k

his Week

THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO JEWISH LIVING
IN

Mideast Terror
Is Decreasing

The State Department cites a
drop, but says Syria and Iran
still sponsor violence.

SHARON SAMBER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Washington
he number of terrorist
attacks in 1999 went up in
every region of the world
except the Middle East,
where the number of attacks decreased
from 31 to 25.
The primary locus of terrorism is
now in South Asia, particularly in
Afghanistan, according to the State
Department's annual report, "Patterns
of Global Terrorism."
Even though terrorism is no longer
concentrated in the Middle East and
governments in the region are doing
more to prevent terrorist attacks, some
of Israel's neighbors continue to be an
area of concern.
The report cites Iran and Syria as
continuing to support regional terrorist
groups that want to destroy the Middle
East peace process.
The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence
and Security provides training and
financial and political support directly
to Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad
operatives. These and other terrorist
organizations are based in Damascus,
and Syria continues to provide a "cru-
cial link" in the terrorist -threat from
the region, the report charges.
The state sponsors of terrorism list-
ed in this year's report are Cuba, Iran,
Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and
Syria.

T

Mideast Changes

Since
1986

STEVEN TARNOW, C.R.

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The list is unchanged from recent years
but it is "not unchangeable," U.S.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
said during Monday's release of the
report. Governments "know what they
need to do" to get off the list, she said.
A Middle East peace agreement
could lead to Syria's removal from the
list, the report noted.
In Egypt, for the first time in years,
there were no terrorism-related deaths
and there were no major international
terrorist attacks in Jordan. U.S.
Ambassador Michael Sheehan, the
coordinator for counterterrorism, said
Jordan had a strong commitment to

