In this section, you need to know the following key themes:

What exactly is meant by terrorism?

The motivation of terrorist groups?

Similarities and differences between terrorist groups?

How governments have reacted to terrorism?

The effectiveness of different terrorist groups?
The Key Groups:

The Irish Republican Army (IRA)

The Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO)

Al-Qaeda
What is terrorism?
This depends on your point of view. One mans terrorist is, of course, another man‟s freedom fighter! Terrorism
has been defined as:
“The use or threat, for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause, of action which involves serious violence against any person or property”
Terrorism is not a new idea, it has been around since the Assassins (a Muslim sect) were created in 600AD.
Can you answer the following?
1.
What are the aims of the IRA?
2.
What are the aims of the PLO?
3.
What are the aims of Al-Qaeda?
4.
Give 3 examples of the IRA‟s methods of
achieving their aims.
5.
Give 3 example of the PLO‟s methods of
achieving their aims.
6.
Give 3 examples of Al Qaeda‟s methods
of achieving their aims.
7.
What similarities are their between the
methods of each group?
8.
What differences are their between the
methods of each group?
9.
Give two examples of how the British
Government has tried to deal with the
IRA.
10.
Give two example of how the Israeli Government has tried to deal with the PLO.
11.
What was the Intifada?
What about the following?
1.
What was the agreement called between
the British and the IRA? What did it agree?
2.
What was the agreement between the PLO
and Israel called? What did it agree?
3.
Give 2 reasons the War on Terror has been
successful.
4.
Give 2 reasons the War on Terror has
failed.
5.
Give 2 examples of attacks which have
occurred since September the 11th.
6.
Is it fair to say the Terrorism always
works? Try to consider both sides and use
specific examples to support your views.
7.
Do all terrorist groups use the same methods? Again, consider both sides and use
key examples to support you points.
8.
Do all governments deal with terrorism the
same way? Consider both sides and use
specific examples.
Left: Gerry Adams: Leader of
Sinn Fein
Right: Martin
McGuinnes, a
leading IRA
member
Aims:

To defend Nationalist communities.

To remove the British troops from Northern Ireland.

To make the six counties part of a united
Ireland of 32 counties.
The Verdict:
The IRA were unable to ever achieve their aims
by force, but equally, they were impossible to
defeat by force as well. This caused a movement
to negotiate with the IRA‟s political wing, Sinn
Fein (under their leaders Gerry Adams and
Martin McGuinness). This led to the Good
Friday Agreement of 1998
The Background:
The roots of the IRA can be traced back the British control of Ireland from the 1600‟s, but more recently from
the 1916 Easter Uprising against British Rule. The rebellion was crushed and the leaders were executed, making them martyrs to the cause. This sparked off an underground war between Republican forces and the British
forces. In 1931 the two sides signed a treaty; 26 of Ireland‟s 32 counties became the Republic of Ireland whilst
the remaining 6 counties became Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland was now made up of a mixture of Nationalists (mainly Catholic) and Unionists (mainly
Protestant). Nationalists generally favoured uniting Northern Ireland with the rest of Ireland, whilst the Unionists wanted to keep the union with Britain.
The were few direct problems until the government of Northern Ireland overreacted to a campaign against
discrimination against Catholics in 1968. This sparked off massive riots and in 1969 the British government
moved troops into Northern Ireland to prevent the Loyalist (extreme Unionists) from attacking and burning
Nationalist areas in Belfast and Derry. The British troops maintained the peace in the short term, but the IRA
developed it‟s aims during this period.
Methods:

Throughout the 1970‟s and 1980‟s the IRA attacked British troops and the Northern Ireland police
force (RUC).

They planted bombs in both Northern Ireland and the British mainland.

In 1979 they killed 18 British Troops in two ambushes in Warrenpoint in County Down.

They also killed Lord Mountbatten (a member of the British Royal Family) in the same year by
placing a bomb on his boat.

In 1984 they planted a bomb at the Grand Hotel in Brighton where the PM, Margaret Thatcher
was staying.

In 1996 they set off further bombs in London and Manchester.

At tactic of the 1990‟s was to kidnap hostages to raise funds and to force people to carry bombs
into target areas. This (suicide bombing) was given up due to negative opinion within the IRA.

Bank robberies and protection rackets to raise funds, but these were not publicised—they didn‟t fit
in with the political ideals of the IRA‟s Image.
Aims:

To destroy the state of Israel.

To Re-establish Palestine as the home of
the Palestinian Arabs.

Make the new Palestine part of the wider
Arab, Muslim community.
The Background:
The problem with Palestine began when increasing numbers of Jews began to move their (it was their ancestral home) in the 1920‟s and 1930‟s. Palestine was by this time occupied mainly by the Muslim Palestinian
Arabs. Hard-line Jews (called Zionists) wanted to re-create their ancestral home—this was made even more of
a necessity (in their eyes) by the murder of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. By 1947 the British were struggling to control the Palestinian Arabs (Palestine was part of the British Empire), and they handed it over to the
United Nations Organisation (UNO). They proposed splitting Palestine into two states, but the plan failed.
The Zionists then declared the new state of Israel and promptly defeated the Muslim Arab states who tried to
attack them. Many Arabs fled to Palestine, in particular to the Gaza strip on the West Bank. In 1967 Israel
conquered this strip of land.
The Palestine Arabs lived mainly in refugee camps and set up several different political movements to represent their views. The biggest of these was Fatah under Yasser Arafat. By 1969 Arafat had pulled together the
different political movements into one „umbrella movement‟ which became known as the PLO.
Methods
When open warfare had failed in the
1960‟s the PLO began a campaign of
terrorism to secure their aims.

Throughout the 1970‟s they carried out:

Commando raids into Israel

Fired rockets at Israeli towns

Hijacked aircraft

Carried out high profile assassinations. The first in Jordan, and then
in Lebanon.

In 1970 they hijacked three airliners in Jordan demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners in
Israel.

In 1972 a group called Black September (an even more extreme
wing of the PLO) took 11 Israeli
athletes hostage and killed them
when the German police tried to
rescue them.
Left: Yasser Arafat—
leader of the PLO and a
man capable of pulling off
the „sunglasses at a press
conference look‟…….
The Verdict:
By the 1980‟s the PLO was in decline, but then
there was a huge change. An uprising by young
Palestinian Arabs became known as the Intifada. Arafat quickly linked the Intifada and the
PLO and this increased his status and power. In
1988 he accepted that Israel had a right to exist
and the bargaining began. In 1993 Israel and the
PLO agreed to the Oslo Accords which set up a
Palestinian Authority to run the Gaza Strip and
the West Bank. It was an important step, but was
not the end of the violence.
Aims:

To destroy American influence in all Muslim nations, especially Saudi Arabia.

To destroy Israel.

To destabilise and overthrow pro-western
Governments in Muslim states.
Left: Osama Bin
Laden—leader of Al
Qaeda. Al Qaeda have
no political wing, and
this makes it difficult
for them to ever
achieve their aims.
Background:
The roots of Al-Qaeda lie in two places, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, but it was also deeply influenced by
the experiences and beliefs of its founder, Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden was one of the leaders of the resistance in Afghanistan to the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1979. This resistance was funded by the USA
(for political reasons) and Saudi Arabia (for religious reasons) and was seen by many as a „jihad‟ or „holy
war‟. At first Osama bin Laden was involved in fundraising, but later he became a fighter. Whilst in Afghanistan bin Laden came under the influence of a radical Muslim preacher called Abdullah Azzam who argued
that Islam was under threat from everywhere and that every Muslim should resist these attacks by taking part
in jihad. This formed the basis for bin Laden’s ideas of jihad against the Western democracies, Communism,
Jews and the state of Israel. Muslim governments should not co-operate in any way with the west, if they did
then they were also enemies.
In 1990 bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia which was divided between those who wished to modernise the
countries and accept American ideas, and those who wanted a strict observance to Muslim practise. This was
made even worse when after the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein the king of Saudi Arabia rejected
bin Laden’s offer of help for American assistance. Osama bin Laden was appalled and publically criticised
the king. He was exiled from Saudi Arabia and stripped of his citizenship. However he still help much of his
wealth and had allies in the Taliban movement in Afghanistan. This was where he began to develop the role
of Al-Qaeda further.
Methods:

In 1998 Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania were attacked with truck bombs.

The Nairobi attack killed 213 people and wounded
around 4,600.

In 2000 suicide bombers drove a boat packed with
explosives into the USS Cole killing 17 American
sailors.

On September 11, 2001 4 planes were hijacked and
two of them were flown into the World Trade Centre,
one was forced to crash and the other was flown into
the Pentagon. The attacks killed just under 3,000 people, the cast majority were civilians.
Verdict:
Throughout the 1990‟s and early 2000‟s
Al-Qaeda launched attacks on targets
linked with the west and the US in particular. Their „trademark‟ attack was the
suicide bomber. However the US government put together a coalition of forces and attacked Al-Qaeda and its Taliban allies in Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda
has effectively been destroyed as a single organisation, but its aims and influences have filtered down to many smaller organisations.
The IRA
1)
Internment: August 1971—his involved
arresting anyone suspected of terrorism and
holding them without a trial. It was meant
to disrupt IRA activity but failed since it
did not end with the capture of any of their
key leaders. This actually strengthened the
Nationalist caused and resulted in demonstrations on the streets. These in turn led to
conflicts such as Bloody Sunday 1972
when British paratroopers shot dead 13
demonstrators. This was the best kind of
publicity that the IRA could get.
2)
Security—In 1976 the level of British forces in Ireland was increased by Roy Mason.
The SAS were introduced into the battle
against the IRA and paid informers were
recruited. IRA prisoners were no longer
given „political‟ status. Deaths caused by
the IRA fell and Martin McGuiness commented later that, “Mason beat the crap out
of us”.
3)
Covert Operations—The SAS and intelligence services were used to disrupt IRA
activity. This did foil a plot to assassinate
the Princess of Wales but there was negative publicity too. In 1988 SAS soldiers
shot dead 3 unarmed IRA suspects in Gibraltar. The IRA claimed that the British
Government was using a shoot to kill policy to intimidate Nationalists.
4)
Publicity Blackout—In the 1980‟s Margaret Thatcher (PM) banned British TV and
Radio from allowing any member of Sinn
Fein or the IRA to be broadcast. However,
this actually made them more interesting to
many people!
5)
Talk to Terrorists—1993 saw the signing
of the Downing Street Declaration which
said that if Northern Ireland voted to unite
then they could. This led to further negotiations ending with the ceasefire agreed to in
the Good Friday Agreement of 1998—
despite the act that Northern Ireland remained part of the UK and that British
troops remained there.
The PLO
1)
Get Tough—This included assassinations
of the leading PLO members, including
Abu Jihad in 1998 (in Tunis). A full scale
invasion of Lebanon was launched in
1982 to destroy PLO bases there. These
were successful in their objectives, but the
flip side was that they increased sympathy
for the Palestinians.
2)
Checkpoints and Control—these are to
prevent suicide bombers from entering the
country and they are successful in this
respect. However they cause a great deal
of disruption to everyday life and this
helped to cause the Intifada (1987). The
Israeli reaction was a harsh clampdown
(see above) including a curfew. News
reporters portrayed a one sided version of
the conflict to the world and Yasser Arafat
used this to gain extra sympathy for the
PLO.
3)
Talk to Terrorists—The foundation of
the new hard-line Islamic organisation
Hamas in 1988 concerned both the Israelis
and the PLO enough to get the to start
talking. George Bush (snr) wanted to get a
peace process started in the Middle East
and the new Israeli PM was willing to
talk—not least because he felt that a deal
with the PLO would weaken Hamas. This
led to the Oslo Accords (1993) which
allowed the creation of a Palestinian Authority to control Gaza and the West
Bank, and armed Palestinian security
force, an Israeli promise to withdraw
(although they ignored this) and further
negotiations to be held. This did not solve
the problems in the long term, although it
did begin to iron out some of the biggest
difficulties.
Success:

Al Qaeda and the Taliban were completely
defeated, and a new government was established in Afghanistan. Most of Al Qaeda‟s
heavy weaponry and communication
equipment was destroyed.

9/11 turned sympathy towards the USA,
even in Pakistan. People were forced to
choose between the USA and Al Qaeda,
nearly all chose the USA eg. The USA was
able to set up bases in Yemen and Somalia.

Since 2001 airport security has become
much tighter, making the work of terrorists
much harder.

The USA turned it‟s formidable Cold War
intelligence network to dealing with terrorists. This, meant ;listening posts, bugging
mobile phone communications, spy satellites and huge cash rewards for the capture
of Osama bin Laden or other key terrorists.

Since 2001 there have been no further attacks on the same scale as 9/11, although
there have been more attacks.
Left: George Bush—
it was George Bush
that spoke about the
„axis of evil‟ that included Iraq, Iran and
North Korea.
Failure:

Afghanistan has proved very difficult to
control. The Taliban and Al Qaeda forces
still carry out hit and run attacks and maintain some control of areas of the country,
for example Helmand Province.

Heroin production which fell under the
Taliban rose again after the invasion, and
Afghanistan now supplies 90% of the
world‟s heroin supply.

Although governments chose to support
the USA, there was much sympathy for the
Islamic Militants too. For example, the
government of Pakistan struggles to control elements within its intelligence services and armed forces that are sympathetic towards the Taliban.

Some American tactics, eg torture and detention undermined sympathy for the USA
and increased support for militancy.

Other attacks have occurred, for example
the Madrid Bombings in March 2004
which saw 10 separate bombs detonated on
the rail network, killing 191 people, and
the July 7th 2005 bombings in London
where 52 people were killed and almost
800 injured.

Osama bin Laden and most of the leading
figures escaped (probably to Pakistan).
Make sure that you are clear on the aims of each group, examples of how they carried out their attacks and whether or not they have been successful.
Can you draw out the similarities and differences between the groups. For example, both the PLO
and IRA have perused a political solution to their aims; Al Qaeda on the other hand have not. What
else can you spot?
If they’re similar/the same to those on the front of this section then they might just be pretty important!! :)
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Can you define terrorism?
Why do people become terrorists?
What is the difference between a terrorist and a „freedom fighter‟?
What are the aims of the IRA?
Give two examples of methods the IRA use to achieve their aims—make sure
that you know specific examples to support your chosen methods.
Who is Gerry Adams?
What is Sinn Fein?
Give three ways in which the British Government have tried to deal with the
IRA—how successful was each method?
What was the Good Friday Agreement?
How successful have the IRA been in achieving their aims?
What are the aims of the PLO?
Give two examples of methods the PLO use to achieve their aims—make sure
that you know specific examples to support your chosen methods.
Who is the leader of the PLO?
What is Hamas? Why did this threaten the PLO?
What was the intifada?
Give two ways in which the Israelis have tried to deal with the PLO—how successful was each method?
What were the Oslo Accords?
How successful have the PLO been in achieving their aims?
What are the aims of the Al Qaeda?
Give two examples of methods Al Qaeda use to achieve their aims—make sure
that you know specific examples to support your chosen methods.
Who is the leader of the Al Qaeda?
How important was this leader in the formation of Al Qaeda?
Give two ways in which the War on Terror could be said to have succeeded.
Give two ways in which the War on Terror could be said to have failed.
To what extent is it fair to say that terrorists all use the same methods?
Terrorism never works. To what extent do you agree with this statement?