[BBC News] Martin Patience - The green flags of Hamas flew in the West Bank city of Hebron last week at the home of suicide bomber Shadi al-Zagher, 20, one of two suicide bombers dispatched by Hamas to the Israeli town of Dimona in an attack that killed one Israeli. Women crowded in to pay their respects to his mother, praising him as a martyr. "He's a groom," said his mother, sitting surrounded by 70 women, a Hamas scarf round her neck. "We smile, we don't cry." The fact that the bombers came from the West Bank is one illustration of the support that Hamas continues to enjoy there. Just as Fatah commands support in Gaza, Hamas commands support in the West Bank, particularly in Hebron and Nablus. According to Jamil Rabeh, director of Near East Consulting based in Ramallah, Hamas would receive about 35% of the vote in the West Bank today.
2008-02-20 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive