ABSTRACT
During the period between 1968 and 1984 the various Palestinian terrorist organizations were involved in hundreds of terrorist actions against a wide range of Israeli, Jewish, western and Arab targets in dozens of countries outside of Israel. Of all the targets selected by the Palestinian terrorists, those with a specific Israeli identity were the most prominent, accounting for 131 out of 399, or 32.8 percent of the accountable targets. Among the Israeli targets, diplomatic ones were preferred, followed by transport company offices, Israeli aircraft and passengers, and finally economic installations and civilians. Within the western bloc, the United States was the leading target, accounting for 36 percent of the western total. The Palestinian reasoning is obvious: as Israel's principal foreign supporter and the source of the lion's share of foreign assistance that it receives, the United States is, in the Palestinian view, a symbol of consummate evil and, as such, deserves particular terrorist attention.
