Summary
The term terrorism is not a contemporary phenomenon. It can be traced back during the reign of Jacobin (1792-1794) and the early Roman and Greek republics. There are myriad of elements that arise from the concept of terrorism. For instance, assassination refers to the political murder of a renowned public figure such as the head of state.
A case in point was President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. On the same note, the term ‘assassin’ is derived from Arabic word which basically means someone who perpetrates the act of assassination. It was initially used to refer a faction of terror Muslims.
Although Islam has been associated with terrorism, none of the legitimate religious groups are violent. However, the infiltration of politics into religion has often resulted in violent retaliatory attacks in form of terrorism.
The major world religions are all centered in the Middle East.
Recent developments have witnessed the emergence of sectarian militant groups among Muslims fighting in a “holy war” to defend their religion. Both the Taliban and Al-Qaeda factions have caused havoc to innocent victims within and outside the Middle East borders. Hence, religion is the main impetus towards terror attacks.
Another closer term to terrorism is tyrannicide, which means the murder of a tyrant or totalitarian leader. This was first proposed as a solution to bad rule by Juan de Mariana, a Spanish scholar.
Political assassins often argue that their duty is divine. There are other states which have launched terror attacks against their own civilians and this has been counteracted by guerrilla warfare. The overall result is a cyclical act of terror with each side trying to revenge, retaliate or protect their interests. A case example is the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in United States.
Current terror event
The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, a Palestinian Militant group is reported to have launched a massive terror attack on Israel in the East of Gaza region on 8th January 2011. They used mortar shells in the attack. This incidence was shortly confirmed by the Brigade and the terror group reiterated that the artillery units were targeted at an Israeli army post. This area is located between the Jewish state and the Gaza strip. It is roughly on the eastern side of Karny.
According to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) which reported the attack, the group has vowed to continue resisting Zionist movement which they claim is their dreaded enemy. Furthermore, the Brigade has emphasized that the terror attack was part of a retaliatory measure against continued domination of Palestinian people by Israeli authorities. Earlier during the day, the al-Quds Brigade launched yet another terror attack around the same region. This group is part of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
As a result, three workers of Thai origin were wounded by the mortar attack in the Israeli town situated in the south of the country.
Just as expected, the Major General commanding the southern region said that similar or even more devastating retaliatory attacks will follow soon and that the Palestinian militant groups will not get away scot free. There has been growing hostility between resistance movements in Palestine and the Defense Forces of Israel since the beginning of December 2010.
Other causalities in the latest attack included a 20 year old soldier from Israel while other four sustained serious injuries. There seems to be no hope of a ceasefire between the two warring parties at least in the foreseeable future.