The Peace FAQ:

Terrorism & Terrorists

Frequently Asked Questions:

• How do you define terrorism?
• Isn't terrorism against Jews just a way for the Arabs to liberate their desired land?

How do you define terrorism?

• Proposing a Definition of Terrorism

  The essence of the activity-the use of, or threat to use, violence. According to this definition, an activity that does not involve violence or a threat of violence will not be defined as terrorism (including non-violent protest-strikes, peaceful demonstrations, tax revolts, etc.). The aim of the activity is always political-namely, the goal is to attain political objectives; changing the regime, changing the people in power, changing social or economic policies, etc. In the absence of a political aim, the activity in questwill not be defined as terrorism. A violent activity against civilians that has no political aim is, at most, an act of criminal delinquency, a felony, or simply an act of insanity unrelated to terrorism. Some scholars tend to add ideological or religious aims to the list of political aims. The advantage of this definition, however, is that it is as short and exhaustive as possible. The concept of 'political aim' is sufficiently broad to include these goals as well. The motivation-whether ideological, religious, or something else-behind the political objective is irrelevant for the purpose of defining terrorism. In this context, the following statement by Duvall and Stohl deserves mention:

  Motives are entirely irrelevant to the concept of political terrorism. Most analysts fail to recognize this and, hence, tend to discuss certain motives as logical or necessary aspects of terrorism. But they are not. At best, they are empirical regularities associated with terrorism. More often they simply confuse analysis.

  The targets of terrorism are civilians. Terrorism is thus distinguished from other types of political violence (guerrilla warfare, civil insurrection, etc.). Terrorism exploits the relative vulnerability of the civilian 'underbelly' - the tremendous anxiety, and the intense media reaction evoked by attacks against civilian targets. The proposed definition emphasizes that terrorism is not the result of an accidental injury inflicted on a civilian or a group of civilians who stumbled into an area of violent political activity, but stresses that this is an act purposely directed against civilians. Hence, the term 'terrorism' should not be ascribed to collateral damage to civilians used as human shields or to cover military activity or installations, if such damage is incurred in an attack originally aimed against a military target. In this case, the responsibility for civilian casualties is incumbent upon whoever used them as shields.

  - from Defining Terrorism: Is One Man's Terrorist Another Man's Freedom Fighter? by Boaz Ganor, Director of the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism

Isn't terrorism against Jews just a way for the Arabs to liberate their desired land?

• "As any casual reading of the Arab press will disclose, from 1948 to the present, the entire Islamic world's opposition to Israel - including opposition of the PLO- stems from doctrinal hatred of a 'cancerous' Jewish state in its midst. Indeed, if the Palestinian opposition to Israel is only about West Bank (Judea/Samaria) and Gaza, why were there so many Arab terrorist attacks against Jews between 1948 and 1967, when these disputed territories were in Arab hands?"

  - Louis Rene Beres
  Professor of International Law
  Department of Political Science
  Purdue University

• RELATED SECTIONS:

  Hamas, the Stockholm Syndrome, Islam, Jihad, Edenism, "The Frog and the Scorpion", Automorphism, Fear, War, Moral Relativism, Land-for-Peace, Intifada, Incitement

• WWW RESOURCES:

• BOOKS & PRINTED MATERIAL:
  • Warrant for Terror: The Fatwas of Radical Islam, and the Duty of Jihad, by Shmuel Bar [VIEW BOOK HERE]

  • Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies, Ideologies, Theologies, States of Mind, by Walter Reich, Walter Laqueur [VIEW BOOK HERE]

  • Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times, by Judy Lash Balint [VIEW BOOK HERE]

  • Islam and Terrorism: What the Quran Really Teaches About Christianity, Violence and the Goals of the Islamic Jihad, by Mark A. Gabriel [VIEW BOOK HERE]

  • Prophet of Doom: Islam's Terrorist Dogma in Muhammad's Own Words, by Craig Winn [VIEW BOOK HERE]

  • Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel's Deadly Response, by Aaron J. Klein [VIEW BOOK HERE]

  • Massacre in Munich: The Manhunt for the Killers Behind the 1972 Olympics Massacre, by Michael Bar Bar-Zohar, Eitan Haber [VIEW BOOK HERE]

  • The Hunt For The Engineer: The Inside Story of How Isral's Counterterrorist Forces Tracked and Killed the Hamas Master Bomber, by Samuel M Katz [VIEW BOOK HERE]

  • Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies Against America, by Walid Phares [VIEW BOOK HERE]

  • Defeating Jihad: How the War on Terrorism Can Be Won - in Spite of Ourselves, by Serge Trifkovic, Srdja Trifkovic [VIEW BOOK HERE]

  • Why Terrorism Works, by Alan M. Dershowitz [VIEW BOOK HERE]

  • Fighting Terrorism: How Democracies Can Defeat Domestic and International Terrorists, by Benjamin Netanyahu [VIEW BOOK HERE]

  • Islamikaze, by Raphael Israeli [VIEW BOOK HERE]

  • Tea with Terrorists: Who They Are * Why They Kill, by Craig Winn, Ken Power [VIEW BOOK HERE]

  • Israel: Life in the Shadow of Terror, by Nechemia Coopersmith [VIEW BOOK HERE]

  • The Wolves of Islam: Russia and the Faces of Chechen Terror, by Paul J. Murphy [VIEW BOOK HERE]

  • Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed--and How to Stop It, Expanded Edition, by Rachel Ehrenfeld [VIEW BOOK HERE]