Harsh State Repression as a Cause of Suicide Bombing: The Case of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

Although students of social movements have established that state repression strongly affects protesters' choice of tactics, this finding has been ignored by most analysts of suicide bombing. Based on data collected from various sources, including 88 interviews the author conducted in 2006 with...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Studies in conflict and terrorism 2008-04, Vol.31 (4), p.284-303
Main Author: Araj, Bader
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arab Israeli Relations
Arab-Israeli conflict
HISTORY
Interest groups
Israel
ORGANISATIONS
Palestine
Palestinians
Political persecution
Politics
POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT
Repression
Social conflict
Social control
Social movements
State intervention
Suicide
Suicide bombers
Suicide bombing
Suicide bombings
Terrorism
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Summary:Although students of social movements have established that state repression strongly affects protesters' choice of tactics, this finding has been ignored by most analysts of suicide bombing. Based on data collected from various sources, including 88 interviews the author conducted in 2006 with senior leaders of six Palestinian political organizations and close relatives and friends of Palestinian suicide bombers, this article argues that harsh state repression is a major cause of suicide bombing. It shows that understanding the effect of state repression is crucial to clarifying many of the unsolved puzzles concerning the rationales of organizations that employ suicide bombing, the motivations of individual suicide bombers, and the reasons why this tactic has become popular in some societies. The article concludes that there are three types of organizational rationales underlying the use of suicide bombing. Suicide bombing may be an extreme reaction to extreme state repression, a combined reactive and strategic action, or a purely strategic action. Different contexts and organizations typify these organizational rationales.
ISSN:1057-610X
1521-0731
DOI:10.1080/10576100801925273