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Palestinian Women in Terrorism: Protectors or Protected
Except for the one interviewee whose parents had been involved in her engagement
with terrorism, all women noted that they knew that their families, particularly their
parents, would object to their involvement in terrorism and surely to becoming
suicide bombers. 21 They thus kept their involvement secret, knowing well that if it
becomes known, “they (family members) would have prevented me from doing it.”
Of those women who actively pursued a path into terrorism, five women reported
the desire to seek revenge for harms or losses they suffered and which they
attributed to (Israeli) Jews. Three women specifically mentioned what they
considered offenses against their brothers as their motivation; two of these women
attributed their brothers’ deaths to Israeli anti-terrorism military operations. One of
these women noted that before she decided to volunteer for a suicide bombing she
had good relationship with Jews, as she worked in cosmetics and bought make-up
materials in Israel. Yet, when she went on the mission “I only saw blood in my
eyes; I did not think even about my family, let alone about the Israelis.” A third
woman reported that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had demolished her parents’
home when she was just four years old because of her brother’s involvement in
terrorism. Two others reported that the IDF had killed men with whom they had
considered or planned marriage.
Religious indoctrination was a strong motivating factor for the women, providing
them with a supporting ideology for their actions as well as a vision as to how they
might be rewarded for their sacrifices. One woman stated that she wanted to
execute a suicide bombing “against the Jews, for revenge and for
paradise…Paradise is the most important reason and only then revenge and
rewards for my family.” Another described her own motivation as follows:
In paradise, all women are virgins and each woman can select her husband. There
are no children or old people in paradise, only young men and women…We are
willing to suffer in prison and everything bad in this world, as we believe there are
many good things that await us in the next world.
One woman expressed the belief that by becoming shahida (female martyr)
through suicide bombings, an unattractive woman would reach paradise and
become beautiful. The women also believed that in paradise they would see Allah,
Muhammad and his companions, as well as the shahids (martyrs). In addition, if
they were to become shahidas, they would save 70 of their family members from
the tortures of the grave before their souls rose to heaven.
Most women described their involvement in security offenses with pride and selfimportance.
They believed that their participation made them “very special,”
“different,” and “unique,” and made them feel as though they “have done
something important.” This pride was experienced in a gendered context; their
status as females led them to view their involvement in terrorism as that much
more exceptional. One woman boasted, “I did something that is viewed as manly.
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