Haifa Suicide Bomber's Mum 'Proud of my Son'

Monday March 10, 2003 01:36

by Avi H.

This article is based in part on documents translated and provided by the IDF information unit and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On March 5, 2003, Mahmoud Hamdan Kwasma detonated the explosives belt he was wearing inside an Israeli bus, in the city of Haifa. Sixteen Israelis, including Arabs and Druze young people, were murdered. Scores more were wounded, many of them schoolchildren and students. Many of the injured remain in critical condition.

The suicide bomber was 20 years old, a student of the Hebron Polytechnic University (from which a large number of suicide bombers have emerged) and a member of the Hamas terrorist organization.

The mother of the suicide bomber, described as "Um Shadi," praised her son's deeds, and refused to act as if in mourning. The following is a translation of an article published on the Islamic Jihad's official website on March 6, 2003:

"The women swarmed around the Um Shadi, mother of Mahmoud Hamdan Kwasma, who carried out the suicide bombing on Wednesday in Haifa.They had come in order to praise her for the death of her son in the service of Allah."

"In the Kwasma household, situated on the first floor of a building in the Al-sheikh neighborhood in the city of Hebron, the Um Shadi served sweet coffee and 'Knaffe' [a sweet pastry eaten at celebrations].

The Um Shadi was not dressed in the ritual black dress of mourning, and did not serve bitter coffee as is customary on solemn occasions. She received the guests who had come to "mourn" holding, with a mixture of pride and matriarchal pain, the picture of her son clad in a red head dress."

"The Um Shadi addressed the journalists and quoted a passage from the Koran: 'Do not treat those who have died for the path of Allah as dead, but rather as living with Allah and being fed by his hand. She added 'my son is a Shahid [martyr], my son is alive and being nurtured [by Allah] and he is not dead.'"

The Um Shadi went on to say "I am proud of my son's deed, we must fight for our faith and not for our nation."

A senior Israeli security source emphasized that, in the overwhelming majority of cases, parents of suicide bombers are supportive of the decision by their children to take part in suicide attacks. Mothers who send their sons off to perpetrate such acts gain recognition from organizations like Hamas, who give them special recognition for giving up their sons to fight the infidels until death. Families of suicide bombers are also compensated by the Palestinian Authority and by foreign nations, iincluding Iraq.

The Hamas uses these women in television interviews and in internet discussion forums to encourage other mothers to send their sons to perpetrate suicide attacks.

Bomber praised September 11 as act of God
A letter found on her son's body praised the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers:

"One of the miracles of the Koran - We present it to the Muslims, Jews and Christians: The World Trade Center situated on a New York street corner on the edge of the water collapsed on 11 September 2001. Allah said 1,400 years ago that the end of the world will come on that street in that building."