Classification of Participants in Suicide Attacks and the Implications of this Classification for the Severity of the Sentence: The Israeli Experience in the Military Courts in Judea and Samaria

Chagai D. Vinizky, Sha'arei Mishpat College, Israel
Amit Preiss

Abstract

*** A revised version of this article is forthcoming in 30 Pace Law Review (Winter2010) *** The twenty-first century witnessed a considerable rise in the number of suicide attacks. The largest suicide attacks were carried out by Al-Qaeda in the United States on 11.9.2001 when that organization crashed four passenger planes (two into the Twin Towers and one into the Pentagon building) killing 2,973 civilians. Between the 11th September and the present time, suicide attacks have taken place throughout the world, including in Turkey, Great Britain, Egypt, India, Jordan, Spain and Iraq leading to thousands of deaths. A large proportion of the suicide attacks have been carried out in Israel. This phenomenon was first seen in Israel in 1993 and continues to the present. During the course of 125 suicide attacks, 718 people were murdered. As the suicide terrorist is willing to take his life in order to put into effect his plan and therefore does not need an escape route, he is able to cause the death of numerous innocent civilians. The State of Israel as a democratic state has accumulated considerable experience dealing with this phenomenon through the use of legal devices. Usually this criminal phenomenon cannot occur in the absence of terrorist infrastructures which include a number of functionaries such as the dispatcher, the transporter, the intermediary and the suicide terrorist. The infrastructure which produces the suicide attacks in Israel generally originates in the region of Judea and Samaria. By virtue of its power to issue the orders needed to maintain proper government and preserve public order and safety in this region, the Military Government in Judea and Samaria promulgated orders in regard to the criminal law, under which, inter alia, Military Courts were established to try persons charged with these offences. As a large proportion of the suicide attacks are directed against Israeli citizens and as many of those involved in these attacks are tried in the Military Courts in Judea and Samaria, the majority of the judgments given in respect of the participants in suicide attacks are the product of this system. Much of this case law has not been published and is not readily available to the community of lawyers and researchers, and therefore it is not surprising that the ratio of studies to case law is extremely low. As this is the legal system with the greatest experience in trying terrorists involved in suicide attacks, the ensuing case law holds great importance for countries which are victims of suicide attacks and have to conduct trials of those involved in them. In this article we shall focus on the factual and legal classification of the participants in suicide attacks and examine the implications of this classification for the severity of the ensuing sentences.