Posted on 02/19/2003 5:44:13 PM PST by yonif
February 18th, 2003
As of the beginning of the Al Aqsa Intifada, Israeli Security Forces exposed the phenomenon of using women for terrorist purposes, such as perpetrating suicide attacks. Israeli Security Forces are aware of up to twenty cases, in which women were involved in hostile sabotage activity against Israeli targets. The terrorist organizations perpetrating the attacks wanted to exploit the advantages of operating and dispatching females to perpetrate terrorist attacks, primarily within the green line. This is under the assumption that a female is though of as soft, gentle and innocent and therefore will arouse less suspicion than a man. In the cases in which females were involved, the terrorists were aware of their need for camouflage in a way which would help them blend in on the Israeli 'street'. The female terrorists attempted to westernize their appearance, among other things clothing that is not too conservative such as short skirts and modern haircuts.
In most of the aforementioned cases, the women were from the two ends of Palestinian society that do not answer to the excepted image of the average female Palestinian. Among these females are both professional and common young women lacking education and a profession. However, in each and every case these women had a large amount of "personal baggage".
The integration of females in terrorist activity can be divided into different levels, the peak being the female suicide bomber phenomenon. In addition, females have acted as facilitators in both the planning and perpetration of terrorist attacks.
Furthermore, there are females who attempted to perpetrate suicide attacks, however their efforts were thwarted before they had a chance to actualize their plans. It should be noted that the current phenomenon of involving Palestinian women in terrorist activity is a repetition of "Palestinian history". A prominent example is Atef Eleyan, a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad activist who planned to perpetrate a suicide attack using a car bomb in Jerusalem in 1987. Atef was incarcerated in Israel for ten years and was released in 1997. Another prominent example would be Leila Khaled, a senior PFLP activist, who was involved in the hijacking of an Israeli plane in 1969.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.