June 27, 1997
Terrorism: Politics By Other Means?
Having watched the news over the last 10 years, I have noticed that there have been numerous associations made between several countries and terrorist groups. These associations range from harboring known terrorists to actually sponsoring and arming these individuals so that the terrorists could carry out their agendas. Among the most cited countries are Iran, Syria and Libya.
Why, you ask, would a country support terrorism? This is a rather simple answer but the implications are far reaching. Terrorism, isn't just the actual act of violence but rather the whole environment that is created by the threat of an act. Instead of facing the costs of raising a large army to face another country on the battlefield, a country can train or pay a select few individuals to infiltrate their enemies countries, or their backers' countries in order to wage a terrorist campaign. Since an army can't easily combat individuals who aren't on the battlefield, security forces have to deploy preventative measures in the hope that it will deter terrorists. Sometimes this works but, if an individual is determined enough, there really isn't anything that can protect the public from the mayhem created by the bombings, mass shootings and chaos created by even the threats of violence.
Governments have to put on the face of not dealing with terrorists since that would essentially tell their citizens they are caving to terrorists' demands. They will almost always try to engage in a dialog in order to bring about a peaceful resolution. The US-Iran-Israel arms for hostages situation is an example of where the US repeatedly announced they wouldn't talk with the terrorists who kidnapped American citizens. Yet American negotiators engaged in talks with the Iranians in order to bring about the release of the hostages through the delivery of weapons to the Iranians to fight the Iraqis during the Iran-Iraq war.
As countries find that terrorism can bring about rewards that could otherwise be extremely costly in terms of manpower and natural resources, it is very likely that terrorism will continue to be linked to various nations. The only way to reduce terrorism is by engaging with these supposed rogue countries and show them that terrorism wont bring about their goals, only the wrath of their fellow nations and a greater resolve not to deal with the terrorists.
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Israel's Foreign Ministry
This is the official Israeli Foreign Ministry web site. Its clear, simple format allows you to easily find information on the history, culture and politics of the State of Israel. There is an extensive selection of documents relating to the peace process that includes UN Resolutions, Peace Treaties with Egypt, Jordan and the PLO-Israel Accord.
The site also allows anyone to subscribe to the official listserver that gives daily updates on the peace process, status of Israel's economy and much more.
Center for Mid-East Studies
Sponsored by the University of Texas, this is a very comprehensive listing of links and information on all nations in the region. Not only do they have links to websites for each country, but they have a comprehensive listing of newsgroups where you can read what others are thinking about the political and cultural issues of the individual countries and region in general.
Arab Net
Perhaps the best starting point to find links to hundreds of Arab and Palestinian related pages, this comprehensive site maintains a large collection of peace process documents. It provides an excellent counter to the Israeli Foreign Ministry site and should be visited by anyone looking to develop a better understanding of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
It's hundreds of links and documents link the reader with topics ranging from the Arab-Israeli conflict and social concerns to the economic and religious issues of the countries of the region.
Virtual Jerusalem
This site is the most comprehensive look at the City of Jerusalem that has a history that extends beyond the highly touted 3000 years. Originally founded over 5000 years old, Jerusalem is now the cultural and religious focus of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and the political focus of both Arabs and Israelis.
Maven - The Ultimate Jewish Index
This site has well over a thousand helpful links to Jewish and Israeli links around the world. It has a search engine to allow you find topics from aquaculture in the desert to zoology of animals in the Golan Heights.
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Politics- Middle East
