Terrorism

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Terrorism

Terrorist Organizations

Terrorism

Terrorism is a struggle that makes intentional use of violence against civilians in order to achieve political gains, using methods designed to undermine public morale. Terrorist organizations use every means at their disposal in order to stage deadly attacks intended to sow terror within a much larger segment of the population than the one that was targeted, affect the public agenda, and draw political and international attention to their ideological demands.

Terrorism has been a fact of life in the State of Israel ever since it was established. Starting with the beginning of the intifada at the end of the 1980s, the activity patterns of terrorist organizations have intensified, and their efforts have become both more violent and more frequent. Since the beginning of the so-called “Ebb and Tide” events in September 2000, Palestinians have engaged in a violent assault on Israel in order to achieve gains they could not attain through negotiations with it. The Palestinian assault combines terrorist activity by opposition groups (Hamas and Islamic Jihad) and terrorist activity by the Palestinian Authority.

Recently, terrorism has gone from being an internal and local problem to an international issue transcending borders. Various countries and movements in the world have found terrorism to be a useful tool for advancing their political agendas.

The use of terror is common both in conventional and unconventional warfare, and takes several forms: booby-trapping discarded objects (suspicious object ), vehicles (car bomb), people (suspicious individual), and more.

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Terrorist Organizations

Many terrorist organizations have been active along Israel’s borders for dozens of years. In the last three decades, with the emergence of an independent Palestinian Authority, an extensive infrastructure of terrorist organizations whose sole aim is to harm the State of Israel has been created.

There are three central organizations active in the Palestinian Authority that harm Israel through their military wings: Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Fatah (through its Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades ). Politically, the Fatah and Hamas run the Palestinian Authority, and together they enjoy a local parliamentary majority as an alternative to the control of the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization).

The Hezbollah, which is both a terrorist organization and a political movement, is located in Lebanon. The organization exists thanks to Iranian financial support, and Syrian weaponry and supplies. It is one of the largest and most dangerous terrorist organizations in the region, and in the summer of 2006, it caused the Second Lebanese War. The organization also supports activities of other terrorist organizations in the areas under PA control.

In addition to the above, Al Qaeda has, over the past number of years, become a well-known organization as a result of the 9/11 World Trade Center disaster (2001), and other dramatically staged attacks.

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