Grandmother Blows Herself Up in Gaza

64-Year-Old Grandmother Blows Herself Up Near Israeli Troops in Gaza

By SARAH EL DEEB

JEBALIYA, Gaza Strip Nov 23, 2006 (AP)— A 64-year-old Palestinian grandmother blew herself up near Israeli troops sweeping through northern Gaza on Thursday, and eight other Palestinians were killed in a day of clashes and rocket fire.

The militant Hamas, which is in charge of the Palestinian government, claimed responsibility for the suicide attack and identified the bomber as Fatma Omar An-Najar. Her relatives said she was 64 by far the oldest of the more than 100 Palestinian suicide bombers who have targeted Israelis over the past six years.

Israeli forces were moving through the Jebaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza on the second day of an operation to stem rocket fire from the coastal strip into southern Israel. They spotted a woman acting suspiciously, the military said. Soldiers threw a stun grenade, a weapon that makes a loud nose but causes no damage. The woman then set off explosives she was carrying, killing herself and slightly wounding two soldiers.

At the compound where her extended family lives near Jebaliya camp, her oldest daughter Fatheya explained the bomber's motives.

"They (Israelis) destroyed her house, they killed her grandson my son. Another grandson is in a wheelchair with an amputated leg," she said.

Female suicide bombers were a rarity during the first several years of the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but that has gradually changed. The last suicide bombing, on Nov. 6, was also carried out by a woman in northern Gaza.

But the past few weeks have seen an increase in militant activity by women in Gaza who have served as "human shields" defending the homes of militants that Israel has threatened to destroy.

Fatheya said she and her mother had taken part in rally at a Gaza mosque three weeks ago where women defied a cordon of heavily armed Israeli troops to create a diversion for besieged Hamas fighters to slip away.

"She and I, we went to the mosque. We were looking for martyrdom," the daughter said.

Hamas spokesman Abu Obeideh said both Palestinian men and women are committed to battling the Israelis.

"We told the Zionist enemy we will meet it with many surprises … and this is one of the surprises," he said.

Before setting out on her mission, An-Najar filmed the video testament customary for suicide bombers. A copy obtained by The Associated Press showed a petite woman wearing a white headscarf and black dress, toting an assault rifle on her shoulder and standing in front of a Hamas wall mural.

Reading from a sheet of paper, she dedicated her attack to the Hamas-led government and to the movement's military commander, Mohammed Deif.

"I hope God accepts it," she said.

Eight other Palestinians were killed Thursday. In Gaza, three militants from the Palestinian Resistance Committees were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their car, Palestinian security and hospital officials said. The military confirmed the air force had attacked a vehicle.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades said one of its men, a 20-year-old, was killed in a clash.

Two Hamas militants were killed in a gun battle with Israeli forces, and another was shot dead as he was about to fire a rocket at Israel, the military said. Another man died of wounds in a Gaza hospital. It was not known whether he was a militant or a civilian.

Despite the stepped up Israeli military operations, militants kept firing their homemade rockets at southern Israel. Five were fired from Gaza, the army said. No one was hurt.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas denounced the Israeli raids, using terms like massacre and barbaric, but blamed the rocket squads for setting it off.

"There is no need for these rockets, because the action of these rockets will not reach the level of the Israeli reaction," he told his Fatah Party late Thursday.

Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz was in Sderot, next to northern Gaza, where he lives, when the alarm warning of a rocket attack sounded. Channel 10 TV showed him being hustled by security officers into a concrete-lined room, and seconds later the explosion of two rockets could be heard clearly.

The escalating violence added urgency to diplomatic efforts to defuse the conflict.

In one hopeful sign, the Damascus-based supreme leader of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, began talks with Egyptian mediators in Cairo on a vital prisoner swap with Israel and formation of a Palestinian national unity government that could end months of crippling Western aid sanctions.

No announcement was made after the talks between Mashaal and the chief of Egyptian intelligence, Omar Suleiman, Egypt's point man for the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

The capture in late June of an Israeli soldier by Hamas-linked militants set off the latest Israeli offensive in Gaza. Israel insists the soldier must be returned before other issues are discussed.

Hamas official Mussa Abu Marzouk told the AP that negotiations were centering on Israel's three-stage release of 1,400 Palestinian prisoners, including 400 children and women, in exchange for the soldier.

Mashaal, who is recognized as having the final say in Hamas, was also expected to discuss prospects for replacing the current Hamas-led Palestinian Cabinet with a more moderate coalition including Abbas' more moderate Fatah Party. Talks have been sputtering for months.

Abbas told his party Thursday that before a government is formed, a cease-fire must be in place, the Israeli soldier must be freed and dozens of Palestinian members of parliament and Cabinet ministers held by Israel must be released.

The West cut off funds to the Palestinian government in March, when Hamas took control after sweeping Fatah out of office in a parliamentary election. The U.S., Europe and Israel list Hamas as a terror group. A government with Fatah might satisfy Western demands.

British Muslims Condemn Israeli Terrorism in Gaza

T H E M U S L I M C O U N C I L O F B R I T A I N
8 November 2006

Press Release

British Muslims Condemn Israeli Terrorism in Gaza


The Muslim Council of Britain is horrified by Israel’s indiscriminate killing of 18 Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip this morning. Most of those killed were women and children, all killed in their homes. These acts of appalling criminality serve to demonstrate yet again, that many Israelis regard the Palestinian people in a racist manner and as a sub-human species.

Less than one week after the Israeli Armed Forces shamelessly opened fire on a peaceful demonstration of women in the Bayt Hanun district of Gaza, before the cameras of the world, it has returned to kill more innocents.

‘Nothing justifies this repressive and murderous campaign. The Israeli claim that this is in response to the rockets fired from Gaza is plainly ludicrous. The fact that five Israelis have been killed in total in the last six years from these rockets while more than 80 Palestinians have been killed in the last week alone suggests that this policy is wildly disproportionate and calculated to terrorize’, said Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain.

We call upon the British government to use its diplomatic and political influence to put an end to these despicable war crimes and to lift the inhuman sanctions against the Palestinian people so that they may be supplied with desperately needed medicine.

[ENDS]

Notes to Editors:

The Muslim Council of Britain is the UK's main representative Muslim umbrella body with over 400 affiliated national, regional and local organisations, mosques, charities and schools.

Media enquiries should be addressed to the MCB Media Office on 0845 26 26 786 or 07956 353 738. Email: media@mcb.org.uk.

Non-media enquiries should be addressed to the MCB Office at The Muslim Council of Britain, PO Box 57330, London E1 2WJ. Tel: 0845 26 26 786 Fax: 0207 247 7079

This press release and other MCB publications and information are available on the MCB website at www.mcb.org.uk.