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Approved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP96-00788R000100330001-5 May 1984 No .899-20 Midd/e East. According to our records, 122 international terrorist incidents took place in 1982 in the Middle East. In addi- tion, many terrorist incidents that took . place far from the Middle East—in West- ern Europe, Latin America, and in North America—were motivated by events in the Middle East or conducted by operatives from that region. The Arab-Israeli conflict and the Palestin- ian issue spurred much of the terrorism, and Israeli, US, and moderate Palestinian interests were frequent victims. Numerous other incidents, however, resulted from in- traregional strife. The government of Syria, for example, persisted in its terrorist cam- paign against the oppositionist Muslim Brotherhood, while Iran and lraq ex- changed terrorist attacks as part of their protracted war. Throughout 1982, mainstream Palestinians in Al Fatah and other member groups of the PLO continued to adhere to the mora- torium on international terrorism imposed by Chairman Yasir Arafat nearly.a decade - ago. This moratorium was designed.to give Western diplomatic initiatives an opportu-, nity to bear fruit. Extremist non-PLO terror- ist groups such as Abu Nidal's BJO, how- ever, have refused to comply with the ban and have at times used terrorism to-under- _ . mine Aratat’s diplomatic initiatives. On. 3 June 1982, a BJO operative tried to assassinate the tsraeli Ambassador in Lon- don; !srael cited this incident as justifica-, tion for its invasion of Lebanon three days later, allegedly to destroy the PLO intra- structure. Following the incursion, Palestin- ian extremists and their supporters around the world retaliated with increased attacks against moderate Arabs and US targets ins, the latter half of the year. International Terrorist Reversals in | 1982 There were some major counterterrorism successes in 1982, particularly in Italy and West Germany. Experts differ, however, as to whether these successes by govern- ment authorities represent actual diminu- tion in the strength of the terrorist organi- zations or merely temporary setbacks. SPECIAL EDITION - _ TERRORISM -- 26 JUNE 1984 Italy. On 28 January, Italian authorities rescued US Gen. James Dozier from a satehouse in Padua. Dozier had been kid- naped from his Verona apartment by Red Brigades (BR) terrorists on 17 December 1981. The rescue was facilitated by infor- mation garnered after a January 1982 counterterrorist raid in Rome in which po- lice made 10 arrests and uncovered ground-to-air missiles, bazookas, rocket- propelled grenades, and documents. Italian counterterrorism programs in 1982 were successful largely because of the impact of legislation aimed at encouraging terrorists to turn state's evidence. Antonio Savasta, who had masterminded the kid- naping of General Dozier, received a re- duced sentence because he provided Ital- ian police with key information. Many repentant’ terrorists provided informa- tion incriminating others and leading to the discovery of safehouses, weapons caches, documents, and evidence indicative of planned future terrorist activities. By the end of the year, Italian police had reported the arrest of roughly 450 alleged BR and allied group members, and the Italian press had suggested that the terrorist recruit- ment process in Italy had been weakened. and’that there was heightened suspicion between ‘‘repentants’’ and those who re- fused to cooperate with authorities. West Germany. The Red Army Faction . (RAF), a leftist terrorist group responsible _ for much of the violence that swept over West Germany during the last decade, was dealt a serious blow in 1982. In November, German officials arrested three of the orga- nization’s leading members— Adelheid Schulz, Brigitte Mohnhaupt, and Christian Klar—in stakeouts of RAF caches near Hamburg and Frankfurt. in addition to these arrests, more than a dozen caches of arms, documents, and supplies were un- covered along with photographs and other information identifying RAF members. Evi- dence from the caches indicated that the Approved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP96-00788R000100330001-5 WORLD: 0T2 Page 9