NCJ Number
121723
Date Published
1986
Length
147 pages
Annotation
This study discusses Palestinian terrorist organizations and their strategy of terror outside of Israel, provides a quantitative description of trends in Palestinian terrorist activities outside Israel between 1968 and 1984, and surveys attitudes toward Palestinian terrorist activities in affected countries (Israel, Arab, and non-Arab).
Abstract
For the purposes of this study, "political terrorism" is defined as "the systematic use of violence by individuals or a group in the pursuit of political aims, with the violence directed at a wider target population than that of the immediate victims." "International terrorism" is terrorism "involving, in some way, more than one State." The study covers the ideological sources of Palestinian international terrorist activities, strategic and tactical considerations, and the debates within the Palestinian movement regarding international terrorism. The study concludes that the post-1974 period saw a significant rise in the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO's) international standing and a similar strengthening of its claim to be the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. The groundwork for this gain was laid by the terrorist activities of the 1968-73 period; the superstructure was a direct result of the decision to refrain from those same activities. International Palestinian terrorism will continue in the near future, largely because it is an instrument in the hands of certain states for the furtherance of their own strategic interests, thereby assuring the Palestinians unlimited resources. The book includes extensive statistics on objectives, modus operandi, base and target countries, and perpetrating groups. Chapter notes, appended supplementary information.