Citation

Harrison M. Stud. Conflict Terrorism 2006; 29(2): 187-206.

Affiliation

Dept of Economics, Univ of Warwick, Warwick, Coventry, UK; Univ of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK; Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace Stanford Univ, Stanford, California, USA

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10576100500496998

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article analyses the results of interaction between suicide operatives and bystanders in the course of 103 suicide attacks in Israel over a recent 3-year period. It shows that bystanders' intervention tended to reduce the casualties arising by numbers that were both statistically and practically significant. When bystanders intervened, however, this was often at the cost of their own lives. The value of a challenge was particularly large for suicide missions associated with Hamas, but Hamas operations were also less likely to meet a challenge in the first place. These findings, although preliminary, may have implications for counterterrorism. More systematic collection of statistical data relating to suicide incidents would be of benefit.