Evidence about the Link Between Education,Poverty and Terrorism among
Palestinianns
Claude Berrebi
Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy
Volume 13, Issue 1 2007 Article 2
www.bepress.com/peps/vol13/iss1/2

Abstract

This paper investigates the ways in which terrorism is linked to education
and poverty using data newly culled from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad
(PIJ) documentary sources. The paper presents a statistical analysis of the
determinants of participation in terrorist activities by members of the
Hamas and PIJ between the late 1980s and May 2002. The resulting evidence
suggests that both higher education and standard of living are positively
associated with participation in Hamas or PIJ and with becoming a suicide
bomber, while being married significantly reduces the probability of
participation in terrorist activities.
...

Table 1 reports the means of selected demographic variables for Palestinian
(Hamas and PIJ) terrorists and the Palestinian population of similar age,
sex and religion, as were tabulated using the data set culled from the
terrorists' biographies as well as the "Labor Force Surveys in Judea,
Samaria and Gaza".

Each characteristic's category is followed by a chi-square test of the null
hypothesis that the characteristic is independent of terrorist status.

These data reveal several interesting comparisons. First, 31 percent of the
Palestinians, compared to only 16 percent of the terrorists, were
characterized as poor.43 Second, out of 208 observations in which
information about the terrorist's education was available, 96 percent (200)
have at least a high school education and 65 percent (135) have some kind of
higher education, compared to 51 percent and 15 percent, respectively, in
the Palestinian population of same age, sex and religion.

Third, the Palestinian population contains a larger share of its individuals
at prime earning ages (58 percent between 25 and 54 years of age) when
compared to the terrorists (only 44 percent in the same age range). Compared
to the general population, terrorists tend to be younger: where only 72
percent of the general population is below the age of 34, 93 percent of
terrorists fall into this group. The age-distribution differences further
accentuate the findings of differences in poverty and education.

Fourth, terrorists tended to be from urban areas (54 percent of the 311
observations where this information was available), whereas only 34 percent
of the comparable Palestinian population was living in urban areas. In
particular, 47 percent of the terrorists lived in Gaza, compared to only 22
percent of the comparable population.

Fifth, out of 208 terrorists whose biographies indicated marital status,
only 45 percent were married, compared to an average of 59 percent in the
population of individuals with similar age, sex and religion. Finally, out
of 142 observations for which information about labor force status of the
terrorists was known, 94 percent held some kind of employment, whereas only
69 percent of the Palestinian population was employed.