Hijab of Blood: The role of Islam in
Female Palestininian Terrorism
By Maria Alvanou, Attorney at Law
LLM History, Philosophy, Sociology of
Law/
PhD Research Candidate in Criminology/University of
Abstract
Since
the beginning of the current ‘Intifada’, suicide terrorism has been extensively
used by palestinian organizations against
When
the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,
He
shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside.
But
the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail
For
the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
—The Female of the Species, by Rudyard Kipling
Terrorist tactics have always produced horror,
fear and confusion (this is the point of terrorism after all), but non more it
seems than the suicide bomber tactics. Suicide attacks are a popular- almost
copycat some would say- phenomenon of today’s terrorism scene that gathers the
interest of researchers, law enforcement and scholars worldwide. They are
sensational, spectacular in their own grotesque way and project extreme levels
of hate, because they surpass in their evilness any logic and instinct of life
perseverance, inherent by nature to all human beings. Moreover, they create
panic, as it is doubtful whether the current and usual countermeasures are able
to prevent them and protect the public: how can someone really stop and deter a
person who is not afraid of losing his life? One of the stages in this theatre
of suicide horror is the
Though most palestinian suicide
bombers have been men, palestinian women are indeed increasingly participating
in suicide attacks. Since the outbreak of the second ‘Intifada’ in 2001
and until today, 7 palestinian women successfully carried out deadly suicide
attacks in
Female ‘martyrs’: the chronicle of a religious debate on blood
Apart from Reem Saleh Riyashi, six other
palestinian women from widely different backgrounds also killed and injured
Israelis in suicide attacks[4],
starting in January, 2002. The first one
to lead this dance of violence and death was Wafa Idris, who blew up herself in
Jerusalem, followed by another three ‘kamikaze’[5]
women: Daaren Abu Aeshah, a student in Nablus, on February 27 carried out an
attack at a checkpoint in West Ramallah (West Bank); Ayat al-Akhras a resident
in the Dehaishe refugee camp exploded herself in a supermarket in Jerusalem;
Andaleeb Taqataqah, detonated her belt packed with explosives at the Mahane
Yehuda market bus stop in Jerusalem. The matrix behind all the above attacks
was a secular one, organized by the Al-Aqsa Brigades Martyrs[6].
Islamic groups until then prohibited the actions
and participation of women in such operations, so after the appearance of the
first female suicide bomber, a serious debate started[7]
about whether they should or should not become ‘martyrs’. Though Hamas
spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, with a great impact on the palestinian
public, had expressed his reservations with statement like: "in our palestinian
society, there is a flow of women towards Jihad and martyrdom, exactly like the
young men. But the woman has uniqueness. Islam sets some restrictions for her,
and if she goes out to wage Jihad and fight, she must be accompanied by a male
chaperon"[8], there were those too
eager to see women follow the bloody path of suicide terrorism, as one more
weapon to inflict harm upon the enemy: Isma’il Abu Shanab, a Hamas
leader in Gaza stated on the subject that “Jihad against the enemy is an
obligation that applies not only to men, but also to women. Islam has never
differentiated between men and women on the battlefield[9]”;
another Hamas leader in the
So, in 2003, an important change takes place:
Female islamic martyrs make their first appearance on the scene. On May 19 Hiba
Daraghmeh carried out a suicide bombing attack at the entrance of a shopping
mall in Afula and the responsibility for her gesture was claimed both by the
Palestinian Islamic Jihad[13]
(a religious islamist terrorist group) and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, with
the latter one claiming is the one that receives most credit. It was
nevertheless the first time that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a
fundamentalist orientated organization, claimed responsibility for a
‘martyrdom’ operation accomplished by a woman. On October 4 of the same year,
Hanadi Tayseer Jaradat, a trainee lawyer, became a ‘martyr’ spreading death in
a restaurant in Haifa, the ‘Maxim’: This time the claim was solely by the
Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the woman’s religious zeal left no doubt this
time as to the change of operational mind that had taken place amongst the
islamic organizations. This was confirmed by the attack of January 2004,
carried out by Reem Raiyshi, mother of two small children and the first woman
to carry out a suicide attack in the name of Hamas.
Islamist
and secular groups: a relative distinction
Some
have said that it is important to distinguish whether the nature of the
palestinian organizations engaged in suicide terror is religious or
nationalistic and secular. One-they argue- does not see atheists
rushing into a crowd and blowing themselves up along with innocent bystanders
in protest. Religiously oriented groups are supposed to be more
complicated and dangerous. Their ultimate goal includes the spread of a
religious holy war to end evil (as interpreted by them), or the pursuit of some
heavenly millenarian reward. Additionally it would appear to be easier for
religious groups to mobilize operatives to commit suicidal violence, than it
would for secular nationalistic groups.
This attempt to distinguish and categorize
according to their relationship with religion and metaphysical beliefs, may be
of utility when researching the identity and activity of terrorist groups in
the West, but it may not be appropriate for groups operating in a society, like
the palestinian one after its recent increased islamization. In arab countries,
communities and societies, Islam is more than an official religion, a faith
that one observes or not. It is a cultural feature deeply rooted, inherent to
all members, difficult to abolish and- above all- a point of reference to unite
people against the ‘infidel’ enemy. No group would enjoy the support of the
palestinian public- that is necessary for its existence and operations- by declaring
openly its distance from Islam or opposing the muslim principles. This would
really mean that the terrorist organization is committing suicide! As a result,
what we call secular in the West is not comparable to Palestinian secular
groups that are allowed- or even maybe forced by the special circumstances of
the environment- to employ islamic rhetoric and religious cloth for its
operations.
As described above, despite the decision of the
islamic groups to allow after all women to participate in suicide bombings, the
beginning in these ‘martyrdom’ operation was made by the ‘Al-Aqsa Brigades’.
Also, the majority of the attacks perpetrated by female suicide bombers has
been scheduled and prepared by this secular terrorist group that opts for the
liberation of
Starting
with their name, the ‘Al-Aqsa Brigades’ state their relationship with the
islamic character of the society they represent and want to liberate from the
hands of the enemy. The ‘Al-Aqsa’ is a
name with a religious origin: it refers to the al-Aqsa Mosque, located on top of
the contested
The videos and the pictures released after the
attacks, evidence of the blood covenant made before between the ‘martyr’ and
the organisation prove this argument. Despite the non islamic character of the
group and no matter the previous history of the woman (whether she was an
observant Muslim or not) the photo gives a religious dimension that is always
the same with the ones released by islamic groups: The female is holding the
Koran and wearing the Hijab, often citing islamic verses. She is not just a
militant, a member of an organization fighting and trying to liberate her land
and injure the occupier; she is more than that: a ‘martyr’, hoping and waiting for
her ‘sacrifice’ to be accepted and rewarded by heaven.
Religion:
The terrorist’s cocaine
Suicide bombers have been known to smile widely
and joyfully just before blowing themselves up and killing other people. They
do not act in misery, doubting or having second thoughts; on the contrary: they
embrace their death and the death of their victims with decisiveness absolutely
necessary for the success of their mission. Considering that a suicide attack
is a highly violent act, with the unique characteristic that the victim is not
only the enemy target, but the pre-meditated death of the perpetrator is one of
the preconditions and a key element of the operation[15],
a logical question arises: Despite the multi-levelled causes of suicide
terrorism and the various motives of the individual female perpetrators, what
helps them detonate the explosive belt, denying their own lives and taking away
the lives of others, sometimes even the ones of innocent children? Also, given
the fact that Islam in general prohibits both homicide and suicide, what in
specific builds the bridge for the palestinian women, in order for them to
cross from their traditional role in society- besides nature’s one- of mothers
and family nurturers, to the one of a self-destruction and extermination
machine?
The
following example is indicative: In her traditional pre-suicide videotape
testimonial, Raiyishi, holding an AK-47 assault rifle- almost as big as she
was- and wearing the green Hamas sash, said she long wanted ‘the honour’ of
being a suicide bomber and was "proud to be the first female Hamas
‘martyr’: "I have two children and love them very much. But my love to see
God was stronger than my love for my children, and I’m sure that God will take
care of them if I become a martyr". This ‘credo’, statement of faith in
the afterlife and heavenly dimension of Raiyishi’s act was confirmed later by
Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar during her eulogy: “She is not going to be the last
because the march of resistance will continue until the Islamic flag is raised,
not only over the minarets of Jerusalem, but over the whole universe. It is not
enough to call her a hero. Calling her hero does not give the whole truth. This
woman abandoned her husband and children to win paradise”.
Religion can be a powerful example of moral
disengagement, a theory which encompasses all the ways a person neutralizes or
removes any inhibitions about committing acts of horrific violence[16],
including imagining one's self as a hero, redeeming harmful conduct as
honourable by moral justification, dehumanizing the victim. People
do not usually engage in harmful conduct until they have justified, to
themselves, the morality of their actions[17].
The conversion of palestinian mothers, wives and daughters into human bombs
spreading death is achieved not by altering their personality structures,
aggressive drives or moral standards. Rather, it is accomplished through a
twisted islamic theology, by cognitively redeeming the morality of killing
themselves and Israelis, so that it can be done free from self-censure. Their
behaviour itself is reconstructed: When reached by a terrorist organization
member for recruitment, the future 'martyr', already believes that she has been
awarded the greatest honour and privilege that can be bestowed upon a devout
Muslim, the privilege of ‘martyrdom’[18]
with all its rewards[19].
They are to commit not suicide, neither homicide[20]
and they consider themselves as fighting ruthless oppressors, protecting their
cherished values, honouring their country’s commitments. They are made to see
themselves as doing Allah’s will, by ‘sacrificing’ their lives to eliminate the
‘evil’ Jew. The disengagement practices operate also on the recipients of
detrimental acts. The process of dehumanisation is an essential ingredient in
the perpetration of inhumanities[21],
because it is difficult to mistreat ‘humanised’ people without risking personal
distress and self-condemnation, since to perceive another as human activates
empathetic reactions through perceived similarity[22].
The strength of moral self-censure depends on how the perpetrators regard the
people they mistreat. Islamist rhetoric actually views the jewish enemy as
“lowly people”, divested of human qualities. Once dehumanised, the israeli
future victims of the suicide attack are no longer viewed as persons with
feelings, hopes and concerns, of human value, but as sub-human objects, reduced
to the status of puppets."[23].
The examples
that follow illustrate briefly how the above mentioned types of moral
disengagement function in the palestinian society through islamic religious
indoctrination of suicide violence through a methodic strategy:
Via
PA TV actually runs a real hate incitement campaign to predispose Palestinians,
including women, to suicide terrorism. The indoctrination includes sermon
broadcastings as the following one that hails ‘martyrs’:
"Anyone
who does not attain martyrdom in these days should wake in the middle of the
night and say: 'My God, why have you deprived me of martyrdom for your sake?
For the martyr lives next to Allah'…"
"Oh Allah, accept our martyrs in the highest heavens…
Oh Allah, show the Jews a black day…
Oh Allah, annihilate the Jews and their supporters…
Oh Allah, raise the flag of Jihad across the land…
Oh Allah, forgive our sins…" [24]
Or
video clips such as these, clearly praising the female suicide bombers:
a) A Song in during a concert in
"My sister
Wafa, my sister Wafa Oh the heartbeat of pride Oh blossom who was on earth and
is now in heaven. Allah Akbar! Oh
b)
While the female singer sings, pictures of extreme violence appear in the
background. Suddenly, she is not merely a singer, but rather a warrior wearing
an army uniform; she continues singing and encouraging violence, singing of her
desire to fall as a Martyr:
“Shake the earth,
Raise the stones
Allah Aqbar, Oh, the young ones.
You will not be saved, Oh Zionist,
From the volcano of my land’s stones,
You are the target of my eyes,
I will even willingly fall as a shahid,
Allah Aqbar, Oh, the young ones. “[26]
In addition to TV, militant messages in the
school textbooks[27] have been legitimized by
frequent references to the Koran and of course several muslim clerics have
given their own ‘licence’ and blessing to
female believers to engage themselves in suicide massacres against Israelis:
"The martyrdom operation carried out among
the Israelis by the young Palestinian woman is an act of Jihad permissible
according to the Shari'a, and on this there is no disagreement….If the enemy
has conquered and plundered even a single inch of Muslim land, Jihad becomes a
personal duty of man, woman, slave, and master… [In such a case], the woman
wages [Jihad] without her husband's permission...The Prophet's aunt came down
from the women's citadel, and fought a man from among the infidels who had
climbed up the citadel. She killed him…Likewise, Asmaa, the daughter of Yazid,
participated in one of the battles against the Byzantines, and killed men.[28]"
stated Sheikh Abu Al-Hassan basing his reasoning on well-known "acts of
female Jihad" during the raids led by the Prophet Muhammad".
Conclusion
Unfortunately,
the palestinian women and her innocent targets fall prey to the perversion of
human morals and emotions by those campaigning fear and blood, who choose to
play God, and make promises to the faithful in order to transform them into
human bombs. The mainstream culture in the palestinian society favours suicide
terrorism and women want in for a variety of reasons. While on one side their
active involvement as terrorists in this type of operations seems to signal a
relative secularization of their social environment (seemingly bringing at
least equality in hate, death and violence for both genders), on the other hand
it is characterised by a strong islamization. The religious dimension, as an
indoctrination and incitement strategy, is necessary to condition and prepare
palestinian women to abandon their families, lives, their traditional role in a
patriarchal society and engage in the worst of terrorism activities without
remorse. Heroic and saint in the eyes of believers- yet suicidal and deadly in
practice- is the stuff of ‘martyrs’, and ‘martyrs’ are the product and result
of religion renaming and purifying their actions, contrary to any earthly
logic. As Voltaire put it well: “Those who can make you believe absurdities can
make you commit atrocities”.
Endnotes
[1] This of course does
not mean that suicide terrorism in the israeli-palestinian conflict has a mere
religious etiology, especially in the context of the involvement of women. It
is a far more complexed and multi-dimensional phenomenon, rooted both in the
terms of the conflict and the palestinian society itself. For more on the
complexity of suicide terrorism’s
reasons see Scott Atran, ‘Genesis of suicide terrorism’, Science, March 7, 2003, pp.1534-1539.Yet, the religious parameter and
feature in suicide bombings is very important and this is why this type of
operations is referred to as ‘martyrdom’, even by the ‘shahids’ themselves and
the Palestinians in general.
[2] Of course- besides being the active
agent of the explosive act- women have also been participating on a preparatory
level in suicide bombings, facilitating a large number of operations, finally
perpetrated by men.
[3] Hamas is the Palestinians’
major muslim fundamentalist movement, with a terrorist wing that plots a series
of suicide bombings in
[4] ‘The involvement of women in suicide bombing
attacks’, Special
Information Bulletin March 2004,
Intelligence and
[5] The term and myth of the ‘kamikaze’
applies to the unit of human bombers trained by the Japanese army to throw
disarray in the American fleet in the pacific, see Kodansha Encyclopedia
of Japan (Tokyo and
NY, 1983) p.126.
[6] The Al-Aqsa Brigades began in 2000
as an offshoot of Fatah, the secular palestinian nationalist movement led by
Yasser Arafat and commit the same sort of suicide bombings with such muslim
fundamentalist groups as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Yet, the group’s
ideology is rooted in palestinian nationalism, not political Islam.
[7]‘Wafa Idris: the Celebration of the
1st Female Palestinian Suicide Bomber Parts I and II’, February 2002, Middle
East Media Research Institute, (www.memri.org).
[8] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (
[9]
[10] Al-Sha'ab (
[11] Inappropriate behaviour
according to the muslim code of conduct.
[12] Al-Sha'ab (
[13] Islamic Jihad is a
small, less organized group of islamist radicals with close ties to
[14] The secular groups
for example in
[15]Yoram Schweitzer,
‘Suicide Terrorism: Developments and Characteristics’, Herzlia: Countering Suicide
Terrorism, An International Conference, The International Policy Institute for
Counter-Terrorism, 2001, pp. 75-83 and ‘Suicide Bombings: the Ultimate Weapon?’, ICT
Internet Site (www.ict.org.il).
[16] Albert Bandura,
Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement, in Origins of Terrorism, ed. Walter
Reich. (
[17]This applies generally to
terrorists: interviewed members of left-wing militant groups in Italy and
Germany "began to perceive themselves as members of a heroic community of
generous people fighting a war against 'evil.'", see Donatella della
Porta, ‘Political Socialization in Left-Wing Underground Organizations:
Biographies of Italian and German Militants’ in
Social Movements and Violence: Participation in Underground Organizations, ed. Donatella della Porta (Greenwich,
Connecticut: JAI Press, 1992), pp.286.
[18] See Barbara
Victor, An Army of Roses: Inside the
World of Palestinian Female Suicide Bombers, (NY: Roedale Press 2003).
[19]For many Muslims, heaven is a place of milk and
wine rivers and honey lakes, where the martyr with the first drop of blood will
see Allah’s face, be joined by 70 chosen relatives and have the sins erased.
Female martyrs are promised to dwell forever alongside the husband or fiancé
they have left behind, plus the weight of earthly rules (including Islamic law)
and responsibilities will no longer hang upon them like millstones in the
afterlife (If the ‘martyr’ is a man, he will enjoy also the services of 72
black-eyed virgins).
[20] Islamists and Jihadists become quite angry
when the media and the West refer to those who blow themselves up as engaging
in suicide bombing. A typical angry reaction would go as follows:
"This is not suicide. Suicide is weak, selfish, and mentally disturbed.
This is 'istishad' which consists of martyrdom or self-sacrifice in the service
of Allah. A martyrdom operation is the highest level of jihad.
[21] When a Nazi camp
commandant was asked why they went to extreme lengths to degrade their victims
they were going to kill anyway, he explained that this was not a purposeless
cruelty. The victims had to be degraded to subhuman objects so that those who
operated the gas chambers would be less burdened by distress when they would
kill them, see Primo Levi, The Drowned and the Saved (New York 1987).
[22] Albert Bandura,
Moral disengagement in the perpetration of inhumanities, in Personality and Social Psychology Review 3
[Special Issue on Evil and Violence] (1999) pp. 193–209.
[23]
Frederick Hacker, Crusaders, Criminals, Crazies: Terror and
Terrorism in Our Time (
[24] Sheikh Ibrahim Madhi, Palestinian Authority Imam, in a Friday sermon
delivered at a
[25] Palestinian
TV
[26] Palestinian TV
[27]Goetz Nordbruch, Narrating Palestinian Nationalism: A Study of the New Palestinian
Textbooks
MEMRI 2001; also, see Itamar Marcus,
‘Planting seeds of the next war: The Truth about the Palestinian Schoolbooks’, Jerusalem Post Editorial,
[28] Afaq Arabiya (Egypt), January 30, 2002, as cited in Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), January 31,
2002.
NOTE:
The sources for the transmissions of PA TV have been the on line internet
archives of Middle East Media Research Institute (www.memri.org) and Palestinian Media Watch (www.pmw.org.il).