What can you say?

An interesting article in the International Herald Tribune about the family of the most recent Palestinian suicide bomber, a young woman. Her attack could be more significant than prior ones, since it provoked Israel to attack Syria, leading to who knows what results (although most immediately, perhaps, to a UN resolution condemning Israel's actions). This is not of course to minimize the immediate damage done to the killed Israelis and their families, as this story shows so poignantly.

In any event, the IHT discusses the bombers' family:

[O]n almost everything linked directly to the bombing, the family sounded programmatic, as though human responses were repressed. In place of tears, there were wan smiles when they talked about Hanadi's death, and a studied indifference towards the carnage she caused. The two parents spoke of the attack as "God's will", and said they felt honoured at the stream of visitors throughout Sunday "congratulating" them on their daughter having become an Islamic martyr.
When asked if they had any words of sorrow for the Israeli victims and their kin, a lengthy silence fell on the room. Eventually, Rahmeh Jaradat, Hanadi's mother, spoke up. "Tell them they should think about why our daughter did this," she said. After another pause, she resumed. "She has done what she has done, thank God, and I am sure that what she has done is not a shameful thing, she has done it for the sake of her people.

But Mrs. Jaradat - those were real people your daughter killed, not just abstract Israelis. And your daughter was a real person, not just a faceless Palestinian warrior. And her actions are only going to lead to more killing, on both sides, and make it harder to get to a peaceful and stable Palestinian state. There just don't seem to me to be any prospects for peace in this climate, and I cannot agree with the Washington Post's contention that it is ultimately Bush's fault. Both Israelis and Palestinians are going to have to take some responsibility for this, and make some hard sacifices of their own - harder than killing themselves and dozens of others with a bomb.
- posted by Anonymous @ 9:17 PM