Guarding the Secrets: Palestinian Terrorism and a Father's Murder of His Too-American Daughter

by Ellen Harris

This horrifying true-crime story is an unsettling portrait of a culture where "honor killing" is understood--and a warning of just how serious a threat terrorism is in the United States. Photos.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

352 pages, Hardcover

First published April 3, 1994

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Niki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew her in high school. This book answered alot of questions.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Palestina Isa's honor killing is a very interesting story. I'm glad she got justice.

[Lynda Pringle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book spent too much time on clandestine terrorist activity rather than focus on the family who committed an honor killing against their daughter.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several weeks back, I was watching a rerun of "Forensic Files" on HLN when they ran the story about the 1989 murder in St. Louis (my hometown) of Palestina "Tina" Issa, the 16-year-old daughter of a Palestinian immigrant. I remembered this case when it happened. It turned out to be more than an "honor killing" by a father who felt that Tina had gotten too Americanized and thus had dishonored him. On the Forensic Files piece, Ellen Harris was among those interviewed on this case, and it mentioned under her name that she had written the book "Guarding the Secrets." I searched it on Amazon and went ahead and bought it to read.

It's quite a fine story Harris has written, going into the background of Tina's father Zein and his ties to the Abu Nidal Organization (ANO), a Palestinian terrorist group. Zein's activities in St. Louis--owning a shop in a run-down St. Louis neighborhood--and his relationship with his family, other relatives, and ANO associates in the Midwest are detailed.

The ANO connection put Zein Issa on the FBI's radar, and his house was bugged. This enabled the FBI to hear Zein's fatal stabbing of Tina, with help from Zein's wife Maria. The recordings proved the main evidence against Zein and Maria in their murder trial. They were convicted of Tina's murder and sentenced to death. Then, the FBI was ready to move on Zein's ANO associates on terrorism conspiracy charges.

There were a few typos I found in the text and the reading seems ponderous at times, but overall it's a satisfying read. I would recommend this book to true crime fans.

[Sean · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was an OK book. I thought the book would be more about the murder, but no. It was mostly about other terrorists that the father was involved with.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

What insanity! And what a tragedy! This is an old crime, and actually, an old book. An update with more current information would have been appreciated, but this is a true crime case worth the time to read.

I found keeping track of all the people involved in this case a bit challenging, especially in the beginning, but in the end, it came together for me.

Lee Ann Howlett performs competently. Of course, being true crime, there's not much to challenge her performance.

NOTE: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

[Thermal Detonator · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aside covering the very sad and gruesome details of Palestina Isa's murder as well as her family, the book was overall very informative, and was interesting to read the first case of Abu Nidal terrorist's in the U.S. that was in proximity and linked to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which is an angle I wish it would have covered even more, but as the book details there seems to have been a lot of compartment conflict and highly sensitive National Security matters pertaining to these cases that all seem to sound very familiar to what darker reality comes ahead with the 9/11.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried.

[Linda Abuelghanam · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Murder of Tina Issa

This book is easy to read and gives a different viewpoint as to why her father & mother murdered Tina Issa before her 17th birthday. Was it a so-called “honor” killing or something much more? Sad and jolting at the same time.

[Cynthia Olvera · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it was a great book for reading. It told southpaw their customs are. Also many details on what really occured.s

[Mary Larsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty scary