Since the beginning of the Intifada, the phenomenon of using women as suicide bombers and executing terrorist attacks has grown. The terrorist groups, the ones who implement the attacks search to exploit the embodied advantages of the participation of women in order to carry out terrorist attacks mainly within the Green Line.
This is the supposition that women are seen as tender, delicate and innocent, and as such stimulates less suspicion than a man. In all the incidents which women have been involved in terrorist attacks there has been a need for camouflage, enabling them to be assimilated in Israeli streets.
Female terrorists attempt to present themselves as Westerners by wearing non-conservative dress such as short skirts, maternity dress and modern haircuts.
As of today, 8 women have carried out suicide terrorist attacks against Israeli targets. As a result of these suicide terrorist attacks 39 Israelis have been killed and approximately 300 maimed. Since September 2000, more than 50 women have been arrested by security forces who were to carry out suicide terrorist attacks or aid in their execution. In October 2004 only, 14 women have been arrested ready to perpetuate a suicide terrorist attack.
Palestinian Women Involved in Terrorist Activities
In most cases, these women represent two spectrums of Palestinian Arab society. Among them are literate women, with professions as well as young and popular and non popular women who lack higher education and a profession. The participation of women involved in terror activities is divided into different levels.
The highlight of this phenomenon of female suicide bombers and those who execute suicide bombings is that their actions have been thwarted before they managed to carry out their attacks. Additionally, women have been used for terror activities such as in planning and implementing the attacks.
The phenomenon of Palestinian Arab women involved in terror activities has existed for many years. One need only look into the past. One prominent example was an active senior terrorist in the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization, Ataf Alian, who planned to execute a suicide bombing by detonating a car bomb in Jerusalem in 1987. Ataf Ailan was imprisoned in Israel for 10 years and was released in 1997.
Another prominent example is Lyla Chalad, a senior terrorist of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who was involved in the high jacking of an Israeli airplane in 1969.
The rest of the article shows details on many of the female Palestinian terrorists over the past few years. -EoZ
