rock formations that stand like silent sentinels. The name derives either from the Aramaic word rosh, meaning head, or the French word roche (rocher), meaning rock.
Sabra-Shatila. The site of a 1982 massacre carried out by the Lebanese Forces militia group. It is alleged that Israeli Defense Forces allowed Lebanese Christian Phalangist militiamen to enter two Palestinian refugee camps, where they massacred civilians.
Sahara Desert. The world’s largest hot desert. The Sahara covers most of northern Africa, an area stretching from the Red Sea and including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean.
Sidon. A city located in the South Governorate of Lebanon on the Mediterranean coast, about 25 miles south of the capital. Its inhabitants are primarily Muslim (both Sunni and Shiite), Greek Catholic, and Maronite Christians. The name means “fishery.”
Souq al Motaa (or Souk Shramit). A notorious area in downtown Beirut, known as the “Market of Whores.”
Syria. An Arab country in southwest Asia, which borders Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north.
Tartuse. A Syrian port city.
Tripoli. The capital and largest city in Libya, located in the northwest part of the country on the edge of the Sahara Desert on a point of rocky land projecting into the Mediterranean Sea and forming a bay. The name means “three cities.”
Turbat. A town situated on the left bank of the Kech River, a tributary of the Dasht River, southwest of the Balochistan Province in Pakistan.
U.A.E. (United Arab Emirates). A constitutional federation of seven emirates, it was formally established in 1971. UAE is located on the southeastern end of the Arabian Peninsula and is governed by a confederate of absolute monarchies. UAE is funded by MB Petroleum Services, a multinational drilling and well-services corporation.
Valley of the Jews (or Wadi Abu Jamil). A district in the heart of Beirut, Lebanon, which once had the largest Jewish population in Lebanon, known for money-brokering and the establishment of banks. Most of the Jewish residents left after the onset of the war in Lebanon.
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