Terrorism and Repression

The Head Heeb replies to my post about the purpose of terrorism:

For the most part – as Zack agrees in the comments – this logic doesn’t work. In places like Peru and Colombia, for instance, terrorists were indeed successful in provoking repression. The only problem is that most of the people the terrorists thought of as “theirs” ended up enthusiastically supporting the repressive measures as the lesser evil.

When terrorism is mixed with nationalism, though, the tactic of provoking repression sometimes does work, at least in the short term. And, because it works in the short term, some terrorist organizations keep on using it long after it has exhausted its usefulness. Nowhere is this more tragically obvious than in Palestine.

I agree.