I have been reading Six days of war : June 1967 and the making of the modern Middle East by Michael B. Oren. Oren tells a story about Eli Cohen, an Israeli spy. Reading it I was very clearly reminded of Jericho Mosaic. Such an echo reflects Whittemore's CIA background. Interested readers might look at this Web site:

http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/biography/Eli_Cohen.html

Although the fiction differs from the reality at several important points it is an interesting source for the character of Halim.

Keith Morgan