ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the basic thesis that by systematically defeating each one of the terror strategies used by the Fatah/ Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Israel was able to generate a learning process which gradually led to stable deterrence. It argues that not only has Israel succeeded in escaping the attrition trap and establishing credible deterrence vis-a-vis the PLO but also that this deterrence was significant and not merely marginal. The chapter examines how Israel succeeded in defeating the PLO's strategies one by one until the Palestinian organization decided to abandon terrorism. It explores each of the different ways in which each Fatah strategy was defeated by Israel. Israel's occupation of the Palestinian-inhabited territories in 1967 made it easier for Israel to produce effective deterrence towards the Fatah/PLO. Israel first defeated the PLO attempt to create popular insurgency in the West Bank in 1967 and later it foiled the attempt to do so in the Gaza Strip in 1971.
