Terrorism in the Middle East

Abstract

The tectonic changes that began in the Middle East as a result of the “Arab Spring” uprisings, the collapse of traditional regimes, and the development of regions lacking governance served as fertile ground for the growth of terrorist organizations. The Middle East is still in a cloud of turmoil whose end is not yet in sight. The Middle East is likely to continue to serve as a center of terrorism and a platform for exporting instability, violence, and terrorism to other regions of the world. The chapter examines terrorism in the Middle East from a historical perspective, looking at the rise of Palestinian secular terrorist organizations in the 1960s and 1970s; the growth of religious Jihadist organizations in the 1980s and 1990s, and finally the emergence of Al Qaeda and the so-called Islamic State from 2000 onwards.