492 • GlossarySamarra (sa-MAR-ra): City in northern Iraq; Abbasid capital (836-889)
al-Samu' (es-sa-MOO-ah): Arab village subjected to harsh Israeli reprisal follow¬
ing Palestinian border raids in 1966
Samuel, Sir Herbert: British high commissioner in Palestine (1920-1925)
San Remo (san RAY-mo): 1920 conference in which Britain and France deter¬
mined the mandate borders
Sanskrit: The classical language of India
San Stefano (san STEH-fuh-no): Village near Istanbul; site of abortive Russo-
Turkish Treaty in February 1878 that would have strengthened Russia's posi¬
tion in the Balkans
Sasanid dynasty (sa-SAW-nid): Persian ruling family (227-651)
Sa'ud ibn Abd al-Aziz (sa-OOD): Saudi Arabia's king (1953-1964)
Sa'ud dynasty: Arab family of Najd supporting Wahhabi doctrines since the reign
of Muhammad ibn Sa'ud (1746-1765); rulers of most of the Arabian Peninsula
during the twentieth century
Saudi Arabia (SOW-dee): Kingdom in the Arabian Peninsula ruled by the Sa'ud
dynasty
SAVAK (sah-VAWK): Iran's secret police under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi
Scopus, Mount: Hill northeast of Jerusalem, site of first Hebrew University cam¬
pus and Hadassah Hospital, surrounded by Jordanian-held land (1949-1967)
Security Council Resolution 242: November 1967 statement of principles for
achieving peace between the Arabs and Israel, accepted by both sides but with
differing interpretations
Security Council Resolution 338: Cease-fire resolution ending the October 1973
war, calling for direct Israeli-Arab talks
Security Council Resolution 598: Resolution calling for an end to the Iran-Iraq
War, accepted by Iraq in 1987 and by Iran in 1988
Selim I (se-LEEM): Ottoman sultan (1512-1520) who conquered Syria, Egypt,
and the Hijaz
Selim II: Ottoman sultan (1566-1574)
Selim III: Ottoman reforming sultan (1789-1807)
Seljuk (sel-JOOK): (1) Central Asian Turkic tribal leader who adopted Islam in
956; (2) ruling family descended from Seljuk
Semitic: Pertaining to a subgroup of Asian languages, including Arabic and He¬
brew, having consonantal writing systems, inflected grammars, and structured
morphologies, or to a speaker of one of these languages
separation-of-forces agreement: Kissinger's formula to secure Israel's withdrawal
from some lands taken in the October War
Serbia: Ancient Balkan kingdom, part of Yugoslavia (1918-1991); now an inde¬
pendent republic
Seven-Imam Shi'i: Any Muslim who believes that the true leadership of the umma
was passed from Ali through a line of heirs ending in Isma'il; also called Isma'ilis
or Seveners