Terrorism as Self-Help: Accounts of Palestinian Youth Incarcerated in Israeli Prisons for Security Violations

• Published date: 01 August 2017
• Date: 01 August 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1043986217699101
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1043986217699101

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

2017, Vol. 33(3) 313 –340

© The Author(s) 2017

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DOI: 10.1177/1043986217699101

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Article

Terrorism as Self-Help:

Accounts of Palestinian Youth

Incarcerated in Israeli Prisons

for Security Violations

Anat Berko1, Edna Erez2, and Oren M. Gur3

Abstract

Adopting and expanding Black’s conception of terrorism as self-help, this study

examines how Palestinian youth become involved in security violations. Based on an

analysis of in-depth interviews conducted with 10 Palestinian youth incarcerated in

Israeli prisons, their experiences are described, including the aftermath of arrest and

imprisonment. Their accounts are complemented by interviews with six wardens and

correctional officers overseeing the prison’s youth wings, a review of military court

transcripts from proceedings leading up to the youth’s incarceration, and observations

of participants’ daily prison routines. The data detail pathways and recruitment

processes, motivations, rewarding aspects of participation, and the costs incurred as

a result by participants and their families. Security violations are analyzed as self-help

responses to collective grievances and personal problems. The theoretical and policy

implications of the findings are discussed.

Keywords

Palestinian youth, security violations, terrorism, self-help, Israeli military court, youth

wings of Israeli prisons

In conflict zones around the world, children are commonly victims of terrorism, but

also perpetrators. Persons under the age of 18—legally “minors,” hereafter referred to

as “children,” “youth,” and “adolescents”1—have participated in insurgencies, wars,

1The International Instiute for Counter-Terrorism, The Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Israel

2University of Illinois at Chicago, IL, USA

3Pennsylvania State University, Abington, PA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Edna Erez, Department of Criminology, Law, and Justice, University of Illinois at Chicago, MC141, Social

Sciences Building Room 4010A, 1007 West Harrison St., Chicago, IL 60607, USA.

Email: eerez@uic.edu

699101CCJXXX10.1177/1043986217699101Journal of Contemporary Criminal JusticeBerko et al.

research-article2017

314 Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 33(3)

and terrorist operations across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. They have served as

camouflaged guerrillas or uniformed soldiers (Peters, 2005), and more recently as ter-

rorists, including suicide bombers (Berko & Erez, 2005; Human Rights Watch [HRW],

2004; Venhaus, 2010). United Nations (UN) conventions prohibiting the use of minors

in armed conflicts notwithstanding (United Nations Human Rights Office of the High

Commissioner [UNHROHC], 1990), many government forces, paramilitary organiza-

tions, rebel groups, and terrorist organizations recruit and employ children in military

functions and operations—even those younger than 15 (Singer, 2005a, 2005b).

The rise of the child terrorist (Bloom & Horgan, 2015; Gray & Matchin III, 2008)

has raised questions about radicalization and recruitment of children, and their role in

terrorism. Whereas the use of children as soldiers2 has been examined extensively

(Rosen, 2005, 2007; Wessells, 2006), there is little research on children in terrorism

(Ben-Yehuda & Levin-Banchik, 2011; Roberts, 2015; Weinberg, Pedahzur, & Hirsch-

Hoefler, 2004), or security violations by Palestinian youth in particular.3 Palestinian

terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah have regularly recruited

and employed children (HRW, 2004; Times of Israel Staff, 2015).

Applying and expanding Black’s theoretical framework of terrorism as a form of

“unilateral self-help” (Black, 2004b, p. 9), this article examines how Palestinian ado-

lescents become involved in security violations, risk factors in their journeys from

recruitment to hostilities, subsequent arrest and incarceration, and reflections on the

experience. It suggests that children’s participation in terrorism can be attributed to a

confluence of factors that produce violent radicalization more generally4: personal and

collective grievances or needs, networks and interpersonal ties, political or religious

ideologies, and enabling environments or support structures (Hafez & Mullins, 2015).

However, compared with their adult counterparts, for youth, the salience of each factor

is further magnified by the lack of alternative means for exerting social control; the

subversive act may then “serve as a cry for help from people who are less capable of

attracting legal attention without it” (Black, 1983, p. 41). As this study suggests, the

pursuit of security violations as self-help is motivated by collective grievances as well

as personal problems.

The article proceeds as follows: It first reviews extant research, government reports,

and media communications addressing the motives, vulnerabilities, and environments

that lead Palestinian youth to terrorism, techniques terrorist organizations use to recruit

youth, and the benefits of involving children for such purposes. Following a discus-

sion of the theoretical framework, research setting, and methodology, the findings are

presented in an account-based analysis. The conclusion outlines policy implications

regarding youth involvement in militant activities.

Palestinian Children in Terrorism: A Review

The Palestinian–Israeli conflict over a disputed territory represents a “‘chronic’ griev-

ance” (Black, 2004b, citing Senechal de la Roche [1996], 13), underlying terrorism in

Israel. The local contexts and the lived realities of Palestinian youth create vulnerabili-

ties and motivations for involvement in collective action (Black, 2004b; Boxer et al.,