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| quote: | Suicide Mother’s Disappearing Crutches
DEBKAfile Special Report.
January 15, 2004, 1:42 PM (GMT+02:00)
15 January: Every war has its own life-and-death-stories, and the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict is no exception. On Wednesday, January 14,
22-year-old Reem Al-Reyashi, a mother of two, blew herself up at the Erez
Crossing from the Gaza Strip to Israel, murdering four Israelis and injuring
ten.
She left behind the grieving families of 1st Sgt Tsur Or, 20, from Rishon
Lezion, Corp. Andrey Kegles, 19, from Nahariya and Border Guard 1st Sgt.
Vladimir Trostinsky, 22, from Rehovot, and Gal Shapira, 29, from Ashkelon.
Meanwhile, many thousands of Gazans are prevented from reaching their much
needed jobs in Israel. The crossing has been closed to men and goods until
further notice.
The suicide-killer’s own death was succeeded hours later by a stream of wild
rumors that ran round the Gaza Strip. DEBKAfile’s Palestinian and counter-terror
sources have obtained a rare glimpse into the life and human background of the
first Hamas female suicide bomber.
One of the stories Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and the suicide bomber’s
husband Ziyad Awad put about is that Reem hobbled up to the Erez terminal on
crutches and so fooled the Israeli security officials into taking pity on her as
a cripple. In Israeli accounts of the bombing, no crutches were mentioned, only
a metal plate which the dead woman claimed was planted in her leg and accounted
for the scanner’s beeps.
So what happened to the crutches?
Reem may have thrown them away after coming up with what she thought was a
better cover story – the metal plate. Or else, the crutches might have contained
the explosives she detonated and were pulverized in the blast. A third scenario:
There were no crutches, and a fourth, the Israeli account omitted them for their
own reasons.
The most poignant account current among Palestinian circles acquainted with the
couple was that Awad, after three-and-a-half years of marriage, wanted to get
rid of his wife and encouraged her to set off on her mission of no-return. Reem
came from one of the richest families in the Gaza Strip, owners of the biggest
car battery factory in the region. Her husband had a better and safer life than
most people in the impoverished Gaza Strip, even without her. According to this
rumor, Reem more than once confided to him her wish to “martyr” herself and go
to heaven – not so much because she courted death but rather because she
secretly hoped her husband would beg her not to leave him and their two small
children aged three and one-and-a-half.
But she miscalculated.
Instead, Awad actively encouraged her to go ahead with her plan, assuring her
that God wanted her in heaven where they would later be reunited. Meanwhile, he
would look after the children. At least, that’s what he told the small company
of Gazans who came to offer condolences at the mourners’ tent he erected at
their home in southern Gaza. He confessed he was only surprised that his wife
had embarked on her sacred mission so soon. After all, Awad said, she had never
mentioned any dates or times. Visitors came away with the impression that he had
known nothing of the training his wife went through before the bombing, further
evidence of how little interest Reem’s husband took in her when she was alive.
Awad did not seem too surprised at the dearth of condolers. But her Hamas
controllers were shocked. According to DEBKAfile’s Palestinian sources, Hamas
leaders had banked on the group’s first woman suicide bomber in Gaza firing the
Palestinians’ imagination and inspiring large numbers to follow in her
footsteps. Six female suicide bombers have so far performed terrorist missions
on behalf of fellow terrorist groups Fatah-Tanzim and others, accounting for the
deaths of 39 Israelis. All six had problematical lives.
Gazans, however, refrained from demonstrating support or sympathy for her
mission, remaining cool even after the lavish praise heaped on the bomber by
Sheikh Yassin.
It was a double blow for the extremist Islamic group whose aim it had been to
demonstrate that its operations against Israel could not be stopped by the
strongest Israeli barriers or security measures. As it turned out, Reem only
managed to reach the screening facility at the Erez Crossing before she blew up.
She did not make it all the way through the checkpoint as Yassin and his men had
hoped.
Four Israelis were murdered because one Palestinian woman feared her husband no
longer wanted her and because a wheelchair-bound Islamic cleric, already
responsible for hundreds of Israeli deaths, taught her how to walk on
crutches…to heaven. |
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We don’t thrive on military acts. We do them because we have to, and thank God we are efficient.
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It's the perfect illustration of Golda Meir's famous quote: "We will have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us."
