An Investigation of the Concept of State Terrorism. Peter Alan Sproat

489 Pages·2008·28.01 MB·English

An Investigation of the Concept of State
Terrorism.
Peter Alan Sproat.
Ph.D. Thesis.
Department of Politics.
University of Newcastle Upon Tyne.
1997.
1
To my mam and dad who have had to put up with too much for too long.
2
Abstract.
Despite claims that state terrorism has been more of a problem than the
insurgent variety, the evidence provided by both a content analysis of
bibliographies on the topic of terrorism and the opinions of a great
number of academics suggests that there is a far smaller amount of
academic literature on state terrorism than there is on insurgency
terrorism. In addition it has been noted that the literature on state
terrorism, like that on terrorism generally, suffers from a lack of work
on the definition of the term. Whilst it is difficult to think of any author
who has methodically applied a definition to the actions of a particular
actor in order to assess whether each constitutes an act of terrorism.
This thesis attempts to address each of these issues. However before
doing either of these things it attempts to show that the suggested
reasons as to why the State cannot commit acts of terrorism can be at
least questioned, whilst simultaneously showing that some authors
believe that state terrorism has produced far more victims and than the
sub-state variety. Then after revealing the explanations for academia's
neglect of state terrorism the thesis investigates the notion of (sub-
state) terrorism in order to identify its core meaning, before attempting
to incorporate this into a 'comprehensive' definition of terrorism which
would enable the political analyst to identify acts of state terrorism
committed within the area of the state's jurisdiction and abroad.
This definition, along with other definitions of terrorism taken from
both the literature and legislation, are then tested by being applied to
the 'counter-terrorist' activities of Israel, form which concluding
comments on each and the general notion are made. The decision to
concentrate solely upon counter-terrorist actions can also be seen to be
addressing a gap in the literature, as can the choice of a Western state.
The application of various definitions of state terrorism to the counter-
terrorist actions of Israel within Israel, the administered West Bank and
abroad, therefore means that this area provides a novel testing ground
for any definition.
By examining the issue of state terrorism the thesis aims to raise, if not
answer several important questions and issues surrounding the concept
of state terrorism. In addition to illustrating the problems facing the
production of any definition of the word 'terrorism' such an
examination will hopefully illustrate the problems of applying any
definition of terrorism. Finally the thesis aims to further the cause of
knowledge by accurately describing the legalities of various aspects of
Israel's counter-terrorist policies since Israel took over the
administration of the West Bank in 1967.
As well as using the existing literature this thesis contains both the
quantitative and qualitative replies of 120 academics to a pointed
questionnaire on the topic. Many of the results of this are scattered
throughout the conceptual parts of the thesis including this
introductory chapter, and all the quantifiable results and the sampling
technique are described in Appendix A.
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Contents.
Title. 1
Abstract. 3
Contents. 4
Acknowledgements. 5
Part I. An Investigation of the Concept of
State Terrorism.
chapter 1. Introduction. 7
chapter 2. The Problem of Defining. 87
chapter 3. A Legalistic Approach. 106
chapter 4. An Analytical Attempt. 159
chapter 5. The State. 221
Part II. An Application of Various Definitions
of State Terrorism.
chapter 6. Counter-terrorist Policies Within 247
Israel and the West Bank.
chapter 7. Israeli Counter-terrorist Actions Abroad. 373
chapter 8. Conclusion. 420
Appendix A. 430
Bibliography. 443
4
Acknowledgements.
I would like to thank a great number of people who have helped me to
produce this thesis. Firstly, I would like to show my gratitude to those
who spared their time, energy and thought in allowing me to interview
them in regards to the legalities of Israel's counter-terrorist policies.
Namely Professor David Kretzmer, Eyal Benvenesti, Raphael Cohen-
Almagor (all of the Law Faculty Hebrew University, Jerusalem), Dr.
Menachem Hofnung (Politics Department, Hebrew University,
Jerusalem), Eti Cohen (Office of the Attorney General, Ministry of
Justice), Yael Stein (B'Tselem), Eliahu Abram (Association for Civil
Rights in Israel), Angela Gaff and Mustafa Mari (Al-Haq), Karen Farrell
(Mandela Institute), and Attorneys Jonathan Kuttab, Tamar Pelleg, and
Dafna Baram. I would also like to thank Ilona Cheyne and Ian Leigh of
the law department at Newcastle for taking the time to comment upon
aspects of my work and Dr. Coln Campbell of the Queens University,
Belfast for his help in finding particular documents. I would like to
thank all of those academics who completed and returned this author's
questionnaire (the vast majority of whom of whom are named in the
Appendix A), and those who replied but did not feel able to complete the
questionnaire itself, and also Rod Hague of the politics department who
commented upon various prototypes.
A special thank you also goes to Dr. Ken Robertson of the University of
Reading, from whose course my interest and ideas developed, and who
has always been willing and able to help, as has Tim Gray, head of
department at Newcastle to whom I am grateful for his advice and
support. Finally in terms of formal academic acknowledgements, thanks
must go to my supervisor David George for his interesting observations
and testing comments. Here I should mention that all mistakes are of
course my responsibility.
However not all of the people I would like to thank are academics, for
they also include the secretaries within the politics department, and the
librarians at Newcastle and Durham Universities and Julian Style at the
E.S.R.C.. As well as those who struggled politically to produce such public
funding for scholars. On a more personal note, I would also like to both
apologise to all of those close to me who have had to deal with me as I
'coped' with the pressures inherent within the production of the thesis,
and to thank them for putting up with me and for aiding my morale.
They know who they are, and they are probably more than even I could
name. Therefore I will specifically thank a few of them, my marn and
dad to whom the doctorate is dedicated, and who probably had to put up
with the most, along with Fiona Russell who also helped edited the final
version. Also Lorraine Howe who solved my maths problem, Andy
Robertson and Jon Baldwin for allowing me to escape the Ph.D.
occasionally, Jon Moran for his wit, constant help and support and
finally, Chive -the cat- for being such pleasant company and a lovely
distraction in the final few months.
5
Part 1
An Investigation of the Concept of State
Terrorism.
"...it
is perhaps worth giving a word of warning that the results of a conceptual
inquiry sometimes seem disappointingly meagre. The clarification of concepts is
like cleaning the house. When you have cleaned the house, there is not much to be
seen for your work. You have not acquired any new possessions, though you will
have thrown out some things that are not wanted and are just a nuisance. What you
will have at the end of it is a tidier house, in which you can move around more
easily and in which you can find things when you need them."
D. D. Raphael.'
"Rigorous or broad, rigid or sloppy, definitions are in themselves and important
discursive practise of the terrorism industry. Often they appear to be yet another
weapon in the vast arsenal of counter-terrorism, aiming to re-establish order and
meaning in international relations practice and discourse at a time when both are
undergoing extensive and intensive assaults".
J. Der Derian.2
1 Raphael D.D. Problems of Political Philosophy (2nd.ed. Macmillan Basingstoke.1990.).
p20. He goes on to say, "The analogy is apt in another repect also. Cleaning the house is
not a job that can be done once and for all. You have to do it every week" p20.
2 Der Derian J. Anti - Diplomacy: Spies, Terror, Speed and War. (Blackwell. Oxford.
6
1992). p81.
Chapter 1.
Introduction.
"It can be argued - and there are good reasons for it - that state terrorism is the
main terrorist problem in the world".
A.P. Schmid and J. de Graaf.3
The Neglect of State Terrorism.
The decision to investigate the concept of state terrorism can be traced
to this author's reading on terrorism for a Master's degree course4.
3 Schmid A.P. and De Graaf J. Violence as Communication. (SAGE. London.1982.). p2.
Unfortunately they do not explain them.
4 An altogether seperate reason for studying the terrorism of those in power is that it
might actually contribute to the study of 'non-state' terrorism. Wilkinson, for example
wrote, "some of the best historical case-studies of the use of factional terrorism as a
weapon vividly demonstrate how state violence often helps to provoke and fuel the
violence of terrorist movements" Wilkinson P. 'Can A State Be Terrorist ?'.
International Affairs. Vol. 57.(3). Summer 1981. pp 467-472. p467. More specifically
Crelinsten noted that the main problem with the existing truncated view of terrorism
was that it precludes the possibility of comparative analysis. Crelinsten R.D.
'Terrorism as Political Communication: The Relationship between Controller and
Controlled' in Wilkinson P. and Stewart A.M. Contemporary Research on Terrorism.
(Aberdeen University Press. Aberdeen. 1987.). pp3-21. p4. Whilst Maxwell Taylor
wrote,"[a] consideration of state terrorism allows us to examine the problem of
insurgency terrorism] from a different and rather less familiar perspective. In doing so
we will see more clearly some of the considerations inherent in the term. We will also,
and more importantly, develop a more sophisticated notion of the nature of terrorism.
By 'peeling' away the complications arising out of our everyday view of terrorism as
the activity of a secret or underground society, we can better come to look at
terrorism as a process, and attempt to identify the particular kind of acts that
characterise it". Taylor M. The Terrorist. (Brassey's Defence Publishers. London.
1988). p40. Others have claimed that there is at least an instrumental 'moral' effect of
such violence by the state. Falk for example asserted that so long as terrorist methods
are relied upon by states to avoid defeat or hasten victory in war, bolstered by the
claim of saving lives, terrorists of all persuasions gain validation. Falk R.
Revolutionaries and Functionaries: The Dual Face of Terrorism. (E.P.Dutton. New York.
1988). p.XIV. Or as the former United States Attorney General Ramsey Clark noted
"anyone truly concerned for the horrors of terrorism must direct their intelligence and
energies to prevent police state terrorism". Clark R. 'The Dimensions of Terrorism' in
Kochler H. (ed.). Terrorism and National Liberation. (International Progress
Organisation. Peter Lang. Frankfurt. 1988). pp41-46. p.44. According to R.W. Smith
state terror along with political repression and genocide "is likely to claim millions of
lives unless major efforts are undertaken to prevent such state imposed deaths" Smith
R.W. Review of Bushnell et al State Organized Terror. American Political Science
7
Review Dec. Vol.86.(4). 1992. p.1078.
From this it appeared that there were a number of 'gaps' within the
literature, the most relevant of which to this author's mind was the lack
of work on state terrorism, especially when compared to the extensive
literature on 'sub-state' or 'insurgency' terrorism. This claim was
subsequently found to be supported by both the opinions of various
academics and statistical evidence. For example, in the preface to his
book Terrorism, Ideology and Revolution, Noel O'Sullivan suggested that
the second area of agreement within the field of terrorism studies was
the fact that the recent study of terrorism has tended to concentrate
heavily on opposition groups at the expense of neglecting its use by
regimes5. The emphasis is mine for it helps to support the conclusion of
Stohl, who in 1984 claimed that prior to the last decade, the finest
analytical work on the nature of terrorism had been conducted by
scholars who were primarily interested in the use of terrorism by
governments6.
Others can be seen to have gone further than N.O'Sullivan in their
relative claims. O'Kane for example wrote that the literature
concentrates on "insurgent terrorism rather than state terrorism"7.
This view is echoed within the existing literature by authors such as
Boire 8, Perdue9 and Hocking- 0 and it was also shared by an
overwhelming majority of respondents to this author's questionnaire
on the topic. Of the 117 academics who responded to the question,
5 O'Sullivan N. (ed.). Terrorism, Ideology and Revolution. (Wheatsheaf Book. Brighton.
1986). px.
6 Stohl M. 'National Interests and State Terrorism'. Political Science. Vol 36 (1) July.
1984. pp37-52. p37.
7 O'Kane R.T.H. The Revolutionary Reign of Terror. (Elgar. Aldershot. 1991). p16.
8 Boire claimed, "[w]ritings on the subject frequently focus on the complicated legal
and political problems of achieving international cooperation as a means of suppressing
terrorism. In doing so they treat all terrorism as if there is but a single form, that
which will be refered to here in as individualistic terrorism. As a result they exclude
from discussion and analysis other situations in which terrorism occurs, such a state
terrorism which is a much more prevelant and pervasive form of terrorism". Boire
M.0 'Terrorism Reconsidered as Punishment: Toward an Evaluation of the Acceptability
of Terrorism as a Method of Societal Change and Maintenance'. Stanford Journal of
International Law. Vo1.20(1). 1984. pp43-143. p47.
9 Perdue concluded that caveats withstanding "[m]ost Western academic contributions
to the terrorism debate evade the question of institutional domination through fear".
Perdue W. Terrorism and The State: A Critique of Domination Through Fear. (Praeger.
New York. 1989.). p14.
10 Hocking wrote, "[a] second feature of the literature, is the frequent failure to
confront instances of terrorism when they are committed by a state or established
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regime". Hocking J. Beyond Terrorism. (Allen and Unwin. St.Leonards. 1993.). p7.
'Would you say that more, less or just as much, academic work has been
done on 'terror/ist 'violence by those in power than on that by
insurgents?', 67%(78) indicated that they believed that less academic
work has been done on the topic of "terror/ist' violence by those in
power than on that by insurgents". In contrast only 10%(12) indicated
that they believed that more academic work has been done on the topic
of "terror/ist' violence by those in power than on that by insurgents",
with 7%(8) indicating that "just as" much had been done, and 16%(19)
ticking the box entitled "cannot say"11.
In contrast some authors can be seen to have made supporting
statements, the nature of which are absolute. For example Walter, one of
the few who actually study a particular regime in detail (that of the
nineteenth century Zulu chief Shaka), has argued that "Rule by terror a
familiar process in history has virtually escaped systematic analysis"12.
Similarly Schmid and Jongman claimed there is a conspicuous absence
of literature which addresses itself to the more serious problem of state
terrorism13. Whilst in an earlier book Schmid had concluded that most
authors and researchers on the subject avoid the issue of state
terrorism14. Van Der Kroef has claimed that whilst periodically
attention has been given to forms of extra-judicial violence and
intimidation by national governments against their own citizens, as a
distinct category "terrorism by public authority" has only begun to be
systematically analysed15.
In addition to these comments, some authors have used statistics to
substantiate their claims. These can be used in support of the initial
11 Seventy eight of the replies to question 6 indicated that they believed that less
academic work has been done on the topic of "terror/ist' violence by those in power
than on that by insurgents". In contrast only 12 indicated that they believed that more
academic work has been done on the topic, with 8 indicating that "just as" much had
been done, and 19 ticking the box entitled "cannot say". Three were left blank.
12 Walter E.V. Terror and Resistance: A Study in Political Violence. (Oxford
University Press. Oxford. 1969.). p3.
13 Schmid A.P. and Jongman A.J. Political Terrorism: A new guide to actions,
authors, concepts and databases. (SWIDOC. Amsterdam. 1988.). pl 79.
14 Schmid wrote "most [researchers] also shy away from treating in depth regime
terrorism" and "state terrorism...has also been neglected by the majority of authors"
Schmid A.P. Political Terrorism: A Research Guide to Concepts, Theories, Data Bases
and Literature (North Holland. Amsterdam. 1984.). p272 and p422 respectively.
15 Van Der Kroef J.M. 'Terrorism by Public Authority: The Case of the Death Squads
of Indonesia and the Phillipines'. Current Research on Peace and Violence. Vol. 10 (4).
9
1987. pp143-158. p143.
hypothesis that there is very little work on the topic of state terrorism.
Schmid for example claimed that probably more than 90 percent of the
literature was on non-state terrorism 16. Yet his 'guestimate' can be seen
as an underestimation of the ratio of works on insurgency terrorism
vis-a-vis that on terrorism by those in power, if one accepts the
content of Lakos' book Terrorism, 1980-1990: A Bibliography as a
representative sample of the works on terrorism. Despite the 5850
references to articles, databases and books on the topic the contents
page reveals the lack of a single chapter or sub-section within a
chapter on direct 'state terrorism' by whatever name. However of more
importance to this study is the fact that whilst the index contains
seventy references under the labels 'state terror', 'police terror' and
'state repression' only one of these is placed beside the additional
reference title "conceptual studies" l7
Even if one assumes that Schmid's 'guestimate' that "more than ninety
percent of the literature on terrorism is on non-state terrorism" 18 is a
more accurate reflection of reality than the larger figure produced
from a content analysis of Lakos' work, it is still possible to claim there
is a much smaller amount of work produced on state terrorism and the
vast amount on insurgency terrorism. There are three possible
explanations for this conclusion. The first is that the small amount of
work on terrorism by those in power reflects the fact that the State
cannot be termed terrorist. The second is that this small amount of
literature accurately reflects the 'importance' of this form of terrorism.
That is, either/and/or:
2a) terrorism by those in power is a rare event in itself;
2b) there is very little terrorism by those in power compared to that
committed by insurgent terrorism;
2c) state terrorism is politically less important than sub-state terrorism.
16 Schmid A.P. Political Terrorism: A Research Guide to Concepts, Theories, Data
Bases and Literature. (Amsterdam, North Holland. 1984.). p104.
17 Lakos A. Terrorism, 1980-1990: A Bibliography. (Westview Press. Oxford. 1991).
Index p377-443. Fifty nine of these can be found under the title 'State terror', one
under the title 'State repression', and one under 'Police terror', subtitled 'Spain'. The
rest can be found as subtitles within different sections, eg. 'Brazil.... state terror'.
The one reference to conceptual study of state terrorism is placed under the overall
title 'State terror' .
18 Schmid A.P. Political Terrorism: A Research Guide to Concepts, Theories, Data
10
Bases and Literature. (Amsterdam, North Holland. 1984.). p104.