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conversations.value: Provide a description for a book titled A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Middle East about Middle, Eastern, Turkey with the genre: Reference, Dictionaries & Thesauruses.
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conversations.value: This dictionary surveys Middle Eastern politics, religion, and culture from the twentieth century to today. The writing is lucid and concise, admirably condensing complex issues into manageable entries. This is especially true for political and historical entries, which also provide valuable insight on the topics' origins and development. There are some flaws: Turkey, North Africa, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are absent; and the cultural and religious entries lack the depth and insight characteristic of the political entries. Nonetheless, this single volumes strong coverage of political events makes it an excellent reference for high-school and college-level students. --Muhammed Hassanali
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conversations.value: This dictionary surveys Middle Eastern politics, religion, and culture from the twentieth century to today. The writing is lucid and concise, admirably condensing complex issues into manageable entries. This is especially true for political and historical entries, which also provide valuable insight on the topics' origins and development. There are some flaws: Turkey, North Africa, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are absent; and the cultural and religious entries lack the depth and insight characteristic of the political entries. Nonetheless, this single volumes strong coverage of political events makes it an excellent reference for high-school and college-level students.
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conversations.value: Provide the first five paragraphs for this book.
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conversations.value: A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Middle East
  The Sykes–Picot Pact covered the interests of Britain, France, and Russia. After the victory Russia was to acquire Constantinople (now Istanbul), a strip on each side of the Bosphorus Straits, and large parts of the four provinces of Turkey bordering Russia. As for the Ottoman Empire's Arab territory, in which Russia was uninterested, Britain and France made the following deal: British hegemony in the Baghdad and Basra provinces of Mesopotamia [q.v.]; French hegemony in Ottoman (Greater) Syria [q.v.] and Lesser Armenia (in Turkey); and an international zone in Palestine [q.v. ], much smaller than the Palestine mandated to Britain in 1922. The rest was to be constituted into an independent Arab state or federation, divided into British and French spheres of influence.
  Constructed with one end oriented toward Jerusalem [q.v.], synagogues tended to imitate basilicas in design, with a gallery. In time they came to be embellished with mosaics, frescoes, and carvings. After Roman Emperor Constantine (r. 306–337 A.D.) had adopted Christianity as the state religion in 313 A.D., old synagogues were demolished or converted to churches. Following the rise of Islam [q.v.] and an Islamic empire in the seventh century A.D., synagogues were allowed to be repaired in Muslim lands.
  During the Middle Ages (476 A.D.–1492) synagogues emerged as the intellectual and social centers of Jewish life, the adjacent courtyards being used as law courts and for wedding ceremonies. Today a typical synagogue contains an ark (where the scrolls of the Torah [q.v.] are kept); an eternal light burning before the ark; two candelabra pews; and a raised platform, from which scriptural passages are read and, often, services conducted.
  Segregation of the sexes, which is strictly observed by Orthodox and ultra–Orthodox Jews [q.v.], has been discontinued by Reform [q.v.] and Conservative [q.v.] Jewry. Among diaspora [q.v.] Jews, synagogues are often independent, reflecting the local community's wishes in its construction, maintenance, choice of priest, called rabbi (Hebrew: teacher), and officials.
  Vice presidents: (First) Farouoq al-Shaara (political and foreign affairs), 2006-; (Second) Najah al–Attar (culture), 2006-
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conversations.value: United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (1949–): Following the UN General Assembly Resolution 302 (December 1949) to care for those Palestinians who had lost their homes and means of livelihood during the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.], the UN secretary–general established the UN Relief and Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) at the UN's offices in Vienna, Austria. That meant having to deal with 914,221 Palestinians, of whom some 500,000 qualified for UNRWA relief.
  Israel's seizure of the West Bank [q.v.] and the Gaza Strip [q.v.] during the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], created a further 335,000 displaced Palestinians, of whom 193,600 were eligible for UNRWA support.
  Financed by voluntary contributions of the member governments, UNRWA's mandate is renewed regularly to provide camps, food, clothing, schools, vocational training, and health clinics, often working in cooperation with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
  In 1980, of the 1,844,300 Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA, about a third lived in 61 camps scattered throughout the West Bank (20), the Gaza Strip (8), Jordan (10), Syria (10), and Lebanon (13). By 2000, the total had risen to 3,806,055, divided among the Gaza Strip (837,750), Jordan (1,609,566), Lebanon (380,072), Syria (387,526), and the West Bank (591,141).
  The escalated violence during the Al Aqsa Intifada [q.v.], resulting in Israel blockading the territories administered by the Palestinian Authority [q.v.], raised the number of Palestinians dependent on UNRWA's food rations 10–fold to 1.1 million in 2003.
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conversations.value: Zoroastrianism and Zoroastrians: an ancient religion that is named after its founder, Zoroaster or Zarathustra He is believed to have lived between 1750 B.C. and 1000 B.C. in a region that now covers eastern Iran and the southern part of Central Asia, The hymns attributed to him form the liturgical core of Zoroastrianism. In his era, society was divided into three castes: priests, warriors, and herdsmen and agriculturists. This is mirrored in Zoroastrianism, where particular daivas (heavenly ones) or gods, are associated with each caste. Above all these gods is Ahura Mazda (Old Persian: Wise Lord), who, according to the gathas (verses) attributed to Zoroaster, is the creator of heaven and earth and the supreme lawmaker. At the beginning of creation, his twin sons, Spenta Mainyu (Old Persian: Generous Spirit) and Angra Mainyu (Old Persian: Destructive Spirit), engaged in any ongoing struggle and threw the world into turmoil, which only the virtuous would survive to witness a new creation. A similar dualism runs through Zoroastrian cosmology, which divides the history of the universe into four ages of 3,000 years each, where the eternal struggle is between Ahura Mazda, who lives in the light, and Ahriman (derivative of Angra Mainyu, Destructive Spirit), who lives in the dark.
  Zoroaster's teaching is based on the Avesta, the scripture in the ancient Persian language [q.v.] of Avestan, which includes various texts, such as the Yasna (Sacrifice), the Yashts, and the Vendidad. The Yasna includes verses attributed to Zoroaster, even though the text was not assembled in written form until about a millennium after Zoroaster's death. He stressed ethical and ritual purity, and retained the ancient cult of fire. During the fire ceremony the Yasna is recited, and haoma (an unfermented or intoxicating beverage) is consumed.
  Since Ahura Mazda rules over all others, and is the father of all spirits, both good and evil, Zoroastrianism is considered monotheistic. It had an impact on Christianity [q.v.] and Islam [q.v.]. Each of the three castes in Persia regarded Zoroaster as a model. His doctrine spread to present-day Afghanistan and Tajikistan as well as Iran and Kurdistan [q.v.]. It flourished in the Achaemenian period (550–330 B.C.), suffered neglect during the Greek period that followed the conquest of this region by Alexander of Macedonia in 330 B.C., but revived at the end of the Parthian Empire (247 B.C.-226 A.D). It became the state religion during the Sassanian period (226–640 A.D.). Under the Sassanian rule the Avesta was compiled and translated into the vernacular, Pahlavi [q.v.]. In addition, the dualistic doctrine, which had started to replace the monotheism of the gathas during the Achaemenian period, became the norm.
  With the arrival of Islam [q.v.] in Persia and Afghanistan, the hold of Zoroastrianism began to wane. It survived until the 10th century, when diehard Zoroastrians migrated to the western coast of India, where they became known as Parsis. A small minority survived in Iran. The constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran recognizes Zoroastrians, along with Christians and Jews [q.v.], as a religious minority, and allocates them one representative in a parliament of 270 members; in 2008, he represented a community of 21,000 Zoroastrians.
  The Zoroastrian calendar, based on a solar cycle, consists of 12 months of 30 days each. The additional five or six days are kept for "remembering the dead."