|
USING WEAKER POPULATIONS – I.E. MINORS AND WOMEN – TO PERPETRATE TERRORIST ATTACKS
With the construction of the security fence, which makes it difficult for the terrorist organizations to perpetrate attacks, the terrorist organizations have increasingly used minors and women to perpetrate suicide attacks by exploiting their innocent appearance, in an attempt to fool security force personnel at the various checkpoints.
2004 saw a 64% increase in the number of minors involved in terrorism, as opposed to 2003. The innocent appearance of children and young people arouses less suspicion and enables them to more easily blend in crowded places. Moreover, children and teenagers are seen by the terrorist organizations as more easily influenced and constitute an easier recruitment base for suicide attacks.
Women are also seen as arousing less suspicion than men. In each instance in which women were involved, the terrorists were aware of their need for a disguise that would allow them to blend in on the Israeli street. The terrorists tried to give themselves an overall Western appearance, including by wearing non-traditional clothing such as short clothes, pregnancy outfits and modern hairstyles. In most of the aforementioned incidents, the women were from the margins of Palestinian society and did not usually fit the "accepted" profile of "the average Palestinian woman", with the main motive for the involvement of women in terrorism being personal (alongside the basic nationalistic motive). Thus, for example, there is the romantic motive (i.e. romantic links with the militants involved in recruiting them) and the personal distress motive (i.e. suicidal tendencies in the context of despair over life and parental opposition to the daughter’s marriage).
The integration of women in terrorism is divided among various levels with the uppermost being the involvement of women as suicide bombers or intended suicide bombers whose intentions were foiled before they could be realized. Moreover, women have served as assistants for terrorist activity regarding both planning and perpetration.
WOMEN’S AND MINOR’S INVOLVEMENT IN TERROR ATTACKS IN 2003-2004.
See image04 below.
|