Living With Terror

Terror is a word used alot in todays political arena, we have the War on Terror, terrorist attacks through out the middle east, the aftermath of the 9/11 bombings that haunt all of our dreams. Americans today know a thing or two about terror. 9/11 changed the way we look and feel about our homelands security and just how vulnerable we can be to those determined enough to commit such crimes aginst humanity. However in the years since 9/11 the attitude of the average American citizen has moved away from fear of another attack to a more calm and "before" sence of security. Airports are still on high alert, but not nearly as bad as the months and years immediatly following 9/11, sure it's an inconvienance to not be able to bring more than 3 oz of any liquid past the security checks, but compared to 4 hour long lines to have every item and every bag searched it seems like a walk down the street. The point is americans don't live with a sence on constant terror, never knowing what will happen next. There is a firm solid plan in action and people can take confort in that and move on.

However in many places in the world that is not the case, terror is just as common to many countries and safety is to us. One of the most politically tumult contries in the world now is Israel. "I lived a lot of my life in terror. its not exactly the best life out there, but soon you become numb and just go about trying to ignore it, but you can't because you see it everyday." Besan Quffa said during an interview about her home town of Ramallah. Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank with a population nearly 25,500 and is approximatly 6 miles north of Jerusalem. Besan has lived in Israel for her whole life, and has moved to the United States to attend school at Brigham Young University.

Living in constant fear of attack and retaliations due to attacks from groups as Hamas or other occupational violence, seems to be an everyday occurance for people like Besan. "Every Palestinian (who lives there) is affected by Israeli occupation, you can’t run away from it you can’t hide from it, its everywhere," Besan said. "I and my family lived through crossfire happening outside our house; we had 67 bullet holes in our roof."

Every aspect of Besan's life is affected by terror, from the way she attends school to her attempts to go to Sunday services. Besan a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, would have to sneak past check points and enter Jerusalem illegally if she wanted to go to church. "I cant go...anywhere outside Ramallah. From what I have observed they only got worse, first it was one checkpoint, then there were two, and now there is a wall."

Life is very differant when you live in constant fear, even in our more industrialized countries we still have the lingering fears. In 2005 the London Underground tube stations were bombed by muslim extremists, marking the most devastating attack in Londons modern history. How has this affected the people of England, and London in particular? "At the end of the day, threat of terrorist attacks or not, you can't put your life on hold." Kate Ngai said "No one knows if or when anything will be attacked and to live in fear (or terror as it were) is to give the upper hand to those terrorists. If you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time than it is pure bad luck on your part." Kate and her Husband Matt have been going to school in London for several years. "there were some some bomb scares and tube stops were closed. But honestly they don't make too much of a big deal out of it."

A very differant opinon from a very differant part of the world. Dispite the distance and intensity, the lasting effects of terrorist attacks can be felt for years down the road.