Roses

            One main difference between Anat Berko’s and Barbara Victor’s theories regarding female suicide bombers is motivation. Berko gives insight into the personal motivation and implies that personal issues influence women and provides them with the sense of despair necessary for a suicide bomber. Victor agrees that personal problems do affect the motivation, but that more importantly we cannot separate women and their personal lives from the society in which they are constituted. Understanding the roles of women, and their extreme limitations allows researchers to better understand the combinations of motivation.  She points out the intense political situation within Palestine itself and notes that internal conflict plays a huge role in the phenomenon of suicide bombing. The differing factions, both secular (Fatah, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade) and religious (Palestinian Jihad, Hamas), use female suicide bombers, and according to Victor exploit them, in order to gain political status on the street.

            Mira Tzoreff states, “Occupation is an oppression from the outside, and their own leadership oppresses them from the inside. They can’t say what they think and feel. They must have a national explanation, and that is to see Israel and the United States as the ultimate enemy. Encouraging suicide bombings is a strong example of a united force against those two military powers.” (174) Because women are already marginalized to such a degree within Palestinian society, those who have personal issues or desire for revenge are the perfect human smart bombs. They are second-class citizens to men, their every move in monitored and even the slightest hint of dishonor can taint a reputation. Psychiatrist Shalfiq Masalqa notes, “Choosing to go to Paradise means that life on earth is hell. Would they do it if their life was good? If they had a reasonable environment, education, an ability to live with dignity and earn a living, would anyone choose death?” (177) Who knows. Maybe the would-be-bomber could deal with personal issues or grief in a different way if society promoted different strategies. But the organizations who send out bombers intentionally look for these kinds of women, those who are sad or have disgraced themselves or thief families, in order to exploit them for political gain and notoriety.

            One of the main issues is that it is men who make decisions that govern both men and women. “In a religious atmosphere where Imams and revered spiritual leaders issue edicts in the name of Allah, or announce fatwas taken directly from the Koran, their words, coming from God, become law.” (174) The population trusts the religious leaders to interpret the Qur’an correctly, and thus Shari’a is the law. These leaders, both religious and secular (who all invoke religion when convenient) are using women as pawns in order to gain national fame and political status. When Hamas began using female suicide bombers, their status in the street went up due to the spectacularity of the act. Victor states, “Each of these men [Yassin, Arafat, al-Rantisi] seduces women with promises that are easy and attractive for the potential shahida to grasp, imagine, and eventually respond to, since the idea of equality touches upon the very core of what they long for.” (235) Politicians and group leaders present the idea of equality to women—something unheard of in Palestinian society—and put a price tag on it: death. “…the most immoral act that has become a trend is the ultilization and victimization of women who are recruited, trained, and sent off to die with explosive belts strapped around their waists and kill others under the guise of equality or the promise of rehabilitating a family member or cleansing their won reputations. In the end, the burden of immorality lies with those cynical leaders who first marginalize their women, setting impossible conditions for them to lead happy lives and then send them off to die by promising them equality and a better life in Paradise.” (288)

            Victor notes that most of the women who are “taken advantage of” in a terrorist way are typically young and unmarried. Many of the bombers and would-be-bombers had become pregnant outside of wedlock. “The unmarried Palestinian woman today lives under a stringent set of social and religious rules: if she is too educated, she is considered abnormal; if she looks at a man, she risks exclusion; if she refuses to marry, she is thought to be out of control; if she sleeps with a man, and especially if she gets pregnant, she disgraces the family and risks death at the hands of her male relatives.” (193) She is the upholder of honor and has the power to easily disgrace her family. This disgrace has grave consequences for the woman, and her redemption can also redeem the entire family. When Victor asks women’s rights leader Andalib Audawan what happens to an unwed mother, she responds, “In our culture, when an unmarried girl is pregnant, there are three solutions: either she marries her partner, her father hides her in the house, or…her male relatives kill her.” (194) The bizarre thing is, unmarried women are usually hidden in the father’s house until they are married, anyway. If she is even alone with a man or suspected of having sexual relations she must usually marry the man. Even is she does nothing with a man, she is typically chained to one through arranged marriage. If she does anything to dishonor herself or her family, the male relatives might kill her. Societal restraints play a huge role in the motivation to commit suicide.

            Because of these restraints, many believe that by committing a bombing they are somehow defining equality for women, even in death. Victor states that this act is a pathetic attempt at liberation of women. She claims that the so-called Feminist movement that encourages women to become bombers is completely illegitimate. She points to the fact that men are the driving force behind the operations. Even if a woman ultimately blows herself up, there are at least ten men who have set up the operation, provided a safe house, built a the bomb, and drove the bomber to her kill site. She believes that women are not helping the state of inequality, but are actually reinforcing the patriarchy by allowing themselves to be used as human smart bombs.