RAMALLAH ø The Palestinian Authority has praised women suicide
bombers.
The praise came in an article by PA Deputy International Cooperation
Minister Adli Sadiq in the PA-owned Al Hayat Al Jadida. Sadiq, departing
from the PA condemnations of suicide bombings immediately after they occur,
supported the right of a Palestinian mother to blow herself up and leave her
children as orphans.
[On late Sunday, four Palestinians were killed in the southern Gaza
Strip city of Rafah near the Egyptian border in an Israeli military
operation. Palestinian sources said one of those killed was the commander of
Islamic Jihad in that city.]
Palestinian sources said Sadiq's column in support of suicide bombers
reflected the consensus within the PA and the ruling Fatah movement. They
said Fatah has been supplying most of the suicide bombers over
the last six months.
The insurgency group was also said to be planning a series of suicide
attacks in Israel in cooperation with Hamas. Israeli security sources said
on Monday that authorities have received 55 alerts of Palestinian attacks in
Israel. On Monday, Hamas gunners fired a Kassam-2 short-range missile toward
Israel.
[On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was scheduled to release
a plan to evacuate the Gaza Strip. Earlier that day, Sharon told the Haaretz
daily that his government would enter negotiations for compensation for the
Israelis to abandon their homes in 17 communities in the Gaza Strip.]
Sadiq was responding to widespread criticism of the Fatah suicide attack
in the Erez border terminal in January. The ruling movement of PA Chairman
Yasser Arafat recruited a mother of two, Reem Al Riyashi, who was said to
have been blackmailed by her husband and a Fatah operative.
"Despite the opposition, Reem is one of our martyrdom symbols," Sadiq
wrote in Al Hayat Al Jadida on Jan. 24.
Sadiq wrote that Palestinians must not question the motive of Ms. Al
Riyashi, the daughter of a prominent Gaza City merchant who had extensive
dealings with Israel. The deputy minister said Ms. Al Riyashi, in a legacy
for her children, chose to kill rather than be killed by Israel.
"Perhaps she dreamed that unless she went [on her suicide mission] then
death would come to her [anyway]," Sadiq wrote. "Her death would be in vain
and she would be forgotten. As a result, she wanted to die for a price."
