... Palestine is continuing in the face of escalating Israeli aggression and the collapse of the peace process. The acts of legitimate resistance are clearly a sort of legitimate jihad, meaning self-defense against aggressors. Yet the US, Israel, and their allies consider them acts of violence and terrorism. The Israeli Zionist discourse badly conflates what they call Palestinian-Islamic terrorism with the acts of terrorism committed against the US. The dominant international media are portraying a distorted image of Islam and Muslims with jihad as terrorism at its core. The Bin Laden statements added to the confusion. He welcomed the attacks and renewed his declaration of jihad against the US and Israel, as the main enemies of Islam and Muslims. Hence those who connect jihad and terrorism, as well as Islam and terrorism, found an additional argument. This raises the following questions: Why did the concept invade the current political discourse? How ...

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