Terrorism

After the disaster of World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, by two airplanes crashing the World Trade Center, the problem of terrorism became the most serious issue in the world. This disaster showed that countries which do not want to appear in the battlefield want to achieve their secret benefits and particular goals After this disaster, we understand that revolutionary movements, states which are unwilling to fight on the battlefield, and the powerful states of the world protecting their secret benefits use terrorism the means of achieving particular goals. However, terrorism damages efforts of the establishment long lasting peace, the social structures of societies, and the global economy.

Defining terrorism may seem easy at first, but it is actually not. In his book Terror, Gearty (1991) cited 109 different definitions of terrorism which he obtained in a survey of leading academics in the field. From these definitions, the author isolated the following recurring elements, in order of their statistical appearance in the definitions: Violence, force (appeared in 83.5%

September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City: View ...

English: World Trade Center, New York, aerial view...

English: Arafat and Barak in peace negotiations.

of the definitions); political (65%); fear, emphasis on terror (51%); threats (47%); psychological effects and anticipated reactions (41.5%); discrepancy between the targets and the victims (37.5%); intentional, planned, systematic, organized action (32%); methods of combat, strategy and tactics (30.5%) (Gearty, 1991). If we put all these elements together, a clear definition of terrorism appears.

Some academics and specialists examining terrorism claim that it is the right way of revolutionary movements. They believe that there is no alternative way to attain political goals in revolutions except using terrorism (Hutchinson, 1972; Walter, 1964). According to Hutchinson (1972), terrorism is the only method of expression of oppressed people, because peaceful means of political protest are usually denied by the current regime. Moreover, she claims that terrorism is the unique method used by insurgents...