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As a student of politics, I took particular interest in the July 18 David Keyes column (“Terror will continue unless fought”) regarding the force of terror in today’s world. While I agree with much of what he said, I think his article begs the question: What is terrorism?

Terrorism is the accepted form of warfare practiced by small powers fighting those greater than themselves. There is nothing that we have said about the terrorists that the British did not say about George Washington and the “patriots” of the American Revolution, reminding us once again that one man’s terrorist is another man’s patriot.

However, the root causes of the malaise in the Middle East are (1) our slavish support for Israel and their continued occupation of Palestinian territories and (2) our invasions of and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. As long as the present policies prevail in the West, we can expect more such abusive reactions from the Middle East. The terrorists are overwhelmingly young – the majority under the age of thirty. They are angry and embittered, filled with religious fervor and fanaticism, blaming most of their ills on the “Godless West.”

A change in our politics with regard to the region would certainly go a long way toward a resolution of at least some of the problems. Israeli withdrawal from all of the Palestinian lands now occupied would take the teeth out of the Arab rebellion and a “toothless tiger” would eventually fade into insignificance.

Will Carter

Former UCLA staff