Impact Of Terrorism On The Middle East

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the one of the world’s oldest conflicts, and it is still an ongoing problem in the world. Zionists and Arabs: two groups with conflicting beliefs who both claim Israel as their own. In wake of the Holocaust the U.N decided to gift the Jews a homeland for the lives lost in the genocide. In 1947, the U.N Partition divided the land of Israel (Historic Palestine) into two separate states: Arab and Jewish. Since then, the state of Israel has been the center of conflict between the Arabs and the Zionists. As time passed the Zionists gained more land from winning the Six-Day War, and consequently the Palestinians had to live as refugees in other Arab countries. Additionally, more than 75% of the land belonged to

-Palestinians—most Palestinian organizations like Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) just want to have their own state and Israelis withdrawn from the occupied territories but extremist like Hamas wants to takeover the whole Israel and either make Jews as second citizens or push them to the sea.

Domestic terrorism has played a major part in shaping the societies of the United States. The ideologies of individuals can become radicalized. This can lead to a movement. This movement involves the infliction of fear upon the communities, in attempt to make it a better world. It is critical to examine the events created by one man’s extreme ideologies in effort to better understand.

In a United States-centered world, when one considers domestic terrorism, often one assumes that the United States is being spoken about, with all other acts of terrorism being deemed as “international.” While it is true that it would be international from a US standpoint, if all acts of terrorism are seen within a bubble it makes it much more difficult to combat terrorists before they become a larger problem. Often, many domestic terrorists can go on to have an impact on the international community and Greece is no different. They, like many other countries, have their own internal terrorism issues and ironically, most of these groups like November 17, Revolutionary People’s Struggle or Revolutionary Nuclei, are anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist

During the Cold War era, fallout shelters were an instrumental part of society where the government-sponsored these measures to protect the country and its citizens from nuclear attack. However, the Cold war has past and a new threat has emerged that is unpredictable and seems to appear out of nowhere. Seemingly, the government is trying to secure the critical infrastructure of the United States through internal restructuring, legislation and the private sector.

All throughout history from the from the pre-modern period all the way to the contemporary period, there have been major events both inside and outside of the middle east that have had an impact on the middle eastern communities. While some were more drastic than others, they all had an impact one way or another that helped shape the society we know of today.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has a long and storied history. Israel was created in response to European anti-Semitism, with the ethno-nationalist vision of a Jewish territory of their own. By 1948, approximately 522,000 Jews had migrated to Palestine, most arriving during Hitler’s reign of terror that against Jews. Largely, Palestinians resented being expelled from their lands and bearing the burden of the persecution of European Jews. Consequently, the 1947 UN partition sparked aggression between Jewish and Palestinian militias, which escalated following Israel’s independence in 1948. This marks the beginning of conflict between two distinct populations seeking self-determination. Since then, numerous wars, uprisings and terrorist

The Arab Israeli conflict has been an issue for over many years. After the events of the Holocaust, many people believed that the Jews deserved a safe home to stay. Because of the Jewish background that says that God promised Abraham's descendants the land of Israel. By 1947, Palestine was full of Jews that were trying to escape the persecution known as the Zionist Movement. The Jews liked the idea of having a Jewish homeland. However the local Palestinian population of Muslim Arabs felt that the constant immigration was threatening their way of life. The conflict between the Arabic and Jewish populations had been constant for many years before the holocaust. It only came to light in the years after it ended.

HAMAS, an Arabic acronym meaning “Islamic Resistance Movement”, is the name of the socio-political organization currently in power over the Gaza Strip. For decades Jews & Muslims and Israelis & Palestinians, often one in the same, have fought for control over the region. Each have killed thousands of the other, destroyed infrastructures and used underhanded tactics to gain an advantage. Nations such as Japan, the European Union, the United States and (of course) Israel classify the group as terrorists, while nations such as Turkey, Russia and Switzerland do not. (King, 2010) Many factors are taken into consideration before a Nation-State denounces an organization as a “terrorist group”. A profile of HAMAS may help make clear why it is

From the beginning, Muslims have always been unhappy with the presence of Israel in “Muslim land”, specifically Palestine. This conflict is the main reason why Hamas was created and why they are so popular in the Middle East. Hamas officially published its charter or “The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement” on August 18, 1988. Hamas is a Palestinian nationalistic and Islamic fundamentalist organization. The charter spells out the organizations objectives, goals, and end state and has been unchanged to this day. The charter calls upon Islamic jihad in order to take back the land of Palestine that was stolen by Israel. The charter also states the goals of establishing an Islamic Palestinian state in the West Bank and The Gaza Strip, the total destruction of Israel, the return of all Palestinian refugees back to Israel and East Jerusalem, and East Jerusalem be recognized as the Palestinian capital. When Hamas published its charter, it created a rift between the Muslim Brotherhood. Even though Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood remained linked by there pro Islamic ideology, the Muslim Brotherhood was considered a non-violent organization. Hamas on the other hand made no qualms about a violent jihad against Israel.

A long history of suicide bombings and other attacks on Israeli civilians and military targets has earned Hamas a well deserved reputation as a murderous terrorist organization.

Terrorism in the Middle East has brought the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the attention of the world. These terrorist groups use murder, bombs, threats, and other violent acts to get their way politically. Hamas, the organization that has replaced Fatah as the representative of the Palestinians, is a leading sponsor of terrorism. The Hamas are the leading reason there is not peace in the middle east as they strongly embrace terrorism.

The Islamic Resistance Movement, also known as al-Harakah al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (Hamas), has proven to be an extremely agile and capable terrorist organization in Palestine. They benefit from a deep-rooted sociocultural infrastructure, highly lethal tactics and a complex hierarchy of leadership, all of which have allowed the organization to prosper for over two decades. As where 90% of terrorist groups wither and rapidly falter, Hamas has been able to quickly adapt to the constantly changing political and social environment of Palestine . This evolution, has always assured the organization a generous group of adherents. The necessity to change based on environmental stressors has likened it to a “multipronged organism, which has

The PA resembles a classic authoritarian regime under the reign of Mahmoud Abbas even though it is supposed to be democratic. The PA government remains relatively stable under this structure. However, militant groups like Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad could be a credible external threat to the established governance of the PA. Since 2003, conflicts between the two major factions, the traditional dominant party, Fatah, and its subsequent electoral rival, Hamas, have fractured the Palestinian side. “After the Hamas took power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007, the territory controlled by the PA was split between Fatah in the West Bank, and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.”[1] The estrangement between the parties has led to “the fall of bipartisan governance of the PA”[2].

Over the years there have been significant changes in how terrorism is carried out. With the changes in how terrorism is carried out there have also been dramatic changes in how countries counter terrorist attacks. The modifications in the way a country counters these terrorist attacks affects international relations of these countries. These issues bring about the question of how have counter terrorism methods affected international relations. To answer this question several things must be addressed which are, methodology, history of terrorism, and a literature review of multiple authors that have discussed this subject.