Posted on 08/13/2003 10:07:10 AM PDT by af_vet_1981
Two Palestinian teenage suicide bombers who killed two Israelis in separate attacks Tuesday lived remarkably parallel lives, though their families say they didn't know each other.
Both were 17 years old, peddled wares on the sidewalk and lived a few blocks apart on the same street.
In a final near-synchronized act less than an hour apart, both youths left behind equally grotesque bombing scenes, killing themselves and one person each in an Israeli town and a West Bank Jewish settlement 18 kilometers (11 miles) apart.
While neighbors blessed one of the youths as a "martyr," the mother of the second screamed for revenge against the Islamic militants who sent him to his death.
The bombings were the first since July 7, reflecting a cease-fire declared by the main Palestinian groups, dramatically reducing violence. Israel blamed Palestinian officials for failing to crack down and disarm militant groups, as required by the US-backed "road map" peace plan.
Since fighting erupted in September 2000, more than 350 Israelis have been killed in almost 100 Palestinian suicide bomb attacks.
One of the teenage bombers, Khamis Gerwan, grew up in a house in a tiny alley in the Askar refugee camp on the edge of the West Bank city of Nablus. He sold shoes on the street. He became a follower of a violent wing of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.
The youth had been missing for a day. Then came the news: he rigged himself with a bomb and blew up in a small grocery store in a Tel Aviv suburb.
The teen's mother wailed with piercing screams. Neighbors began to gather, to mourn but also to celebrate the youth, who was honored like other Palestinians who die in this conflict as a "martyr."
In contrast, a few houses away, the other family mourned with anger.
Islam Qteishat, a young recruit of the Islamic Hamas group, exploded at the entrance to the West Bank Jewish settlement of Ariel, not far from his own home.
With curses, his mother, Yusra, 40, cried out for revenge, but not against Israel, who days earlier killed two Hamas men and another Palestinian in a gunbattle here, prompting calls of revenge from Hamas.
Instead, the mother wanted retribution against God and the militants who took in her son and sent him on his grisly mission.
"I'll kill whoever dispatched my son," she screamed, beating her fists against a wall. It was the second spasm of grief to hit the family. An older son was shot in the head while throwing stones at Israeli soldiers a decade ago, leaving him with brain damage.
The young bomber left behind a letter and a photo showing the youth with a thin beard, holding an assault rifle.
Like the other bomber, he was also a street vendor, selling schoolbooks, pens and notepads, a small business that helped support the family.
The parents of both boys said the two didn't know each other, though the families live on the same street, Askar Road, linking the refugee camp to the city.
In the letter Qteishat left behind, he apologized to his parents and his brothers: "Don't be sad and forgive me."
The boy's father, a grocer, felt empty. Only days before he'd been talking with his son about the future, in particular about how he could retake high school exams he failed.
"I've lost an important part of my being," he said, but added, "The Israelis have left our boys no other choice but to turn into fighters."
About a month ago my lovely wife and I were returning from out of the country when we were chatted up on the airport subway by another guy leaving the international concourse.
This guy was nice enough, and although I detected a hint of BS, I tended to believe most of what he said.
One thing he kept saying over and over though was how safe Israel was to travel in, except for the West Bank.
I distrust the media enough to realize that if every death in Atlanta was hyped like every death in Israel, no one would come here. However I want to be realistic.
Are there any Freepers out there with travel experience in Israel?
FL
While tragedy can strike at any moment, in any location, anywhere in the world, the notable characteristic about Israel is the willingness of total strangers to lay down their lives for another. In all my travels I can't think of another country in whose cities I knew that others would come to my aid like that. There may be some but that is what makes Israel special for me. I have stories but decline to share them at this time.
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I've no idea if it relates to this story, but I noted several articles that Israel, in keeping with policy, has destroyed A suicide bombers house, not 2 houses.
This is the way a normal mother reacts. It's good to know there are women like her in the ME.
"I've lost an important part of my being," he said, but added, "The Israelis have left our boys no other choice but to turn into fighters."
Read it again. She blames Israel for somehow compelling her little honor student to turn into a savage murderer.
Not so fast there, Veronica. Read it again -- she blames Israel for her charming little child morphing into a murderer. I pray there aren't more like this hag!
Read it again. She blames Israel for somehow compelling her little honor student to turn into a savage murderer.
No. This is the father of the OTHER bomber.
She gets it. Either her husband does not, or he is too afraid of the terrorists to say so for attribution.
He is the father of the terrorist whose mother whose immediate instinct is revenge against Hamas instead of Israel.
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