Glossary - Israel: An Introduction - page 335

Qadi (plural: qadis)— Muslim or Druze judge in a religious court.
Rabbinate — The offi cial religious body that oversees Jewish religious issues in Israel, such as conversion
to Judaism, marriage, and divorce.
Rafi — The more centrist faction of Mapai that broke away to form a separate party led by David Ben-
Gurion in 1965. After winning ten Knesset seats, it merged with Mapai and Ahdut HaAvoda to
form the Labor Party in 1968.
Ratz — Movement for Civil Rights and Peace, a political party that split from the Labor Party's left wing
in 1973. It advocated separation of religion and state, eventually joining with Shinui and Mapam
to form Meretz in 1992.
Religious Zionism — Ideology supporting the creation of Israel as a mandate of religious Judaism. Most
Datim are religious Zionists, and the ideology is historically connected with the National Religious
Party.
Resolution 242 — A UN Security Council resolution of November 22, 1967, calling for full peace based
on the Arab states' recognition of Israel and Israel's withdrawing from territory it captured in
1967.
Resolution 425 — UN Security Council resolution of March 1978 that called for full Israeli withdrawal
from Lebanon. The United Nations announced that Israel had fulfi lled the terms of the resolution
terms after its pullout from southern Lebanon.
Revisionist Zionism — A Jewish nationalist ideology developed by Ze'ev Jabotinsky that is the ideology
of the Herut Party.
Right of return — The Palestinian demand that all Palestinian refugees who left what is now Israel in 1948
and their descendants, wherever they currently reside, be allowed to live in Israel.
Road map — The three-phase peace plan presented in 2003 by the Quartet of the United States, the Eu-
ropean Union, the United Nations, and Russia.
Sabra — Literally, “prickly pear,” the nickname for a native-born Israeli, denoting a hard exterior but a
soft interior.
Second Aliya — The wave of Jewish immigration to Israel (more precisely, to the Palestine Mandate) from
1903 to 1914. About 40,000 Jews, mainly from Russia and Poland, immigrated.
Security fence — Also called the Separation Barrier. A barrier, mostly an electronic fence and in some
sectors a wall, between Israel and most of the Palestinian territories in the West Bank whose con-
struction began in 2002. Its purpose is to prevent terrorists and other anti-Israel militants from
entering Israel.
Sephardic — Literally, “Spanish”; properly refers to Jews expelled from Spain in 1492. Specifi cally, it refers
to the slight variations in religious practice by Jews from the Middle East, North Africa, and the
Balkan countries compared with the religious practices of other Jews. It is sometimes used inter-
changeably with Mizrahi to indicate Jews from those places.
Shaba Farms — Area in the Golan Heights on the Lebanese border. Internationally it is considered to be
part of Syria, but Hizballah claims it as part of Lebanon and uses Israel's presence there to justify
its attacks on Israel.
Shabak. See Shin Bet.
Shabbat — The Jewish Sabbath, observed from sunset on Friday to nightfall on Saturday.
Sharav — A hot, dry wind that commonly blows in the Middle East during the summer months and dur-
ing the transition from spring to summer and from summer to fall.
Shas — Sephardic religious political party founded in 1984 that has become one of the largest parties in
the Knesset. It conducts social welfare activities for its supporters.
Shekel — Israel's currency, offi cially called the New Israeli Shekel (NIS).
Shin Bet — The Israel Security Agency, which is responsible for Israel's internal security and also for intel-
ligence gathering and security in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The agency is equivalent to the
American Federal Bureau of Investigation.