The Press WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1975. Halting terrorism

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34021, 10 December 1975, Page 20

The Press WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1975. Halting terrorism

The wa\e of terrorism that threatens to engulf the world seems to be gathering impetus rather than receding. No country is immune; no city anywhere can reckon on immunity. Political terrorist movements. as exemplified by Palestinian Arabs and Spanish Basques, at least have a cause that is identifiable, and for which political solutions may be discovered. More frightening are the attitudes of anarchists bent on destroying a traditional political structure. Against such people no threat of reprisals seem* to be effective: they have a fatalistic view that if they die. they die for a worthy cause. In a third category are those who hijack or kidnap and do not hesitate to kill their victims unless promised a ransom and protected escape. Recently simultaneous bombings occurred in eight United States cities. It is no consolation to regard widely separated acts of terrorism, often involving elderly people and children, as merely demonstrating an imitative element in behaviour. What to do about terrorism, whatever form it may take, is what matters.

Co-operation between Governments and police systems has to be widened and tightened. Protective measures include the exchange of information on the identity of gang members and such knowledge of their movements as may be obtainable. But perhaps a more promising line of approach, as demonstrated at the moment in London and Amsterdam, is the flat refusal by the authorities to negotiate with terrorists, even when the lives of hostages may be at stake. A major cause of recurring hijackings of aircraft, and even trains, is that ransom demands, one after another, have been met and the escape of perpetrators facilitated. Now attitudes are hardening. Police Commissioner Bond, in charge of operations against Irish gunmen holding a London couple in their home and demanding release and a protected flight to Ireland, tersely disposed of the idea that any " deal ” might be on. “ They are not going anywhere ”, he said: “ they are certainly not getting any plane to Ireland ”. When such forthrightness becomes universal, at any rate in cases involving hostages, a significant change in the war against terrorism might be induced.

It will be surprising, for example, if the South Moluccan “ liberators ” hold out much longer in their hijacked train. They will probably be forced to surrender, and to face a charge of murdering three hostages. A policy of “no deals” for terrorists, universal in its application as between Governments, offers the only possible hope that the terrorist wave can be checked. Last month the “ New York Times ” almost despairingly commented on the unwillingness of the United Nations General Assembly even to consider measures against international terrorism. “ No-one has a solution ”, said the newspaper, “ and few are even ready to make a beginning. Meanwhile, fcrronsm proliferates