ABSTRACT
If there has been a conspiracy of silence about involvement of the Soviet Union and other governments in international terrorism, that is perhaps understandable. The creation of an independent Palestinian Arab state on the West Bank under Palestine Liberation Organization domination would not simply constitute the addition of one more terrorist state to the already lengthy list: it would represent a quantum leap in capabilities of the international terrorist movement. It is possible to imagine Soviet cargo planes and helicopters moving in arms on the pretext of an Israeli reprisal for terrorist actions. It is also possible to conceive of a direct appeal to Moscow from the new Palestinian Arab leadership to put troops on the ground to make a West Bank state an inviolable sanctuary for terrorism. A climate conducive to terrorism is one in which the terrorists are depicted as representatives of legitimate political cause, while the societies they attack are depicted in pejorative abstractions, their leaders ridiculed and dehumanized.
