NCJ Number
101520
Date Published
1986
Length
5 pages
Annotation
During the 1970's, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in Lebanon functioned as a center for training, arming, and harboring terrorist groups from most of the non-Communist countries.
Abstract
In 1973, the PLO openly declared its intention to actively aid and seek aid from revolutionary movements. By 1976, southern Lebanon had fallen under PLO rule and had become the center of operations against Israel and for international terrorism as well. Documents captured in Lebanon in 1982 showed that terrorists from over 17 countries had visited PLO camps. In addition to providing training, the PLO offered asylum to numerous terrorists from Western countries, made daily shipments of weapons to Europe, and engaged in cooperative terrorist actions with other groups both within Lebanon and abroad. Thus, it was largely because of the PLO that the 1970's constituted a decade of terrorism. The PLO had the resources, control of territory, and the special status granted by the Soviet Union as the leader of national liberation movements. While no longer so powerful since its expulsion from Lebanon, the PLO is still able to foment terror because of the shelter and encouragement provided by certain states.