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049172
SOURCE: KODAKA. 017348
DRAFTED BY: CA/EX/CSD :KPOWELL -- 03/17/99 202-663-1109
APPROVED BY: CA/EX/CSD : LTFARRIS
CA/VO/F/S:JLOWELL CA/EX/CSD : DWILLIAMS .
------------------ B03E80 172332Z /38
R 172329Z MAR 99 J
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO ALL NEAR EAST
INFO AMEMBASSY LONDON
AMEMBASSY PARIS
AMEMBASSY MADRID
AMEMBASSY ROME
AMEMBASSY BONN

UNCLAS STATE 049172

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED

E.G. 12958: N/A

TAGS: CMGT, CLOK, CVIS, KCSY, XF
SUBJECT: OPTIMIZING NAMECHECKS FOR ARABIC NAMES ^

REF: (A) STATE 46590 (B)JERUSALEM 0260 (C)9B JERUSALEM

36S7 (D)9B JERUSALEM 3006

DECONTROL UPON RECEIPT. SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.

PROTECT ACCORDINGLY

1. SUMMARY: JERUSALEM CABLES REPORTED ON SEVERAL FACTORS

THAT COMPLICATE NAMECHECKING OF PALESTINIAN RESIDENTS OF
JERUSALEM AND THE WEST BANK. THESE INCLUDE THE USB OF
SEVERAL DIFFERENT NAMES, THE USE OF MULTIPLE GENUINE
PASSPORTS ISSUED BY AUTHORITIES IN THE AREA, DIFFERENCES
IN THE ENGLISH TRANSLITERATION AND THE FULL ARABIC VERSION
OF THE NAME IN THE PASSPORT, AND NUMEROUS VARIATIONS OF
THE NAME IN CIVIL DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED TO SUPPORT VISA
APPLICATIONS. POST REQUESTED GUIDANCE FOR IMPROVING

NAMECHECK RESULTS, AND PROPOSED ENTERING THE FULL ARABIC

VERSION OF THE NAME FOR CLASS NAMECHECKS. REFTEL A
CONCURRED WITH JERUSALEM'S PROPOSAL TO ENTER THE FULL
ARABIC VERSION OF THE NAME AS AN ALIAS IN CERTAIN CASES.
THE FOLLOWING DISCUSSION RELATES SPECIFICALLY TO NAMECHECK
ISSUES RAISED BY JERUSALEM, BUT SHOULD ALSO BE OF INTEREST
TO OTHER POSTS IN ARABIC SPEAKING COUNTRIES. END SUMMARY

2. ISSUES RAISED IN REFTELS ARE VALID AND OF GREAT

CONCERN TO THE DEPARTMENT. WE CONTINUE TO EXPLORE WAYS TO
IMPROVE NAMECHECKS AND TO MAXIMIZE THE UTILITY OF THE
EXISTING SYSTEM. FOLLOWING ARE SUGGESTIONS FOR ACHIEVING
MAXIMUM RELEVANT OUTPUT FOR ARABIC NAME QUERIES AND FOR
MAKING REFUSAL AND LOOKOUT ENTRIES IN A MANNER USEFUL TO
BOTH ARABIC AND NON ARABIC SPEAKING POSTS.
3. AS STATED IN REF A, STANDARD GUIDANCE REQUIRES
ENTERING THE NAME FOR A NAMECHECK AS IT APPEARS IN THE
PASSPORT. AS A RESULT, ANY POST WORLDWIDE, OR AGENCY AT A
PORT OF ENTRY COULD BB EXPECTED TO ENTER A QUERY OR A
LOOKOUT IN A STANDARD FORMAT. FROM THE LINGUISTIC
STANDPOINT, ENTERING THE ENGLISH TRANSLITERATION AS IT
APPEARS IN THE PASSPORT AS THE PRIME NAME AND THE FULL
ARABIC NAME IN THE QUERY AS AN ALIAS, WOULD ENHANCE THE
QUALITY OF NAMECHECK RETURNS.

4. ARABIC ALGORITHM: THE ARABIC ALGORITHM (ANA) IN CLASS

WAS DEVELOPED SPECIFICALLY TO ACCOUNT FOR VARIATIONS IN
NAME FORMATS AND TRANSLITERATIONS AND CONDUCTS AN IN DEPTH
SEARCH OF THE DATABASE FOR RELEVANT RETURNS. THE ANA
RECOGNIZES COMMON NAME FORMS AND VARIATIONS SUCH AS
MULTIPLE SPELLINGS OF MOHAMED OR YOUSSEF AND COMBINED
NAMES SUCH AS NOUREDDINE, WHICH MAY BE SEEN AS NUR ALDIN
OR NUR AL DIN. VARIATIONS IN SPELLING OR COMBINED OR
SEPARATED NAME ELEMENTS SHOULD STILL PRODUCE RELEVANT
HITS. THEREFORE, IT SHOULD NOT BE NECESSARY TO INCLUDE AN
ALIAS IN ALL SEARCHES. ALIAS SEARCHES CAN BE MOST USEFUL
WHERE THE ENGLISH TRANSLITERATIOM IN THE PASSPORT IS
TRUNCATED OR CONTAINS NUMEROUS INITIALS.

5. IDENTIFYING THE SURNAME AND GIVEN NAME FOR THE CLASS

QUERY: IN CLASS NAMECHECKS, THE SURNAME CARRIES GREATER
WEIGHT IN THE SEARCH. ARABIC NAME FORMATS CAN BE LOADED
INTO THE QUERY IN DIFFERENT WAYS, DEPENDING ON THE REGION,
TO MAXIMIZE RETRIEVAL OF GOOD HITS. POSTS IN REGIONS
WHERE THE SURNAME IS NOT CONSTANT WILL BENEFIT FROM USE OF
ALIAS FORMULATIONS FOR A BETTER QUERY. IN ALL CASES, THE

BEST POLICY IS TO INCLUDE COMPLETE INFORMATION WHENEVER

POSSIBLE.

6. ARABIC LANGUAGE AND CULTURES IN REGIONS THAT ARE

NEITHER WESTERNIZED NOR CLAN NAMING PLACE THE MOST
EMPHASIS ON THE FIRST GIVEN NAME, WHICH USUALLY REMAINS
CONSTANT WHILE THE SURNAME ELEMENTS MAY VARY CONSIDERABLY.
THE NAME STRING MAY INCLUDE THE FIRST NAME, THE FATHER'S
NAME, THE GRANDFATHER'S NAME, ETC. THEREFORE, IN SUCH
REGIONS, INCLUDING PALESTINE, IT IS PREFERABLE TO ENTER
THE QUERY WITH THE FIRST GIVEN NAME ALONE IN THE GIVEN
NAME FIELD, AND ALL OTHER NAMES IN THE SURNAME FIELD.
SUCH A FORMULATION PROVIDES THE BEST OPPORTUNITY FOR
MATCHING ONE OR MORE ELEMENTS IN THE SURNAME. IN ADDITION
TO PALESTINE, THIS FORMAT APPLIES TO EGYPT, SUDAN,
LEBANON, SYRIA, AND PARTS OF IRAQ. A QUERY ON THE NAME
YAHYA MOHAMMAD YOUSEF NIMRAWI WOULD BE ENTERED MOHAMMAD
YOUSEF NIMRAWI, YAHYA. AN INVERTED VERSION, WITH THE LAST
NAME NIMRAWI ALONE IN THE SURNAME FIELD, AND ALL OTHER
NAMES IN THE GIVEN NAME FIELD MAY BE USED AS AN ALIAS.

7 CLAN-NAMIMO REGIONS (PERSIAN GULF STATES SUCH AS SAUDI

ARABIA, KUWAIT, AND IRAQ) PLACE GREATER EMPHASIS ON THE
LAST NAME ELBMBNT. DOCUMENTS WILL LIST THE INDIVIDUAL'S
FIRST NAME FOLLOWED BY HIS FATHER'S NAME, GRANDFATHER'S
NAME, ETC., WITH A CLAN NAME AT THE END OF THE STRING.
POSTS IN THESE AREAS WILL GET ACCURATE NAMECHECK RESULTS
BY ENTERING THE LAST NAME ELEMENT IN THE SURNAME POSITION,
AND SHOWING ALL THE REST OF THE NAME AS A GIVEN NAME. TO
ACCOUNT FOR INCOMPLETE OR IMPROPERLY ENTERED RECORDS IN
THE DATABASE, AN INVERTED VERSION WITH GIVEN NAME ALONE IN
THE GIVEN NAME FIELD AND ALL OTHER NAMES IN THE SURNAME
FIELD MAY BE USED AS AN ALIAS.

8. NORTH AFRICAN NATIONS SUCH AS ALGERIA AND MOROCCO HAVE

2y
ADOPTED THE WESTERN PRACTICE OF GIVEN NAME FOLLOWED BY
SURNAME AND STANDARD WESTERN NAMECHECK METHODS WORK WELL
WITH THESE NAMES.

9. THE PRESENCE OF INITIALS IN PLACE OF FULL NAMES

CREATES ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS. WHENEVER POSSIBLE, POST
SHOULD AVOID USING INITIALS OVER FULL NAMES. USE OF
INITIALS IN PLACE OF COMPLETE NAME ELEMENTS RESULTS IN A
LESS EXACT SEARCH, BUT WHERE THE FULL NAMES ARE NOT
AVAILABLE, THE INITIALS SHOULD BE INCLUDED, NOT LEFT OUT.
IF THE INITIALS ARE, FOR EXAMPLE, M. OR I.OR A., THEY WILL
MATCH WITH NUMEROUS VERSIONS OF MOHAMED, MOUSA, ISSA,

IBRAHIM, AHMED, ABDUL, ETC. RESULTING IN BOGUS RETURNS.

ALSO, MATCHES ON INITIALS GIVE FEWER POINTS IN THE SCORE,
AND MAY NOT BE SUFFICIENT TO BRING BACK A RECORD AS A HIT,
PARTICULARLY WHEN OTHER ELEMENTS ARE MISSING OR DIFFERENT
FROM THE QUERY.

10. FOR EXAMPLE, THE NAME DISCUSSED IN JERUSALEM 3006 AND

3657, WAS PRESENTED IN THE ENGLISH TRANSLITERATION IN THE
PASSPORT AS MUSTAFA M.I. ALSHAIKHAHMAD. THE RECOMMENDED
METHOD FOR ENTERING THE NAME WOULD BE TO PLACE THE GIVEN
NAME MUSTAFA ALONE IN THE GIVEN NAME FIELD, AND ALL OTHER
AVAILABLE NAMES AND INITIALS IN THE SURNAME FIELD. IN
THIS CASE, THE QUERY WOULD BE ENTERED AS M.I.
ALSHAIKHAHMAD, MUSTAFA. THIS VERSION WILL PRODUCE SOME
GOOD HITS, BUT WILL NOT INCLUDE RECORDS FAR REMOVED FROM
THE QUERY. WHEN AMCONGEN JERUSALEM RAN A NAMECHECK AS
M.I. ALSHAIKHAHMAD, MUSTAFA, 20 JAN 1938, PAL, THE DATABASE
ENTRIES FOR ISA, MUHAMMAD ISA MUSTAFA, BORN 1940/PAL;
ISSA, MUSTAFA,XXX, PAL; AND ISSA, MUSTAFA, XXX,XXX WERE
NOT RETURNED. THESE DATABASE ENTRIES ARE SIGNIFICANTLY
DIFFERENT FROM THE QUERY, HAVING MISSING DATE OF BIRTH
DATA AND MATCHING ONLY INITIALS IN THE SURNAME AND NO
ELEMENTS OF THE SEGMENT ALSHAIKHAHMAD.

11. EVEN BETTER RESULTS ARE OBTAINED IF THE FULL ARABIC

VERSION OF THE NAME IS ENTERED AS MOHAMMAD ISSA
ALSHAIKHAHMAD, MUSTAFA. THIS PRODUCES HITS ON
ALSHAIKHAHMED, MUSTAFA M I, AL SHAIKH AHMAD, MUSTAFA
MOHAMMAD ISSA, AND ALSO LUFTAWI, MUSTAFA, AND ISSA,
MUSTAFA DUE TO BOTH THE ARABIC ALGORITHM AND THE DATE OF
BIRTH MATCH.

12. A SECOND AND LESS DESIRABLE METHOD OF ENTERING THE

NAME, TO ACCOUNT FOR IMPROPERLY ENTERED RECORDS, IS TO PUT
THE FINAL NAME SEGMENT IN THE SURNAME FIELD, AND ALL OTHER
NAMES IN THE GIVEN NAME FIELD. AN EXAMPLE WOULD BE
SURNAME ALSHAIKHAHMAD, FOLLOWED BY GIVEN NAMES AND
INITIALS, MUSTAFA M I. ALTHOUGH METHOD TWO IS NOT AS
INCLUSIVE AS METHOD ONE IT IS PREFERABLE TO SIMPLY
DISTRIBUTING THE MULTIPLE NAME SEGMENTS RANDOMLY ACROSS
THE TWO FIELDS.

13. JERUSALEM 260 SUBMITTED AN ADDITIONAL NAME FOR

REVIEW: THE ENGLISH TRANSLITERATION IN THE PALESTINIAN
PASSPORT IS GIVEN AS SATI M. YOUSEF, DPOB 26 FEB1952, WEST
BANK. THB FULL NAME IN ARABIC IN THE PASSPORT IS SATI
MOHAMMAD YOUSEF, AND THE NAME COMMONLY USED IS SATI ODEH.

CLASS CONTAINS AN' ENTRY FOR THE PRIME NAME YOUSEF, SATI
MOHAMMAD, 26FEB1952, JORD WITH THE ALIAS ODEH, SATI.
JERUSALEM REPORTED THEY DID NOT GET A RETURN ON THOSE
NAMES WITH THE QUERY YOUSEF, SATI . CLASS QUERIES HERE ON
THE NAME M. YOUSEF, SATI; MOHAMMAD YOUSEF, SATI; YOUSEF,
SATI M; YOUSEF, SATI MOHAMMAD USING EITHER WEST BANK ( XWB)
OR PAL AS COB ALL BRING BACK THE FIRST CLASS RECORD CITED
ABOVE. QUERIES ON ODEH, SATI RETURN THE SAME RECORD ON
ODEH, SATI DPOB 26FEB21952, JORD WITH THE ASSOCIATED PRIME
NAME YOUSEF, SATI MOHAMMAD.

14 POST SHOULD HAVE RECEIVED THESE HITS IN RESPONSE TO

THE QUERIES REPORTED. IN ORDER TO FURTHER RESEARCH THESE
RESPONSES, WE WOULD APPRECIATE IF POST WOULD SUBMIT COPIES
OF THE OUTPUT RESPONSE RECEIVED PREVIOUSLY OR RUN NEW
CHECKS AND SUBMIT THE OUTPUT RECORDS. THESE SHOULD BE
SUBMITTED TO THE CA/EX/CSD SUPPORT DESK, TO FAX NUMBER
202-663-1503,ATTENTION CLASS NAMBCHECK.

15. LOOKOUTS: WHEN ENTERING REFUSAL DATA AND LOOKOUTS,

IT IS IMPORTANT TO INCLUDE THE ENGLISH TRANSLITERATION OF
THE NAME AS IT APPEARS IN THE PASSPORT SINCE THIS IS THE
NAME THAT WOULD BE USED BY NON-ARABIC SPEAKING POSTS WHEN
MAKING A QUERY. THE FULL ARABIC NAME SHOULD ALSO BE
INCLUDED IN LOOKOUTS AS AN ALIAS, AS WELL AS KNOWN
VERSIONS OF THE NAME AS COMMONLY USED.
16. THE NAMECHECK ALSO USES A DATE OF BIRTH ALGORITHM FOR
IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL NAME MATCHES. SETTINGS FOR THE DATE
OF BIRTH ALGORITHM CAN BE ADJUSTED ACCORDING TO COUNTRY OF
BIRTH, AND CSD IS REVIEWING SETTINGS FOR ARABIC SPEAKING
COUNTRIES TO SEE IF RELEVANCE AND PRECISION OF RETURNS CAN
BE IMPROVED.

17. IN ADDITION TO NAME FORMATS, THE COUNTRY OF BIRTH

PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE NAME SEARCH. IN RESPONSE
TO POST CONCERNS RAISED EARLIER, THE COUNTRY OF BIRTH
PARTITION FOR PALESTINE WAS EXPANDED IN BOTH CLASS AND DNC
AND NOW INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING: PALESTINE, GAZA, ISRAEL,
LEBANON, SYRIA, WEST BANK, JORDAN, JERUSALEM KUWAIT, SAUDI
ARABIA, IRAQ, EGYPT, AND LIBYA.

18. CA/EX/CSD WELCOMES THE COMMENTS AND PROBLEM NAMES

SUBMITTED BY POSTS. SPECIFIC PROBLEMS, AND BACKGROUND
INFORMATION ON LOCAL NAME PRACTICES ARE INVALUABLE IN
ENHANCING THE NAME SEARCH. COMMENTS OR SAMPLES OF PROBLEM
OUTPUT MAY BE SUBMITTED BY CABLE OR BY FAX TO CA/EX/CSD.
ALBRIGHT
NNNN

End Cable Text

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