With some acts of terrorism, the perpetrator is among the casualties. While in some cases the terrorist’s death may have been an accident, in other situations he or she has deliberately set out to die amidst the intended victims—to be a “suicide bomber.” This situation occurs most frequently among Islamic terrorists in Israel and the occupied territories, and it raises the question of what motivates terrorists to not just blow up a bus or a marketplace but to kill themselves in the process.

According to some observers, Palestinian suicide bombers are motivated by two thoughts: avenging the deaths of other Palestinians and achieving a martyr status which many Muslims believe will guarantee their entrance into Paradise. Beverly Milton- Edwards, a specialist in Palestinian politics, writes: “A religious conviction that the death of innocents should be avenged,... motivated...