Article
Do "Suicide Bombers" Really Commit Suicide? — July 24, 2012
IBPP Editor
By Israel Oron (Ostre), Ph.D., Psychologist, National Program for Suicide Prevention, Ministry of Health, Israel, and The Department for Psychology, Health and Ethics/ University of Haifa, Israel.
[Dr. Oron (Ostre) was formerly Psychologist, Behavior Section/The Department of Criminal Investigations & Intelligence, Israel Police HQ].
This article applies a psychological approach to explore and to explain the behavior of Palestinian terrorists who blow themselves up in the light of their own words. It is shown that terrorists have no suicidal intent; hence, their behavior is not an act of suicide. Psychological analysis point to a behavioral reaction to stress situations that are perceived as threatening to survival, which could account for the lethal activity of the Palestinian terrorists. These findings suggest that such terrorists could be deterred if an appropriate alternative for their lives was available to them.
