A Concise History of the Middle East

496 • Glossary

Umar II: Umayyad caliph (717-720) who reduced discrimination against non-
Arab converts to Islam
Umayyad dynasty (om-MYE-yad): Clan of the Quraysh tribe that ruled in Dam¬
ascus (661-750) and in Cordoba (756-1030)
umma (OOM-ma): The political, social, and spiritual community of Muslims
Uniat Catholics: Christians of various Middle Eastern rites who are in commun¬
ion with the Roman Catholic church
United Arab Emirates: Federation of Gulf principalities
United Arab Republic: Union of Egypt and Syria (1958-1961)
United Nations Disengagement Observer Force: International army stationed be¬
tween Syria and Israel (1974-)
United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF): International army between Egypt
and Israel (1957-1967 and 1974-1979)
United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA): International organization
providing aid and education to Palestinian refugees since 1949
Urabi, Ahmad (oo-RAH-bee): Egyptian army officer and nationalist who led a
popular uprising against the Dual Control in 1881-1882
Uthman (oth-MAHN): Third of the Rashidun caliphs (644-656)
Uzbeks: Central Asian Turks, sixteenth-century rivals to the Safavids
Venizelos, Eleutherios (veh-neh-ZAY-los): Greek prime minister during invasion
of Anatolia (1919-1922) and strong advocate of a greater Greece
vizier (ve-ZEER): Government minister in a Muslim state; wazir in Arabic
wadi (WAH-dee): Valley
Wafd (WAHFT): (1) Unofficial Egyptian delegation to the 1919 Paris Peace
Conference; (2) Egypt's main nationalist party from 1923 to 1952, revived in
1978
Wahhabi (wah-HAH-bee): Puritanical Muslim sect founded by Muhammad ibn
Abd al-Wahhab, now dominant in Saudi Arabia
Wailing Wall Incident: Fracas in Jerusalem (1929), leading to widespread Arab at¬
tacks against Jews in Palestine
Wall, the: Israel's "Security Fence," constructed since 2002 to separate pre¬
dominantly Palestinian areas from Israel and from Jewish settlements in the
West Bank
waqf (pi. awqaf) (WAHKF, ow-KAHF): Muslim endowment of land or other
property, usually established for a beneficent or pious purpose
Weapons of Mass Destruction: Biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons, espe¬
cially applied to those ascribed (incorrectly) to Iraq prior to the US invasion in
2003; also called WMDs
Weizmann, Chaim (VITES-man, KHIME): British Zionist leader who helped to
obtain the Balfour Declaration; Israel's first president (1948-1952)
Welfare Party: Islamist party that won a plurality of seats in Turkey's 1995 elec¬
tions and led a coalition government until 1997