Manufacturing Human Bombs: The Making of Palestinian Suicide Bombers (review)

Abstract

Manufacturing Human Bombs: The Making of Palestinian Suicide Bombers, by Mohammed Hafez. Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace Press, 2006. 125 pp. $12.50. This monograph by Dr. Mohammed Hafez, a visiting assistant professor at the University of Missouri in Kansas City and a Palestinian- American, is one of the most insightful sources of information of the phenomenon of mar tyrdom and suicide terrorism to date. Dr. Hafez takes the reader inside the culture that produces and edifies suicide terrorism by examining the motives of organizations and of individuals who choose to die as well as explains the societal dynamics that have produced a virtual cult of death. Although Hafez briefly describes a history of the use of suicide missions stemming from biblical times to anti-colonial struggles and modern warfare, the focus of the monograph is post 2000 Israel and the Occupied Territories. Hafez describes in great detail how the organizations choose bombers or conversely how individuals choose the organizations. He argues that this crucial period in the Israeli Palestinian struggle (post 2000) witnessed the shift from religious organizations to secular groups using suicide terror. He further explains the difference in recruitment patterns between the two groups. Hafez suggests that Hamas and the Islamic Jihad have five criteria for selecting potential bombers: they must be pious; they must be able to blend in with Israeli civilians; they must be adults over the age of 18 and usually but not always unmarried; they must have a clean record, free from suspicion and not likely to be under surveillance for previous acts of militancy; and finally, they should not be the sole breadwinners of the family (p. 21). Additionally, Manufacturing Human Bombs provides a detailed explanation of which Quranic verses have been manipulated to justify suicide terror while also doing a great service to scholars who are not native speakers of Arabic in translating some of the martyrs' last will and testament statements and their videos as well as pamphlets by radical preachers (the appendicies include valuable information about the number of attacks, profiles of the militant organizations, an a useful section recommending readings for further research). Of particular interest to this reviewer is that Hafez substantiates the theoretical claims advanced in earlier analyses (Mia Bloom, Dying to Kill: the Allure of Suicide Terror [2005]) wherein secular groups adopted suicide terrorism to compete with their Islamic rivals in the factional struggle for public support. He writes: In interviews with Fatah members and those with direct access to some of Fatah's militants in the West Bank, I was told that AMB (the AI Aqsa Martyrs Brigade) adopted suicide bombings because other factions seemed to be outperforming them. ... I was repeatedly told that that Hamas viewed the uprising as political theater orchestrated by the PA (Palestinian Authority) to achieve a final settlement with Israel. ... By adopting suicide bombings, Hamas seemed to be taking the lead in liberating Palestine. One of the Fatah militants termed this development 'healthy competition' (pp. …