The seizure by Iranian students of the U. S. Embassy in Teheran and their holding of some 60 Americans hostage with the approval of the Iranian authorities is giving Americans a sharper focus on the meaning of terror, why Israelis are so staunchly seeking defendable borders and the means to defend themselves against what is now called the New Barbarism.
Despite the attacks and threats inflicted upon Israel since the Palestine Liberation Organization was formed, Israelis have been accused in the West of being paranoid and unreasonable in their quest for security.
Although terrorists have been striking in Germany, Italy and Great Britain, these events have apparently not affected the thinking or action of governments to stem the spread of the terroristic means of acquiring power, particularly in the Middle East and against Israel.
Analysts Familiar with the politics of terror noted that the seizure of the Embassy in Teheran plus the shooting of the Israeli Ambassador to Portugal, Ephraim Eldar, in Lisbon, illustrates again that the enemies of democracy have abandoned the codes of civilized behavior and are intent on using any means to achieve their aims.
” In discussing the fate of the Americans in Teheran, the State Department’s chief spokesman, Hodding Carter said: “Central to our view, the first question before us is the release of the hostages. Their release is the major focus of our efforts and our policy. That task is paramount and overriding…. The vast majority of the nations understand that the hostages are held illegally and in contravention of international law. The violation is clear, the remedy is clear…. We have nothing to negotiate about. We have nothing before us.”
ISRAEL’S POSITION SIMILAR
Equally clear and similar, analysts immediately noted, has been the position of successive Israeli governments on dealing with terrorism. They pointed out that terrorists have forced upon Israel circumstances of defense unknown elsewhere and yet some governments in the West have bent their knees to the PLO and increasingly are showering respectability upon it.
The Lisbon shooting exemplifies how such treatment does not deter terror. They pointed out that Israeli diplomats even on European sail are targets for assassins and the Lisbon shooting come only one week after PLO chief Yasir Arafat opened the Palestinian Solidarity Conference in Lisbon and met the highest Portuguese officials.
Arafat, now in Moscow. is gaining recognition as a “responsible statesman,” as he was called following the red carpet treatment given him in Vienna and Madrid. His men are being consulted in Istanbul by the U.S. special emissary Ramsey Clark on a possible way to rescue the Americans in Teheran – – Arab terrorists to deal with Iranian kidnappers.
Analysts say this is understandable but it indicates the grip of terrorism on civilization.
What this boils down to is, an analyst noted that the Iranians seek a legal process for their illegal acts and the PLO is no different. Summing up the outlook on spreading terrorism, a political analyst remarked that “The terrorists continue revealing the nature of their hostility. There is similarity between Teheran and Beirut. Both are uncompromising. The position of the Iranians and of the PLO is that they make demands and those who live by the rules of civilized conduct must makes the concessions.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
