Page 197 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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174———Hostage Taking

several years, in particular targeting diplomats and the
HOORIE, ALI SAED BIN ALI, EL-. See executives of Western companies. Governments reacted
EL-HOORIE, ALI SAED BIN ALI. variously to the kidnappings, with some making con-
cessions to terrorist demands and others adamantly
refusing to negotiate. Latin American guerrillas proved
HOSTAGE TAKING that hostage taking could be an effective and profitable
terrorist tactic. Even if the hostage were rescued or
killed and no ransom received, the kidnappings brought
Hostage taking is the act of abducting and/or immense publicity to the terrorist group.
imprisoning a person for political or monetary gain; Latin American terrorist groups laid the ground-
since the 1960s, it has evolved into one of the distinc- work, but Habash and the PFLP were the first to put
tive tactics of modern terrorism. the principles they had demonstrated into action in the
The practice of taking hostages has a long history. Middle East. A Marxist, Habash’s primary goal was the
In ancient and medieval times, hostages (often the liberation of Palestine; his ambition was to spark world
families of nobles) were sometimes taken by rival revolution. Perhaps his most important innovation was
powers during times of peace, in the hope that the the idea of an international terrorist front, in which
possibility of their death would prevent the outbreak terrorists from various countries and groups (many
of war. In war, kings and other rulers were also often with widely varying goals and allegiances) supported
captured and held hostage in exchange for ransom each other’s operations and worked together on specific
payments. This kind of hostage taking had generally attacks. During the early 1970s, at the peak of the
ceased with the evolution of the modern nation- PFLP’s power, the Palestinian group was provided
state—the relationship of a political leader to the training and funds to terrorist groups from around the
hostage, or the hostage to the functioning of a state, world, and in turn terrorists from Germany, Japan,
was no longer so close or direct. Terrorism in the Uruguay, Venezuela, Lebanon, and Turkey took part in
1960s reverted to some of the earlier concepts: terror- operations to further the Palestinian cause.
ists regard individuals as emblems of their nation and The PFLP was able to seize world attention to a
do not distinguish between combatants and civilians degree undreamed of by its Latin American counter-
in planning attacks. parts. The Latin American guerrillas had generally kid-
Hostage taking as a major terrorist tactic was napped their victims. Kidnapping offers a tactical
encouraged in the late 1960s and early 1970s by the advantage: as long as security forces are unable to
rise of urban guerrilla warfare and the revolutionary locate the hostage—often extremely difficult and
ideology of George Habash’s Popular Front for the sometimes impossible—the government is generally
Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Since the 19th cen- compelled to negotiate in some way with the terrorists
tury, guerrilla uprisings have been endemic in Latin and may acquiesce to some of their demands. The
America; the guerrillas, however, operated in remote PFLP and its associate groups, by contrast, favored
rural areas, and their strategies and tactics depended much more public attacks, in which a band of terrorists
on their ability to retreat into and hide in the jungle. would take over a given location (a building, train,
Not until the theories of Brazilian communist Carlos or airplane) and conduct negotiations on the spot.
Marighella, set forth in his Minimanual of the Urban The PFLP pioneered airplane hijacking for political
Guerrilla (1969), became popular did guerrillas begin purposes with its July 1968 attack on an El Al flight;
to operate in cities. Marighella’s treatise discussed the some of the many other terrorist attacks in which the
threefold purpose of terrorism: to disrupt the workings PFLP was involved include a 1974 attack on the French
of government and civil authority, to create a climate embassy at The Hague, Netherlands, and a 1975 attack
of fear and apprehension among the populace, and to on an Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
publicize the terrorists’ cause. Hostage taking, espe- meeting in Austria attended by representatives of more
cially when the victim is a high government official or than a dozen countries.
industrial leader, accomplishes all these purposes. Because such hostage situations are public, the
Beginning with the abduction of the U.S. ambas- media can and do provide live, round-the-clock cov-
sador to Brazil in 1969, guerrillas across Latin America erage, greatly increasing public awareness of the
executed a daring series of kidnappings over the next terrorists’ cause. Intense media coverage also makes