ABSTRACT
In the Middle East, pluralistic traditions are extant only in select places: in Lebanon with its large and long-standing Christian communities, in Egypt with its Coptic minority, and of course, Israel with Hebrew temples and synagogues alongside Christian and Moslem places of worship. For the rest, religious institutions have themselves become tools of terrorism. Terrorism was for centuries rooted in an anarchistic tradition of the anti-state, of opposition to the behemoth. The most dominant forms of terror involved regicide and targeting specific individuals deemed to define policies. The spread of terror to the general public is far more unnerving when it is undifferentiated. As in random bombings, anyone can be a victim, and then again, anyone can rightfully be a victimizer, or terrorist. Terrorism takes on the guise of charismatic authority in the process of expanding its national borders and internationalist ambitions. Older forms of terrorism, such as regicide and destruction of public spaces, are unlikely to disappear.
