Relate International Terrorism with Ethno---National Identity Problem”.

National identity is based on many peculiarities and understandings; its characteristics can be gathered under race, skin color, ethnicity, religion … but some of these traits are given “at birth as parental ethnicity and religion, place of birth and skin color. Others are acquired and modified later. Accordingly, many identities are not based on given characteristics but on shared values that connect people in different regions of the world. A black American, though he is of several generations, may always identify himself with Africa as is the case of an Arab American who will claim the Palestinian cause.

Individuals try to identify with others because they seek good treatment and because they want to overcome their weaknesses or be secure about affiliations, opinions and orientations. Group identities, on the other hand, are constructed in the same way but they include much inclination to preserving this identity because it includes interaction with other identities. It involves emotions, integration and differentiation that may lead to conflicts. The creation of images and stereotype either about oneself or the other is another means whereby group identity is built. These images comprise experience, knowledge, values and beliefs about a desirable behavior.

National identity is not only ascribed but it is acquired through the belonging to a given culture that has specific shared values such as religion, rituals, ideology, and land. The difference in identity might lead to conflicts when the individuals or groups feel insecure. This attitude leads to violent reactions. People are not passive towards the society or the environment in which they live, they form images about any event around them and when their identities are threatened they create enemy images about the others especially if they are subject to successive aggression.

This is an anarchic state where the individual and the group face the problem of information scarcity; they ignore the intentions, actions and the interests of the others, which push them to think about protection of oneself that is considered to be the target of the other. When this image is shared by a group it becomes a stereotype that shapes the movements. Yet, conflicts are much more related to the importance of identity; identities that are persistent and highly evaluated like race and religion contribute to the creation of conflicts; identities that do not accept compromise or reduction lead to conflicts; these beliefs include core values such the belonging to a group that is devaluated or less respected just because they are considered to be inferior to the dominant, powerful and governing group.

Additionally, the notions of inclusiveness and exclusiveness frame the action of group identity. If an individual resents sharing the identity of the larger group, he will be excluded and he will feel humiliation, which will push him and his surrounding to take violent action so as to revolt against injustice and inequality. The last but important element of identity importance is the role played by nationalism. It is the largest example of group ...