Terrorism

Winston Churchill said that in international affairs "to jaw-jaw is better than to war-war." That is normally the case in dealing with hijackers. Says Dr. David Hubbard, a consultant on terrorism to the Federal Aviation Administration: "The record shows that when commandos storm aircraft, the number of people killed increases. If the terrorists don't kill them, the security forces do." While the hijacking in Karachi last week and one in Malta last December both ended violently, several have been resolved by negotiations. The outcome of some recent hijackings:

TWA. A group of radical Lebanese Shi'ites in June 1985 commandeered the plane after it had departed from Athens, and demanded the release of about 700 comrades held by Israel. The hijackers freed some hostages as the Boeing 727 shuttled between Lebanon and Algeria before setting down at the Beirut airport. There the hijackers and their captives were guarded by Shi'ite security forces, and a military rescue operation was ruled out. After the hijackers dispersed the remaining hostages to secret locations in Beirut, complex negotiations among the U.S., Israel and Syria led to the release of the Shi'ite prisoners and the TWA hostages. Of the original 153 passengers and ^ crew aboard, one person, U.S. Navy Diver Robert Stethem, 23, was killed.

THE ACHILLE LAURO. Four Palestinians, armed with Soviet-made submachine guns and hand grenades, in October 1985 seized the Mediterranean cruise liner with more than 400 passengers and crew aboard. The hijackers were persuaded to leave the ship voluntarily during negotiations involving the Egyptian government and Palestinian leaders. U.S. Navy pilots captured them after their surrender. One passenger, wheelchair-bound Leon Klinghoffer, 69, of Manhattan, was murdered in the attack.

IRAN AIR. In July 1983 a jumbo jet bound from Shiraz in southwestern Iran to Tehran was hijacked with 386 passengers aboard by six Iranians opposed to Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini. After diverting the plane to Paris, Massoud Rajavi, an exiled leader of the mujahedin opposition to Khomeini, encouraged the hijackers to surrender. One inducement: they would be tried in French courts instead of being deported to Iran. No passengers were harmed.

EGYPTAIR. Last December three Arab terrorists accused of belonging to the Libyan-supported Abu Nidal group diverted a Boeing 737 to Malta. After five passengers were shot and the captain pleaded for aid, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ordered a commando raid. In the attack, 58 of the 79 hostages left on the plane died. More than 40 were killed by burns or smoke inhalation from fires that the commando attack ignited.

Successful commando assaults require very careful planning and expertly trained troops. An Israeli group in 1976 rescued 105 hostages from an Air France flight at Entebbe, Uganda. Four died -- three hostages and one commando. In 1977 West German forces staged the most successful raid, rescuing 86 passengers and crew from a Lufthansa jet in Mogadishu, Somalia. No commandos or hostages were killed.