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Terrorism refers tothe use of military force by a nation state
United states department of defense definition of terrorism
Terrorism refers tothe use of military force by a nation state
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We Need a Precise Definition of Terrorism
In early 1974, the Secretary General of the United Nations, U Thant, invited the Palestinian Liberation Organization to attend the General Assembly gathering on November 13, 1974, and in doing so gave legitimacy to the Palestinian Liberation Organization as a governing body. In Yasser Arafat’s speech to the General Assembly, he thanked the United Nations for recognizing his organization and its legitimacy. When Arafat addressed the General Assembly, he made the argument that the actions taken by his government were not acts of terrorism, but these were acts of revolution and their purpose was to regain control of Palestine’s occupied original territory. The problem we confront is, there is no internationally agreed upon definition of terrorism and the international community should be able to come up with one. The major hurdle in defining is the states’ ideas of what terrorism is.
When Yasser Arafat addressed the United Nations General Assembly, he tried to articulate the actions the Palestinian Liberation Organization had taken and to justify those actions. Arafat points out that the struggles with Imperialism and Zionism began in 1881 when the first large wave of immigrants began arriving in Palestine. Prior to this date, the Muslims, Jews (20,000) and Christians all cohabitated peacefully (pop. 1/2 million). In 1917, the Belfour Declaration authorized increased immigration of European Jews to Palestine. 1 From 1917 to 1947, the Jewish population in Palestine increased to 600,000 and they rightfully owned only 6% of the Palestinian arable land. Palestine population at this time was now up to 1,250,000. 1
After the signing of the Belfour Declaration, England tried to ...
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...ges of 18 up until the age of 41 to 51 are in the military reserve, so one could say that the children and adults over 51 years of age could be considered collateral damage.
The compelling need for the international community to come up with a comprehensive definition of terrorism is so that all nations have the same understanding of what is and what is not terrorism. By having an internationally agreed upon definition by all nations, it will make it easier for the country that experiences acts of terrorism to prosecute the perpetrators of the terrorist acts. In doing this ‘people’ who are trying to achieves international notoriety by committing ‘illegal’ acts which they see as terrorist acts to gain recognition in the international community, would be less likely to commit these illegal acts. It would also not gain them the worldwide recognition they seek.
Imperialism, Colonialism, and war had a huge impact on the Middle East, and it can also be thought of as the source of conflict. According to the map in Document A, it shows that the size of the Ottoman Empire grew smaller after the first world war, along with this change came new boundaries. These borders were created by the victorious European countries that won World War I, and made different ethnic and religious groups separated and grouped together with others. Great Britain's took over Palestine mandate and developed the Balfour Declaration that promised Jews support in making a home in Palestine. Most of the Palestine land was populated with Arabs. As soon as Jewish immigration increased, so did the tension between the two groups because each felt like they deserved the Palestine land. Zionism began early in the history of Judiasm and it was the movement for the Jews to establish a home in Palestine, and return to their holy land. During the Holocaust, six million Jews were killed and the deep-seeded hatre against them increased
Since the Arabs were living in Palestine when the Ottoman Empire control it. Since the Arabs defeated the Ottoman Empire with the help of from Germany, “Just short of 6 months the Palestinians were crushed, militarily and psychologically” (document 8) On the other hand, Israel grew beyond the partition lines, gained more defensible borders and they destroyed Arab homes reducing their population. The Palestinians rightly felt that the Israelis were taking over the area and were pushing out of lands promised to them in both the Balfour Declaration and the UN 1947 Partition.
Categorical terrorism, according to Jeff Goodwin, is defined as “the strategic use of violence and threats of violence, usually intended to influence several audiences, by oppositional political groups against civilian or noncombatants who belong to a specific entity, religious or national group, social class or some other collectivity, without regard to their individual identities or roles.” More so, in terms of definition, according to a study done by Jeffrey Record in 2003, there was a count of over 109 definitions of terrorism, covering 22 different categorical elements. During the 70s and 80s, the United Nations struggled to define the term, finally coming up with the following definition: “Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstance unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or any other nature that may be invoked to justify them.”
Who: between 10,000 and 20,000 war veterans and their families (one 11 month old baby and 2 people were killed, one 8 year old boy was blinded by gas)
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations voted for a partition resolution that led to the establishment of the nation of Israel in May, 1948. This was great news for Jews in Palestine and the diaspora as it meant the fulfillment of the quest for the rebirth of their nation in their previous homeland after many years of wandering (Pappe, 2006, p. 12). However, their Palestinian Arab counterparts opposed to the establishment from the start felt cheated by the international community and remained categorical that the final answer to the Jewish problem would only be solved in blood and fire (Karsh, 2002, p. 8).
In the article “Is Terrorism Distinctively Wrong?”, Lionel K. McPherson criticizes the dominant view that terrorism is absolutely and unconditionally wrong. He argues terrorism is not distinctively wrong compared to conventional war. However, I claim that terrorism is necessarily wrong.
Being exposed for such a long time to other cultures, Palestinians have had to deal with the effects of transculturation. Transculturation, as defined by ethnographers, is “to describe processes whereby members of a subordinate or marginal groups select and invent from materials transmitted by a dominant or metropolitan culture” (Pratt 491). In other words Palestinians have absorbed parts of the different cultures they are now part of due to the nakba, or catastrophe, which marks the exile of more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs from what is known today as Israel. On November 30, 1947 the United Nations v...
On the 28th of September, of the year 2000, the second Palestinian Intifada took place. The main reason that sparked this Intifada was the provocative visit of Ariel Sharon, the current Israeli Prime Minister, to the Haram Al Sharif. Even though the visit was what set the ground on fire, these feeling of hatred and desire to rebel had been stirring inside the Palestinians ever since the declaration of the Israeli State, on the Palestinian land, back in 1948. This Palestinian frustration is due to their lack of trust and hope in a peace process that did not yield meaningful results. After seven years of peace talks and six agreements, Palestinians realized that Israel is not serious about peace. Since 1993, Israel has doubled settlements on confiscated Palestinian land, continued to imprison Palestinian prisoners and has implemented only 8 percent of what it agreed to implement in all the signed agreements.
What if somehow we could handle the problem of terrorism by creating a new level category? We could use the principal of legal epoche to create a better fitting definition to allow for justice to take its course. This is the position that I have on the issue because I believe the range and scope of terrorism is so vast that it can’t be classified as simply war or simply crime. My proposal is based on the idea that all terrorism is not created equal. For crimes involving larger terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaida have the right to due process. All terror suspect, no matter what size of crime committed must go before a military commission to challenge their status as an enemy combatant, if they have been given this status. All alleged terrorists have the right to representation. It is important in a common law system to not place things in a procrustean bed. I feel that creating a more neutral ground on the issue of terrorism is the best way to go. One of Al-Qaida’s listed goals that set gave a sense of alarm to me was they plan to provoke the United States and the West into invading a Muslim country by provoking them with a massive attack. If this is one of their alleged goals are we not falling right to the whim of this terrorist group? Another stated goal is that when the economy of the U.S and Western nations finally collapses, they infiltrate the system with Sharia Law influence. I’m certainly
The threat of global terrorism continues to rise with the total number of deaths reaching 32,685 in 2015, which is an 80 percent increase from 2014 (Global Index). With this said, terrorism remains a growing, and violent phenomenon that has dominated global debates. However, ‘terrorism’ remains a highly contested term; there is no global agreement on exactly what constitutes a terror act. An even more contested concept is whether to broaden the scope of terrorism to include non-state and state actors.
The most significant number of Palestinians immigrants came to the United States in the years of 1800 and 1920. They left Palestine for many reasons. Most of them came to seek better job opportunities. Their culture background and experience makes the Arab ethnic group very different. Most early Arab immigrants around the late 19th century were from Lebanon, and Syria and were mostly Christian. Most Arabs left for different reasons. Some listened to Arab leaders’ call to get out of the way of the advancing armies, many were expelled, yet most of them fled so they would not be caught in the middle of the war and many left because of the war.”Had Arabs accepted the 1947 United Nations resolution not a single Palestinian would have become a refugee and an independent Arab state would exist besides ...
However, it is challenging to distinguish between forms of political violence that are legal from forms that are illegal, like terrorism. Especially, when groups are claiming to achieve a common good for their communities thus a ‘terrorist without a cause is not a terrorist’ (Gupta 2008, 32). Targeting non-harming civilians, nonetheless, is illegitimate and hurts the legality of the movement. Nevertheless, it is imperative to understand the nature of the individual violent acts, the intention behind the acts, and the meaning of the act before labeling an act as terrorism (Bryan, Kelly and Templer 2011, 7). However, intentionally using noncombatants as a weapon to achieve political change is illegitimate under any
Throughout the 21st century, various politicians have attempted to define terrorism. Yet, terrorism is a broad topic and having searched for the true meaning of terrorism, the universal definition of terrorism does not exist. The UN Security Council Resolution 1566 (2004) gives a definition of terrorism as “criminal acts…against civilians, committed with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury, or taking of hostages, with the purpose to provoke a state of terror in the general public or in a group of persons..” Also, the United States have defined terrorism under the Federal Criminal Code, Title 18. It defines and lists the crimes associate with terrorism . Section 2331 of Chapter 113(B), defines terrorism as, “activities
...on on terrorism, it has to be acknowledged that the body of international law in the field of counter terrorism has undergone a massive upheaval, more so than in any other field of international law. From a complacent, sectoral, sanction less participation of Anti-Terrorism treaties before 2001 to an accountable, unified, obligatory and mandatory compliance participation post 2001, the transition has been enormous. Even then, the rampant deaths of innocent civilians at the hands of these terror outfits continue. Terrorism continues to be one of the most serious threats to mankind and civilisation and its only resolution lies through percolation of international cooperation and inspiration.
Dipak K. Gupta, in his book Who Are the Terrorists? (2006), illustrates what terrorism is and its origin, as well as arguing what is an act of terror. Dipak sates that the term terrorism has always had a negative connotation and the word terrorism originated from the French Revolution during the “Reign of Terror”. During this time period guiltiness were used to kill vast amounts of people who for the most part did no wrong. These ghastly acts were purposely used to install terror and fear into people which is where the term terrorism originated. Gupta’s purpose is to inform the reader on what terrorism is and what qualifies as an act of terror (5).