Wafa Idris was the first Palestinian female suicide bomber who was twenty-seven when she killed herself along with two Israelis in Jerusalem, 2002. She had strapped on ten kilograms of explosives to her body, without any questions. This act of terror signified the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis increasing to new extents, leaving both the Arabic speaking world, and the West in immense shock. Many other women such as Dalel el Moughrabi and Leila Khaled participated greatly in defense and hijacking operations. An example of this is the TWA Flight 840 hijacking in 1969 in addition to the hijacking in Dawson’s field in Jordan. Female suicide bombings can be traced back to the 1980s with the Tamil Tigers and Hezbollah using the female body as a canvas for political articulation (Bloom, 2007). The discourse to Idris’s suicide bombing contrast over various geographies and narrators. Signifiers such as ‘hero, martyr, monster and terrorist,’ were used across media platforms globally which created various meanings of regressive and progressive acts against gender based violence (Awadat, 2002). With the discourse theory framework, it can be fathomed how the signified, or the mental picture created by the signifiers was that of an ‘ideological crises’ in the stereotypes constructed of women in military roles, traditional gender settings and religion. Reem el Riyashi was the first female suicide bomber employed by Hamas in 2004 despite the former spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, being against employment of women. This indicates a change in principles and values which can be heavily debated in a religious, pragmatic and moral way. It also signifies a change in discourse of women as militia within the Arabic speaking world (Bloom, 2007).
‘It is a woman who teaches you today a lesson in heroism, who teaches you the meaning of Jihad, and the way to die a martyr’s death. It is a woman who has shocked the enemy, with her thin, mea- ger, and weak body ....It is a woman who blew herself up, and with her exploded all the myths about women’s weakness, submissiveness, and enslavement . . . . It is a woman who has now proven that the meaning of [women’s] liberation is the liberation of the body from the trials and tribulations of this world . . . and the ac- ceptance of death with a powerful, cour- ageous embrace.’ - Al-Sha’ab (Egypt), February 1, 2002 (Bloom, 2007)
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Through a study conducted by Naaman in 2007, it is evident that in Arab media, shaheeda (martyr)is a term that has been used various times for the purpose of empowering individuals to avoid the burdened eccentricity of heteronormative roles, distancing actions from gendered politics and gendered based violence. Film representations of terrorism in Palestine and Israel present acts of terror as complexed in nature, specifically when representing women in such terror roles (Sharoni, 1995). Though this discourse may threaten pre-existing gender stereotypes and destabilise them in political settings, it is important to note that double standards don’t just disappear with such representation of martyrdom (Naaman, 2007). This is evident as even though women have been given participatory ‘importance,’ within suicide operations, their families only receive an allowance of 200 dollars, which is half of what the male martyrs receive. The aftereffects of female suicide bombings are never shown in Western or Arab media, thus female suicide bombing operations construct a myth of gender empowerment and progression (Naaman, 2007).
Suicide bombings are additionally seen as performative acts of terror due to the woman not being expected to be aggressive or violent (Naaman, 2007). The act then becomes a publicity stunt which enhances media traction and constructs a renewed image of fear and aggression. Ayat Akhra is an example of this as her suicide bombing resulted in immense media traction, Applebaum writing; “Not only was she not male, she was not overtly religious, not estranged from her family, not openly associated with any radical groups. She can hardly be described as a woman without a future. She was young, she was a good student, and she was engaged to be married” (Awadat, 2002).
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