What makes a suicide bomber tick?

In short, interpreting the motives of suicide bombers in simple psychological or religious terms does not get us very far. Suicide bombers are motivated to commit their carnage because they believe, rightly or wrongly, they have been oppressed and humiliated by the Israelis for decades. Causing terror among their enemies is one of the few ways left to them to fight back.

What this means is that neither Arafat himself or the might of the Israeli army can stop hundreds if not thousands of young men and women from acting as deadly human missiles.

Their actions most certainly have tragic consequences that may well be described as "evil".

But their motives are political rather than satanic or fanatical and only political solutions will stop the terror from continuing.