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Suicide Bombers Change Mideast’s Military Balance

Old Blog Import

As measured by the casualty count, the suicide bombings, as Rantisi suggested, have tended to level the battlefield despite Israel’s overwhelming military advantage in conventional terms.

In the six years of the first intifada, as Palestinians refer to their 1987-93 uprising against Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, 1,162 Palestinians died, compared to 174 Israelis. That is about 6.7 Palestinians to every Israeli death. And in the first six months of this uprising, which began in September 2000, the ratio was roughly the same: 5.1 Palestinians died to every Israeli.



But after suicide bombers began regular attacks in March 2001, the statistics swung dramatically. In the last six months, 298 Palestinians and 177 Israelis have died, a ratio of 1.7 Palestinian deaths to every Israeli death.”

(washingtonpost.com)

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