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Hamas

(Encyclopedia)Hamas hämäsˈ [key] [Arab., = zeal], Arabic acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement, a Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist organization that was founded in 1987 during the Intifada; it seeks ...

Machel, Samora Moïsès

(Encyclopedia)Machel, Samora Moïsès səmôrˈə moizĕshˈ məshĕl [key], 1933–86, president of Mozambique (1975–86). Machel joined the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo) in 1962, led its guerrilla forces...

Grechko, Andrei Antonovich

(Encyclopedia)Grechko, Andrei Antonovich əndrāˈ əntôˈnəvĭch grĕchˈkō [key], 1903–76, Soviet army officer and minister of defense. As a World War II commander he took part in the liberation of the Cauca...

Carlos the Jackal

(Encyclopedia)Carlos the Jackal, pseud. of the revolutionary and international terrorist Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, 1949–, b. Caracas, Venezuela. Son of an affluent Marxist lawyer, he joined the Communist party at ...

Chissano, Joaquim Alberto

(Encyclopedia)Chissano, Joaquim Alberto, 1939–, Mozambican political leader. A founding member of the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo), he rose to become a major general in the organization, and after Mozamb...

Rabin, Yitzhak

(Encyclopedia)Rabin, Yitzhak yĭtskhäkˈ räbēnˈ [key], 1922–95, Israeli general and statesman, b. Jerusalem, the first native-born prime minister of Israel (1974–77, 1992–95). His extensive military exper...

Tupamaros

(Encyclopedia)Tupamaros to͞opämäˈrōs [key], urban guerrilla organization and political party in Uruguay, also known as the National Liberation Army. Named for the Inca revolutionist Tupac Amaru, it became acti...

Shamir, Yitzhak

(Encyclopedia)Shamir, Yitzhak yētzˈäk shämērˈ [key], 1915–2012, Zionist activist and Israeli politician, b. Poland. Emigrating (1935) to Palestine, he was twice arrested by the British for participating in ...

Philistines

(Encyclopedia)Philistines fĭlˈĭstēnz, fĭlĭsˈ– [key], inhabitants of Philistia, a non-Semitic people who came to Palestine from a region in the Mediterranean in the 12th cent. b.c. Genetic studies in the 21...

terrorism

(Encyclopedia)terrorism, the threat or use of violence, often against the civilian population, to achieve political or social ends, to intimidate opponents, or to publicize grievances. The term dates from the Reign...