(New Republic) Joshua Hammer - The Islamic Jihad has refused to join the Hamas ceasefire. The group has carried out seven suicide bombings in the past year, including an April 17 attack in Tel Aviv. Hamas officials have applauded the bombings. Their statements have fueled suspicions that Hamas is using Islamic Jihad as a surrogate for killing Israelis, and made it even more unlikely that the international community will rescue the bankrupt government. That may explain why the general Palestinian public has begun to swing against Islamic Jihad and its suicide bombers. Ibrahim Ajami, whose son, Suheib, blew himself up at a checkpoint, killing two Palestinian bystanders and an Israeli soldier, indicated that many Palestinians have begun to blame Islamic Jihad for their sorry living conditions. "For normal people, Islamic Jihad is not popular. My neighbors tell me, 'Look at our lives now, because of your son.'" Eighty-two bombers, most of them from Islamic Jihad, have tried to pass through breaches in the security barrier since January, according to Israel's State Attorney's Office. The Israel Defense Forces are pursuing the remnants of Islamic Jihad relentlessly; the entire generation of Islamic Jihad members over the age of 25 in Tulkarem has been wiped out.
2006-04-19 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive