One of the most repeated arguments for the reasons behind the recent wave of violence on the Gaza Strip border is the dire situation and the despair of the oppressed population in the Hamas-ruled enclave.
Setting aside the question of who is responsible for the situation in Gaza and how to improve it, we should focus instead on one question: Is terrorism truly a result of poverty and despair?
The recurring claim that terrorism is caused by public despair is as old as Palestinian terrorism itself and goes back far before the recent humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Palestinian terrorism has existed consistently throughout the years, including during the period of dramatic socio-economic growth in the 1980s, peace talks in the 1990s, and through the 2000s, when the situation worsened in Gaza after Hamas rose to power.
Vast quantities of research and data on terrorism and its motivations in recent years refute the claim that there is a causal relationship between poverty and oppression with terrorism. The identities of past Palestinian terrorists highlight this point very well.
Pakistani relief worker Nasra Hassan wrote in The New Yorker magazine in 2001, during the Second Intifada: "None of the suicide bombers – they ranged in age from 18 to 38 – conformed to the typical profile of the suicidal personality. None of them were uneducated, desperately poor, simple-minded, or depressed. Many were middle class and ... held paying jobs ... Two were the sons of millionaires."
Nothing has changed since, as was observed during the so-called "knife intifada" of 2015 to 2016. In October 2015, Palestinian scholar Bassam Tawil visited the home of terrorists and reported on their living conditions: "None of the young Palestinians involved in the recent terrorist attacks lived in a mud house, a tent or even a rented apartment. They all lived in houses owned by their families and had unlimited access to the internet. They all carried smartphones that allowed them to share their views on Facebook and Twitter and, among other things, to engage in wanton incitement against Israel and Jews."
Comprehensive statistical research in research years supports this. Professor Alberto Abadie of Harvard University gathered data from around the world on the prevalence of terrorism and its correlation with economic circumstances in 2004. He concluded that he had failed "to find a significant association between terrorism and economic variables."
Another research paper that investigated the connection between unemployment and terrorism in Iraq and the Philippines arrived at a surprising conclusion: "Unemployment predicts less violence." The paper suggested rethinking the international policy of pumping in aid money to decrease the motivation for terrorism.
Yet another research paper, on the Israeli-Palestinian experience, came to a similar conclusion, saying it is impossible to prove that "reducing poverty or improving education will succeed, in and of themselves, in reducing terrorism."
The researchers cited a poll of Palestinians during the Second Intifada that proved the rate of support for terrorist acts against Israeli civilians was the same regardless of status, income or occupation.
A study on the Islamic State jihadi group's recruitment methods in the West concluded: "Our results suggest that the flow of foreign fighters to ISIS is driven not by economic or political conditions but rather by ideology."
The bottom line is clear: Terrorism does not come from poverty and oppression. Radical ideologies, national aspirations and political agendas are the main motivators of terrorism. Educated people have the means to internalize and act on these ideas and find the resources needed for subversive activities. It is no coincidence that the leaders of subversive movements usually come from a population's educated class. Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was born into an elite Saudi family and held a business management degree, while Yasser Arafat held a civil engineering degree from Cairo University.
Terrorism has no connection to poverty; rather the opposite. Experience teaches us that the more resources are in Hamas' hands, the more the organization uses them to find more advanced means to advance its main goals: killing Jews and attempting to destroy the State of Israel. The state of the Gazans is dire, but the full responsibility for this situation is on Hamas.
