On June 14, 1985, TWA Flight 847 was diverted from its scheduled course from Athens, Greece to Rome, Italy. Hijackers forced the pilot to fly to Beirut, Lebanon. The demands of the hijackers were simple, the release of seven hundred Shiites being held prisoner in Israel. The aircraft flew between Beirut, Algiers, and Algeria for 17 days until the hijackers demands were meet. The hijackers fled to the Shiite neighbourhood of Beirut and have yet to be found. 1
             The Hizbollah Organization have legitimate cause for using terror tactics because, the Shiites in Lebanon were aggravated with foreign influences in Lebanon.
             Lebanon is a highly valuable area.. The country has been under the rule of the Phoenicians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Ottomans, and the French. The country has been independent since 1943. Mediterranean Nations and the Middle East are connected through Lebanon. Until 1975, next to the Persian Gulf, Lebanon had the highest standard of living and greatest per capita income. 2
             There is a internal ethnic division which caused a struggle for the economic and political power of the country. An attempt was made to divide power proportionately between Muslims (Sunnis, Shiites, Druze, Alawites, Ismails) and Christians (Maronites, Roman Catholics, Greek and Armenian Orthodox). 3
             After the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, thousands of Palestinian refugees flocked to Lebanon. These refugees setup camps outside of Beirut, near the Israeli boarder, and along the Mediterranean Coast. In 1970, groups of Palestinian fighters who were exiled from Israeli lands headed for Lebanon. These Palestinians planned on using Lebanon as a base of terrorist operations against Israeli targets. This was a threat to peace in Lebanon and many Lebanese, especially the Christian portion of the population, opposed the Palestinian presence.
             Israel retaliated to the Lebanon-based Palestinian attacks. With the disorder within Lebanon be...