The era of modern terrorism began in 1968 with the hijacking of an
airliner flying from Rome to Tel Aviv (Dershowitz). The distinguishing
between earlier criminal aviation hijackings and the pattern of terrorist
hijackings is that prior to 1968, the motive was either to divert the
ransom it for money. Modern terrorists learned very quickly that their
reached more easily through terrorism than through peaceful negotiation if
abiding community at large is unprepared to respond decisively. Terrorism
particularly successful when elements of the government are sympathetic to
objectives, since it can provides a perfect excuse to make concessions that
The psychology of terrorism is simple enough, it is the same
behind old-fashioned kidnapping: the idea is if you want to coerce someone
effectively, just threaten to do something that he fears worse than the
your demands. Terrorism is much easier to employ successfully in societies
that incorporate a concern with civil rights, and comparatively more
societies that are not particularly preoccupied with civil rights issues.
instances where terrorism is employed purely for vengeance, the goal of
universally the same: to bring greater attention to one's cause than
non-violent political discourse. Anecdotal evidence from the former Soviet
suggests that the most effective way to eliminate terrorism is to adopt
responses and to extract information through any means deemed necessary.
is that more ruthless societies are better protected against terrorism than
where human rights are widely respected and protected.
In Why Terrorism Works, Alan Dershowitz provides a convincing
into the effectiveness of terrorism once it is allowed to achieve any
graphing the long history of Palestinian terrorism against Israel and the
world for the purpose of calling attention to their political aims. He
instance of terrorism by the PLOâ€...