Suicide bomber delivers misery to both sides

UMM AL-FAHM - Salaam Dayef's father chose her name, which means peace in Arabic, hoping for an end to the violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

It would have been hard for him to imagine Salaam now, her face covered in burns and a shrapnel wound piercing her neck, as she lay in hospital after surviving a Palestinian suicide bombing.

"My father gave me this name because he said he was sick of all the wars," the Israeli Arab college student said.

The bomber, a young man from the West Bank town of Jenin, killed seven Israelis and wounded 27 yesterday when he blew himself up on a bus near the Israeli Arab town of Umm al-Fahm.

He struck a rare target in an 18-month-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, an early-morning commuter bus heading north from the largely Jewish Tel Aviv on the coast to the mainly Arab town of Nazareth in Galilee.

Arabs and Jews shared the bus seats and afterwards milled together to comfort the wounded in hospital in neighbouring Afula - young women soldiers in olive-green fatigues with rifles slung over a shoulder at one bed, other women of the same age modestly draped in Muslim headscarves at a second.

Four Israeli soldiers and three civilians were killed in the attack. At least six were Jews, the identity of the seventh has not been released. Eight Israeli Arabs were among the wounded.

"The bomber knew there were Arabs on the bus route, and he didn't want to make distinctions.

"I am also against this, we are all Israelis," said Israeli Arab parliamentarian Nawaf Masalha after visiting his sister-in-law, Kamleh, who was wounded in the bombing.

Arab citizens make up one fifth of Israel's population, but have long expressed solidarity with their fellow Palestinians who seek independence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Caught between two allegiances, they have largely given only political support to the uprising, although one suicide bomber came from an Israeli Arab village and a handful have been arrested on suspicion of aiding attackers.

Israeli Arabs have also been the target of violence, particularly at the start of the uprising, when Israeli security forces killed 13 of their brethren during protests against the Army's methods.

A few others have been casualties in attacks by Palestinian militants. They include Druze and Bedouin Arab soldiers killed in shooting attacks and civilians wounded in suicide bombings.

But for Liraz, a young woman with a shard of glass lodged in her eye, there was little comfort in the signs of shared grief.

"It was so scary," she sobbed.

"I was convinced I would die and I couldn't get off the bus because of all the fire and shrapnel everywhere."

Yossi Tuki, a soldier, lay in bed awaiting surgery, his gaze fastened to a television set carrying news reports of the attack.

"He also killed his own people. We should pay them back with war in kind; this is no way to live," he said.

His relatives sat silently watching the screen.

"May their name be erased," cursed one as the news reader cited a report that Israeli Arabs from Umm al-Fahm, an Islamist stronghold, were suspected of harbouring the bomber before the attack.

"This whole situation is unacceptable, but who caused it? Sharon, that's who!" said an elderly Muslim, referring to right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

"I don't want people to be killed ... no one has the right to take a life.

"It could have been my son."

- REUTERS

Feature: Middle East

Map

UN: Information on the Question of Palestine

Israel's Permanent Mission to the UN

Palestine's Permanent Observer Mission to the UN

Middle East Daily

Arabic News

Arabic Media Internet Network

Jerusalem Post

Israel Wire

US Department of State - Middle East Peace Process