Here’s a very lengthy love letter from the Los Angeles Times to the local collaborators of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Marxist Palestinian group widely acknowledged as pioneers in the crowded field of international terrorism: 18 Years Waiting for a Gavel to Fall. (Hat tip: Mardukhai.)

The subheading: “A group of Palestinians have been in legal and personal limbo for nearly two decades as the U.S. has sought to deport them. Their case foreshadowed post-9/11 policy.”

So you see where this is going.

As they look back now, some of the eight recall the early 1980s as a time for hope. They were young, outspoken advocates of the Palestinian cause, and sensed momentum in their drive to push American public opinion their way. They were engaged not only in fundraisers, but also in campus rallies, protests, leafleting, voter drives.

“We wanted to influence the U.S.,” Hamide said. “We wanted to be like the Jews of the United States. Do you know what I am saying? To work from within the system. That is why we demonstrated in the streets. We engaged every group that was willing to listen to us, whether it was on campuses, churches, community groups and political people.

”Anybody who was willing to listen to us, we went to them, with literature, with dialogue, with whatever it took. Books, you name it — with dance, with food, with anything we could. We wanted to bring out the truth.”