Word: shabab
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Said Ali, 21, is a volunteer fighter for the Shabab militia, the feared enforcers of the Islamic Courts Union. The U.S. brands the organization as an ally of al-Qaeda; in reality, it is also a nationalist anti-warlord movement that contains many Muslim moderates and has no international ambitions. He was 11 when he left his village in southern Somalia and traveled to Mogadishu to look for an education. But all public education had collapsed with the last functioning government in 1991, leaving private school the only option. And Said Ali, like most of his generation, was unable...
...heart of Nablus, the largest Arab city in the West Bank. After two years of revolt, the ancient and impoverished community has won distinction as the most dangerous turf in the occupied territories. The dense, mazelike architecture gives the Palestinians a home- court advantage, enabling the young shabab (activists) to vanish down secret passageways or disappear over rooftops. Nervous soldiers respond with trigger-happy brutality. The consequences: at least 23 residents have been killed by Israeli troops, and more than 1,000 wounded. Internecine bloodshed has claimed an additional 18 Arabs accused of collaborating with the Israelis. Israelis feel...
Despite the lopsided statistics, the shabab boast of their accomplishments. "We've finally made the Israelis afraid of us," says an activist named Jamal, 21. His boyish face bespeaks both pride and intense anxiety. "You only die once," he says with some relief. Only once, like his friend Nadir Tayseer Abu Yasin, 14, who was "martyred" two days earlier. Jamal pulls out a photo of the dead boy taken moments after the shooting. "This is our fate...
...packed vegetable market, hurried transactions are interrupted by rumors of arrests and raids. By 11 a.m., the shops are shuttered and the shabab take over, attacking and evading soldiers. Five toughs from a Palestinian gang called the Black Panthers swagger down the street only two blocks from an Israeli foot patrol. "We're running our own state here," says a young "enforcer" as he demands identification from strangers. Two days earlier, the Panthers dragged Naima Ja'ara, 35, from her house and shot her in the head for allegedly collaborating with the Israelis...
...shabab are back on the streets by 6 in the morning, reclaiming their territory and gathering information. The news leaves them visibly shaken: Israeli soldiers stormed Abdel Nasser's house at 1:30 a.m. and hauled him off for interrogation. Seventeen other Palestinians were also arrested. "There is no escape from this nightmare," says Jamal, recalling his own time behind bars. "One night I even dreamed the soldiers had come and taken me away to prison." He awoke to the sound of soldiers bursting through the door...