Terrorism, a Global Threat (1)

Western states claim to be concerned over the spread of terrorism in the world. Many innocent people fall victim to West’s homegrown terrorism, while behind the scenes of the so-called war on terror, the Western regimes pursue their double standards, and make strenuous efforts to obstruct the revelation of root causes of spread of radicalism and terrorism.

The question that springs to mind is how terrorism turned into a global threat? Which countries have fallen victim to West’s homegrown terrorism, and what behind-the-scene goals do Western regimes pursue in adoption of double standards toward the phenomenon of terrorism?

Terrorism is not a new phenomenon. Some researchers believe that the history of terrorism dates back to hundreds of years ago.

If we search for the etymology of the word ‘terrorism’, we realize that this term existed in Latin language, later entering other languages. In accordance to some researchers, the classification of the definitions rendered on terrorism is one of the most complicated problems which researchers and enthusiasts in international politics face, given that some of the concepts related to this domain extensively overlap each other.

In the Roman Empire era, distinguishing between political crimes and terrorism was a difficult task. The world became familiar with a definition of terrorism which referred to it as a means, used by feudalists to dominate their regions.

In the early 17^th Century, and after the end of Middle Ages, and termination of feudalism, the era of domination of European countries over international waters began; and the number of commercial ships that sailed between East and West rose. Concurrently, piracy emerged as a form of terrorism and lingered until the start of the 20^th Century.

Terrorist operations have taken place throughout the course of history in different forms and shapes. Despite the widespread usage of the term terrorism, there is no single, agreed definition of terrorism in the global and scientific levels.

Terrorism poses a threat against the health of human communities, and individuals, and security of all nations. This unwanted phenomenon emerged as of the early years of contemporary era, in the aftermath of World War I and World War II.

As of the year 1920 to 1930, Europe was witness to violent measures. The assassination of the Yugoslavian King, Alexander, led the League of Nations to establish a probe committee on terrorism. In the 1930s, six conferences were convened in Europe; three of which revolved round terrorism. On December 10, 1934, the League of Nations Council unanimously approved a resolution, which urged all countries to make every effort to prevent terrorist operations, and to cooperate with other countries to this end. The outcome of the activities of this council was prepared in a form of convention on prohibition and punishment of terrorism on November 16, 1937.

This ratification summarized terrorism within a general framework. According to Geneva’s 1937 agreement, the concept of terrorism was defined only in the framework of measures of individuals against a country or a ruling system. The feature of this agreement was that a number of crimes were specifically defined as cases of terrorism. The first article of this agreement notes that terrorism is referred to criminal activities against the ruling system, which stirs fear in particular individuals or groups of people or within the members of the community.

The efforts to define terrorism were overshadowed by the onset of World War II. Upon the foundation of United Nations, the topic of terrorism was once again mentioned in the international rights committee; which in turn issued a statement on the rights and duties of governments.

In this manner, as of the year 1947 to 1955, these efforts bore fruit with the approval of Resolution 1186 at UN General Assembly, in relation to invasion and terrorism. Nonetheless, terrorism took in new dimensions. The developments which took shape in the international community after the termination of Cold War, impacted different countries as the result of meddlesome policies of the world powers, causing major problems for the international community, while the efforts of the UN for identification of terrorist operations remained inconclusive.

Meanwhile, actions such as disintegration of a part of West Asia, including the disintegration of Palestine, which were carried out by Zionists, instilled fear to drive Palestinians from the homes and hearths, and depicted a dreadful picture of terrorism to the international community, which aimed to serve sinister colonial and usurpation goals. This came while the UN anti-terrorism resolutions and conventions for determination and identification of terrorism failed to condemn different forms of terrorism.

In this phase in time, Zionist outfits staged scaremongering measures against Palestinians. For instance, these outfits staged a horrendous massacre, referred to as Dair Yasin Slaughter. Upon the establishment of the illegal Zionist entity; terrorism continued to serve Zionist regime’s goals. Thus, UN anti-terror resolutions failed to condemn different types of terrorism.

Thereafter, the UN General Assembly issued a number of resolutions on terrorism.

The only significant measure in this regard took place in the waning years of the 1990s, in which a resolution was approved at the UN General Assembly on September 11, 1995. This resolution reminded the essential role of UN General Assembly in the campaign against terrorism if a threat was posed against international peace and security. Nonetheless, until the year 1999, the UN General Assembly continued to condemn terrorism in particular cases. Meanwhile, 9/11 raised an opportunity for American officials to make use of UN General Assembly’s permission to stage so-called pre-emptive measures under the cover of campaign against terrorism. The first step of the US in this regard was the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan.

Within a short while, West’s double standard policies toward terrorist outfits were revealed, and upon the emergence of new phenomena of terrorism such as Al-Qaeda and Daesh terrorist outfits, the West showed that it was not resolved to campaign against terrorism. In fact, West’s double standards escalated terror across the globe.

Obviously, the challenge of maintenance of security in the region and the world is the consequence of terrorism and radicalism, which is supported by the US and its regional allies.

Meanwhile, a new role model can be presented for cooperation against common threats. Obviously, security is a topic of importance, and includes all scenes, including terrorism, negation of radicalism, and the security of global economy. Hence, in order to stand against radicalism there is need for a multilateral approach. In order to counter common threats, terrorism, and radicalism, views should be changed and a realistic outlook should be adopted.

MR/ME