Terrorism's slippery definition eludes UN diplomats

The Mitchell Commission, for example, assessed the causes of Israeli-Palestinian violence last spring. In a report accepted by both sides, it stated: "Terrorism involves the deliberate killing and injuring of randomly selected noncombatants for political ends. It seeks to promote a political outcome by spreading terror and demoralization throughout a population."

In December, the EU Council of Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs proposed to define terrorism as "offenses intentionally committed by an individual or a group against one or more countries, their institutions or people, with the aim of intimidating them and seriously altering or destroying the political, economic, or social structures of a country."

That sparked protests from some 200 lawyers across the EU, who warned of infringement of "fundamental democratic rights" like trade union activity and antiglobalization protests.

As for President Bush, he confidently calls them as he sees them.

While the UN debated the definition last week, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami was quoted Jan. 29 as appealing for funds to feed the Palestinian uprising, which he described as a legitimate act of self-defense. Iran is also accused of having supplied the 50 tons of weapons that were intercepted at sea Jan. 3 and reportedly destined for the Palestinians.

In his State of the Union address later that night, Bush dubbed Iran, Iraq, and North Korea an "axis of evil" and branded Hamas and Islamic Jihad - which claim responsibility for countless suicide bombings in Israel - part of a "terrorist underworld."

A significant segment of the world clearly disagrees with him.

Count Pakistan among them. "If someone's subjugating your civilians, if you're just fighting for your rights and they shoot someone in your family, you're going to have someone who's going to say, 'OK, I'm going to do the same,' " Ms. Khan said. "The UN must analyze the root cause and draw a line between freedom fighters, who are fighting for their piece of land, and terrorists, who are trying to impose their will, their way of thinking, by force."

Countries like Israel or India freely label anyone who resists as a "terrorist," Khan said, in an effort to win the battle for international opinion.

However, she said, "If the world labels them a terrorist, they'll feel their cause is lost, which plays into the hands of those who say, 'We told you no one will listen. Might is right in this world, and we have to be mightier.'"

To some, though, "analyze the root cause" is a buzz phrase used to justify violence against civilians as a means to an end.

The political context should be discounted and only actions judged, said Tal Becker, legal adviser to the Israeli Mission to the UN.

"If we define terrorism not by what one does, but what one does it for, we legitimate the deliberate targeting of civilians for certain causes," Becker said. A US official agreed.

"It's not to say there aren't just causes around the world worth fighting for," the official said. "But we're looking at the acts: blowing up buses, the World Trade Center - nothing justifies the wanton killing of innocent civilians."

Page: 1 | 2