Blog #7

"When our people lost faith in the international community which persisted in ignoring its rights and when it became obvious that the Palestinians would not recuperate one inch of Palestine through exclusively political means, our people had no choice but to resort to armed struggle. " This quote is from Yasser Arafat's speech in 1974 to the UN. Arafat was the 1st president of the Palestine National Authority. The speech's goal is to have the UN recognize Palestine as a state. Arafat employs the strategy of last resort in order to make an effective argument. Palestinian people were not saints and Arafat, as well as the UN knows this. In order to still make an effective argument Arafat re-frames the situation claiming that "they were forced to use violence because they had no other choice"(320) as stated by the textbook.

2) An act of violence that I would characterize as terrorism is the numerous suicide bombings in Tel Aviv, Israel. Throughout the years many people have been doing suicide bombings in the second most populated city of Israel because people believe their homeland has been invaded. This act is terrorism because it is meant to "inspire fear and to bring pressure on the target audience to bring about or resist change." (337) Some Palestinians might not see this as terrorism because they feel it is a moral responsibility to do something for their holy land, yet the rest of the world sees the acts as futile attempts at delivering any message.

3) I don't believe violence is ever a necessary answer to any problems but I can empathize with people that feel like that is the only way they can make any change.