The psychology of Palestinian suicide bombing and Israeli paranoia

(Published at MuslimWakeUp.com on June 14, 2004 and in Bangladesh in the daily New Age on June 21st, 2004.)

Post-9/11, Muslim organizations have spent a lot of effort distancing themselves from the image of the Islamic suicide bomber, proclaiming 'true Islam' to be a peaceful and non-violent religion. But is this the best way to talk about terrorism and extremism to non-Muslims?

By definition, that audience doesn't believe in Islam; so there isn't any such thing as a true Islam from their perspective. It would be more productive for mainstream Muslims to develop a more secular way of talking about, and distinguishing themselves from, the more extreme views of religion espoused by the violent minority. A more psychological approach might be useful in this regard, since it can
provide a secular language which will more effectively communicate with a non-Muslim audience. The adoption of a secular language also helps to highlight the environmental factors which lead to terrorism, and thus prevents it from being associated with Islam in the simplistic religious reductionism which has become commonplace.

The thing that one should bear in mind about suicide bombings is that they are, in fact, suicides. From a psychological healthperspective, suicide is a symptom of a pathological condition such as depression. Bearing this simple fact in mind might change how we view suicide bombing. In fact the psychological point of view tends to oppose the common assumption that suicide bombing is the result of political or religious views. People with pathological psychological conditions are not completely rational, so the logical connection between Islam and suicide bombers disappears in this framework.

Obviously suicide bombers do justify their actions as being politically and religiously motivated. However, as psychologically literate observers, we should not take that rationalization at face value. Any such justification should be qualified by our knowledge that it is the pathology speaking as much as the person in these cases.

When we look at the terrible economic and political conditions under which Palestinians have lived for generations, it is easy to understand why a disproportionately large number of people would become frustrated, pathologically depressed and even suicidal. Hopelessness and anger in the face of Israeli policies which create the realities of settlement and occupation of the West Bank and Gaza are what lead to Palestinian suicide bombings. Religion is just one of many
environmental factors which figure in this complex picture.

There has been an attempt in the Western media to re-label suicide bombers as 'homicide bombers', in order to highlight the violent nature of their actions. But this ignores the facts of suicide, which is intrinsically a violent phenomenon; one which always has victims other than the person who kills himself or herself. Usually these victims are members of the suicide bombers own family, who suffer the emotional aftermath of the suicide for many years, and have measurably higher rates of depression and suicide themselves as a result. The suicide bombers victims are of course different in that they die immediately; the violence is direct and immediate rather than indirect and gradual. But this violence is never completely unintentional. Both suicide and suicide bombing express the same underlying anger at those surrounding the suicidal person for having been unable to help alleviate (or in the case of Israeli occupation, for having actively contributed to) the unbearable environment from which death is perceived as the only escape. So regardless of what the Western media says, one cannot overlook the suicidal act involved in suicide bombing. Acknowledging this will always lead to the question of the cause of the suicide, which leads us again to the Israeli occupation.

The fact is that the attention focused on suicide bombing by the Western media largely ignores the brutality and hopelessness of Israeli occupation which causes it. This one-sided journalism oversimplifies the issue and turns it into yet another catchphrase to paint Palestinians as terrorists inspired by a murderous Islamic
religion. This sort of religious reductionism removes responsibility from the Israeli government policies which have created an oppressed, desperate and hopeless Palestinian population, one in which suicide and the violence of suicide bombing are obviously symptoms of a greater, overlooked psychological illness.

Nor is psychological illness only a characteristic of the Palestinian side of the conflict. For its part, Israeli society has also developed its own variety of pathological behavior. Israeli politicians persist in holding on to the occupied Palestinian territories, and consequently refusing to negotiate a just and final
peace based on the 1967 borders and the Geneva accords. Their justification is laden with paranoia that Israel is surrounded by dangerous Arab enemies and cannot give up an inch of territory, much less allow them a foothold next door. But objectively, how rational is this perception of an Israel besieged? Israel is militarily one of the most advanced and powerful countries in the world. This has been
completely obvious since it decisively defeated its Arab neighbors in only six days in 1967. Even aside from Israel's conventional weapons superiority, it has been the only nuclear power in the region for around two decades. Objectively it should see itself as dealing from a position of strength, not vulnerability. This denial of reality does not indicate psychological health on the part of the Israeli public. Rather, the misplaced feeling of vulnerability which persists in spite of an objective reality of overwhelming military power point to an underlying paranoia. It is this paranoia which seems to lead to the Israeli obsession with security, and effectively rationalizes away any and all brutality against the Palestinians in the occupied territories.

Such a deep-seated paranoia in Israeli society cannot be explained by suicide bombers, as it has persisted ever since the 1967 war, and suicide bombing is a comparatively recent phenomenon. It seems more likely that the only real explanation of this mass paranoia lies in the psychological trauma which was experienced by the Jewish community during and in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Oddly enough, it does seem that the Palestinians have in fact become the latest
victims of the Nazi holocaust.

Religion plays a subtle part in this picture. Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions all have a tendency to equate suffering or asceticism with nobility and purity. This is evident from examples ranging from the Hebrew Bible's description of the suffering servant of Isaiah, to the Christian image of the crucified Jesus, and even the persecution faced by Muhammad and the early Muslims in Mecca. When suffering is accepted voluntarily for the sake of others, it may indeed create a heightened sense of morality and sacrifice. However, neither the Jews killed by the Nazis nor the Palestinians killed over the last few decades by Israeli guns, tanks and helicopters (which is always far higher than the number of Israelis killed in the same period)
volunteered for that suffering. Far from ennobling Israelis and Palestinians, all this suffering has simply brutalized them. On the Palestinian side this combines with the experience of hopelessness and oppression to produce suicide bombers. On the Israeli side it produces a paranoid denial of the facts of Israeli military invulnerability which have been true for decades, and continues to hamper efforts at peace through measures like the supposed security wall which actually continues a long-standing Israeli policy of creating 'facts on the ground' through land-grabbing and illegal settlements.