The Retreat from Camp David • 393order, even though it renounced its treaty with Israel. Internecine struggles
split most of the sects and also the Palestinians, as Syria backed a faction
opposed to Arafat. In the mid-1980s, US and other foreign nationals still in
Lebanon were being kidnapped by shadowy Shi'i gangs and held for ran¬
som, which Western governments vowed never to pay (but sometimes did,
secretly). The hijacking of passenger aircraft and even a cruise ship en¬
hanced the Middle East's reputation for terrorism. The really striking de¬
velopment was that Lebanon's Shi'i Muslims achieved so much more than
the PLO had at the expense of the Israelis, who withdrew from most of
Lebanon—without a treaty—in 1985. The Palestinian organization had
the diplomatic and financial support of most of the Arab countries, but
the Shi'i groups, the largely secular Amal (Hope) led by Nabih Berri, the
breakaway Islamic Amal, and especially Hizballah (Party of God), earned
the credit for driving Israeli and Western troops out of Lebanon. The ma¬
jor factor in the Shi'is' success, we believe, was their willingness to sacrifice
their lives for their cause, inspired by Khomeini's teachings, the success of
the Iranian revolution, and especially the example set in 680 by Muham¬
mad's grandson Husayn against his oppressors.
Terrorism is an old method of warfare practiced in most parts of the
world whenever individuals and groups cannot attain dignity, freedom, or
justice against powers that rely on armies, police, and other conventional
forces to maintain their control. Its basic aim is to force other individuals
or groups—and their countries—to take unwanted political actions that
serve the terrorists' needs. In this book we have mentioned the terrorism
the Assassins used against the Sunnis, the Egyptians against the British in
the Suez Canal, the Arabs and Jews against each other and against the
British in Palestine, the Palestinians against the Israelis and their support¬
ers, and Shi'i Muslims in Iran, Lebanon, and other countries against those
people whom they have identified as their oppressors. Terrorists tend to be
educated youths full of zeal and determination. They believe that their
religion or nationality has been oppressed and must be vindicated. Gov¬
ernments, too, sponsor terrorism to demoralize their foes. Israel's bom¬
bardment of Palestinians in 1981 was a form of state-sponsored terrorism,
as were Asad's massacre of his foes in Hama in 1982 and Saddam's attacks
on Iraqi Kurds in 1988.
Formerly, Middle Eastern governments and peoples were more often vic¬
timized by terrorism than Americans and Europeans, but the terrorists now
struck at the West to get vengeance. Nearly all governments condemn ter¬
rorism, but they do not agree on how to combat it. There are two basic
schools of thought on the issue: ( 1 ) terrorism can be deterred by striking
back at its perpetrators and cowing them into submission, and (2) terrorism