What happened to suicide bombings in Israel? Insights from a terror stock model

Edward H. Kaplan*, Alex Mintz, Shaul Mishal, Claudio Samban

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

An analysis of three years of suicide bombing data in Israel reveals an increase in such attacks through March 2002 followed by a steep decline through the end of 2003. The authors propose a terror-stock model that treats the suicide bombing attack rate as a function of the number of terrorists available to plan and execute suicide bombings. The intent of Israeli tactics such as targeted killings and preemptive arrests is to reduce the capacity of terror organizations to commit attacks. When fit to the data, this model suggests that the targeted killing of terror suspects sparks estimated recruitment to the terror stock that increases rather than decreases the rate of suicide bombings. Surprisingly, only the deaths of suspected terrorists, and not Palestinian civilians, are associated with such estimated recruitment. Although Israeli actions have reduced the rate of suicide bombings over time, it is preventive arrests rather than targeted killings that seem more responsible for this outcome.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)225-235
Number of pages11
JournalStudies in Conflict and Terrorism
Volume28
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2005

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