Terrorism :: essays research papers

Over the past Century, terrorism has evolved from random killings to massive plans for terrorist groups. To understand terrorism you must first describe it. There have been many different definitions of terrorism. The one that truly describes it is; Terrorism can not specifically describe terrorism because people will interpret it differently. Many experts believe that terrorism is an abstract concept with no essence, a single definition cannot account for all the possible uses of the term, many different definitions share common elements, the meaning of terrorism derives from the victim of target. Even with no definite conclusion terrorism can be divided into 5 categories: Simple Violence or threatened violence intended to produce fear or change. Legal Criminal violence violating legal codes and punishable by the state. Analytical Specific political and social factors behind individual terrorist acts. State-sponsored Terrorist groups used by small states and the Communist bloc to attack western interests. State Power of the government used to terrorize its people into submission. With the definitions described one can now put a terrorist organization into a specific group. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is an analytical terrorist group, even though they can be part of each. The PLO was created in 1964 during a meeting known as the Palestinian Congress. This was an effort to give a voice to the many Palestinians that were located in refugee camps in Lebanon. The leader of the group is one of the most recognized terrorists in the world, Yasser Arafat. It did not take long for sub-divisions to break off of the PLO. Most of these groups felt they could better achieve Palestinian liberation. The most notable of these groups were the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command, and al-Fatah. The PLO changed its main theory to the destruction of the state of Israel in 1967. This caused massive terrorist acts against Israel, which resulted in hundreds of casualties on both sides. In 1974 the PLO changed into not just a terrorist group to a group which included political elements. Some members of the PLO did not like this idea and founded another sub-division called the Rejectionist Front. At this time Arafat took over all control of the PLO. Arafat provided support for highjacking a major cruise ship. With help from the PLF they took the passengers hostage.