Can any of you google answer research gurus find any reference
indicating a connection between the suicide bombings in occuppied
palestine and similar tactics of the japanese red army? I've read in
one source (book by former member of the IDF) that the very first
palestinian suicide bombers were inspired by techniques of the
japanese red army. Is this true? I have not been able to find
additional references supporting this. Thanks!

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Clarification of Question by bigsticks-ga on 18 Aug 2003 10:02 PDT

Thanks all! Great info! However, I'm not too sure how payments work on
this site. I don't believe I have been billed for my question...? Do I
need to somehow indicate that I have received an acceptable answer?
-James

I don't know how anyone could accurately make this assumption and I
certainly don't beleive we'd ever be able to definitively trace the
first Palestinian suicide bombing to a 1940's blueprint of Japanese
war tactics. Suicide as a means of defense if quite different than
suicide as a means of terror, attack or retribution. Even so, the
Japanese didn't invent the notion by the way. One of the earliest
incidents was recorded in the Holy Bible when Samson sacrified himself
by bringing the building down upon his aggressors. Since then many
notorious characters, governments and organizations, including the
Japanese, have employed this horrifying tactic. It is more likley in
my opinion that the Palestinians were probably inspired by the more
recent actions of the Hizbullah and the Tamil Tigers of the 70's and
80's who very well might have gotten their original inspiration from
the perceived successes of the World War II Kamikaze pilots.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

Re tutuzdad's comment:

I think that bigsticks is looking for information tying Palestinian
suicide bombings not to the kamikaze pilots of World War II, but to
this group:

"Terrorist Group Profiles - Japanese Red Army (JRA)" (Page last
updated: 12/13/2002)
Dudley Knox Library - Naval Postgraduate School
http://library.nps.navy.mil/home/tgp/jra.htm

Upon re-reading the question I see you are absolutely right. I stand
corrected. Apparently my eye-to-brain coordination is a bit off it's
game today.

I found references to the JRA being trained "BY" the Palestinians if
this is of interest to you.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

Hi
maybe this can help you as one of the orientations of your researches.
on september 14, 2001 just after that the Japenese Red Army (JRA)
announced that it was responsable for the 9/11 attack, french
newspaper "Libération" published an article written by Michael Prazan
entitled : "Lod : les germes de l'internationale terrorisme" (Lod :
the germs of the international terrorism).
( http://www.liberation.com/ny2001/actu/20010914venzc.html )
He says in this article that the international terrorism and kamikaze
attacks began on May 30, 1972 (in fact may 29)with the suicide attack
of Lod's Airport in Israel (now Ben Gourion Airport). Before this
event, no arab group had ever been involved in a suicide attack.
This suicide attack (with guns and submachine-guns) in which 26
israelis died was led by three JRA's members. In this operation, JRA
was "working" for the PFLP (Popular Front for the liberation of
Palestine)of George Habache. Those two groups were allied.
Michael Prazan adds that this event had a big echo in the arabic
world, "particularly in the palestinans camps of refugees..." and
that, the next day, in Libya, President Qaddafi announced that if some
japanese could do such a thing, then Arabs people and Palestinians
should do the same.

The author adds that "in the 1980's, members of the JRA will become
instructors of martial arts in the Hizbollah's training camps of south
lebanon".

About the fact that the international terrorism began with the Lod's
attack, see
http://www.rand.org/publications/randreview/issues/rr.08.02/thirtyyears.html
http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR989/

About the attack against Lod Airport see:
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1967to1991_lod_1972.php

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/29/newsid_2542000/2542263.stm
About the history of the JRA and its links with palestinians and
iranians (hizbollah):
http://www.ict.org.il/inter_ter/orgdet.cfm?orgid=17
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1013172.stm
http://www.securitymanagement.com/library/000248.html

Page 17-18 :
http://www.wws.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/byteserv.prl/~ota/disk1/1991/9139/913905.PDF

About the JRA and fusako Shigenobu’s arrest (JRA’s leader and George
Habache ex-mistress) , in November 2000 :
http://www.terrorismfiles.org/organisations/japanese_red_army.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1012780.stm


Regards
Fabienne

Dear Big Sticks, 

Fabiene gave you great information. However, in my opinion, the claim
on Japanese inspiration is false of several reasons:

- The first suicide bombings in Israel and the Palestinian Territories
were conducted by religious groups (Hamas and the Islamic Jihad), in
1993. Suicide was justified theologically. Palestinian "secular"
organisations began to commit suicide attacks only lately, since the
outburst of troubles in October 2000. "Hamas and the PIJ were also
inspired and assisted by Hizballah. The PIJ leadership maintained
close relationships with Iran and Hizballah from the early 80’s. The
relationship between Hamas with Hizballah gained momentum after Israel
deported a few hundred operatives to Lebanon in 1992. There they
established a close liaison with Hizballah and the Iranian
Revolutionary Guards. Both groups learned suicide techniques in
Lebanon." (Source: Schweitzer, Yoram 2000. "Suicide Terrorism:
Development & Characteristics" ICT Web Site,
<http://www.ict.org.il/articles/articledet.cfm?articleid=112>)

- The first suicide attack (April 1983) was conducted by the Hizbullah
- a Shiite militia in Lebanon. Again, it was motivated, or justified,
theologically. Those who committed these initial attacks are connected
to Iran (although I did not check if the attacks were inspired by
Iran), and did not participate in the joint trainings of PLO or PFLP
with members of the RAF [German "Red Army Faction"] or JRA in the
1970s.

- The JRA attack in 1972, discussed later, was different in its modus
operandi, and was not similar conceptually to the later suicide
bombers. Yoram Schweitzer of the International Policy Institute for
Counter-Terrorism (ICT) calls it "very high-risk terror operations
that leave only little chance of survival to their perpetrators", and
distinguished between this type of attacks and suicide bombings
(Source: Schweitzer, Yoram 2000. "Suicide Terrorism: Development &
Characteristics" ICT Web Site,
<http://www.ict.org.il/articles/articledet.cfm?articleid=112>).

I have found no source that would support the claim that the Japanese
inspired the Palestinian suicide bombings.

Dear Big Sticks,  
 
After writing my previous comment, I had a talk with an expert on
terrorism. He corrected me on two important points:
- The first suicide bombing attack was in 1978, and was conducted by a
Syrian group.
- The Palestinian Hamas and Jihad got their inspiration and training,
after 400 terrorists were deported to Lebanon in 1992, getting there
the best schooling on such matters. Again, no evidence of JRA
involvement.