Zidane 's cousins , for instance , living in a village 160 miles east of Algiers , concluded that Materazzi had called Zidane '' a son of Harkis '' -- Harkis being a term for Algerians who fought on the French side in Algeria 's war for independence -- the use of which would have required a sophisticated grasp of North African history on the part of the Italian center-back .