Posted on 08/02/2002 5:22:04 AM PDT by SJackson
The wife of senior Gazan Hamas figure Abdel Aziz Rantissi has refused to allow her son to carry out a suicide operation against Israel and become a shahid (martyr), according to the transcript of a phone call released by the Israeli security services.
The tape of the call was confiscated in a raid on Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's offices. The date the call was made is unclear. The transcript was played on Israel's new Middle East satellite channel that broadcasts in Arabic and English.
Rantissi's wife, Umm Muhammad, was contacted by a Hamas military-arm activist who called to inquire about her son after he failed to attend mosque a day earlier. According to the transcript, she responded that her son was fine, but did not go to mosque because he was studying for exams.
The activist said that her son was supposed to meet a group and be assigned a mission.
But she responded that while she supports the activists, her son is "not involved in with those things, and is busy with studies."
The activist responded: "I can't understand how a woman like you would reject our request and is not responding to a call to continue the jihad against Zionism."
She said in response that she "does not know people like you," and hung up the phone.
Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin said he was informed about the channel's decision to broadcast the contents of the phone call. He said that the content of the call was of enough importance to override considerations of the right to privacy.
Rivlin said he hoped the contents of the call would have a cumulative impact on the Palestinians to uproot the phenomenon of suicide attacks, although much more is needed.
Palestinians reacted with suspicion to the report. While some believed the taped conversation would simultaneously spark an intra-Palestinian debate on suicide bombing and discredit Hamas leaders for hypocrisy, others noted that Israel's decision to expel family members of suicide bombers would likely have a greater impact.
The surprising revelation of the supposed hypocrisy of a Hamas leader came a week after Israel assassinated the founder and leader of the Hamas military wing, Salah Shehadeh, and a day after Hamas planted a bomb that killed seven and wounded 97 at the Hebrew University.
"Rantissi will have a hard time explaining to the public why his position should be different than others whom he encourages to be martyrs [suicide bombers]," said one Palestinian expert, who asked to remain anonymous.
However, most Palestinian sources believe that the conversation recorded on tape by Palestinian intelligence services and captured by the IDF in an April raid on Arafat's Mukata headquarters in Ramallah was likely a Shin Bet ploy to sow dissent within Palestinian society against the Hamas leadership.
"This whole episode is very strange," said Nablus Fatah leader Housam Khader. "But I suppose Umm Muhammad represents the mood of all Palestinian mothers, 99.9% of whom do not want their sons to become martyrs."
However Khader noted that the Palestinians' is a patriarchal society in which a woman has little say. "She can be saddened by a son's choice, but a mother cannot prevent a son from becoming a martyr, if that is his will either for religious or national purposes."
Khader added that he, too, would try to prevent his son from being a suicide bomber: "I know that if we want to liberate Palestine we need to sacrifice, but I also would not want to send my children to be shahids."
According to Palestinian sources there was reason to doubt the veracity of the tapes. Most questioned why a male Hamas member would contact the wife of a Hamas leader to ask permission for her son's suicide. Such an illicit conversation is especially extraordinary considering the orthodox nature of Hamas.
They also doubted that anyone would take the tapes seriously.
"Why would anyone phone this housewife directly? This is a military movement after all. Why would anyone want to go to the women?" observed one expert, who called it "neither a sophisticated nor meaningful move" on the part of the Shin Bet.
Rantissi laughed at the broadcast, saying the incident happened 10 years ago, when his son was young and he himself was in an Israeli prison. He said Hamas does not use telephones to recruit members and does not contact mothers.
"Any woman in my wife's situation at that time, with her husband in prison and her telephone under surveillance, would have refused such a request," he said.
News agencies contributed to this report.
It ain't me
It ain't me
I ain't no Hamas Leader's Son
So they feed their violent faith to the masses, just as the followers of Mohammed did after his death, and turn them loose against their political enemies. Yet the liberal press continues their love affair with these "righteous, oppressed" peoples {CNN}
I think I hate these animals more and more everyday, if that's possible.
Father: Ummmmmmmm...Muhammad
Doctor: OK.
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