ABSTRACT
Palestinian international terrorist activity during 1988 was marked by an increase in the volume of attacks. Even more remarkable was the recurrence, following a period of more than a year of significant decline in the scope of activity, of spectacular indiscriminate assaults. The drastic reduction evident during 1987 in the activities of radical Palestinian organizations was attributed, to a considerable extent, to Syrian and Libyan withdrawal from the use of terrorism as a strategic tool. Yet another factor that apparently reduced the relative benefit of terrorism for advancing political goals in 1987 was lack of progress in the regional political process. Over the years, engagement in or association with international terrorism has always seemed to lower the PLO’s prospects to join a Middle East political process. The PLO’s assessment of the negative impact of international terrorism on world opinion toward the Palestinian struggle in general led the organization to denounce international terrorism from 1974 on.
