The Editor:

The Halifax Herald

Dear Editor:

Your editorial "The evolution of terrorism", {Jan 3} states that the hijacking of the Indian airline came "Thirty-one years after the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked an Israeli Boeing 707 and ushered in the age of air piracy".

This is contrary to fact. The FIRST act of air piracy in the history of international civil aviation was carried by Israeli authorities in December 1954,when a civilian Syrian airliner was forced down in Tel Aviv and its passengers and crew held hostage for days, despite international condemnation.

Furthermore, the FIRST act of SHOOTING DOWN a civilian airliner was deliberately carried out by Israel, when a Libyan airliner was shot down in February 1973,on the orders of the Israeli Prime Minister, Golda Meir, killing 107 of its passengers and its entire French crew.

I think it is appropriate to give credit where it belongs!!

Yours sincerely.

Ismail Zayid,M.D.