From suicide bomber to peacenik, Shifa al-Qudsi 'thought only of revenge' - Haaretz

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Mon., September 08, 2008 Elul 8, 5768

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Last update - 12:22 03/03/2008

From suicide bomber to peacenik, Shifa al-Qudsi 'thought only of revenge'

By The Associated Press

Tags: Terrorism, Peace Process

Six years ago, Shifa al-Qudsi was plotting to strap on explosives under a maternity dress and blow herself up among Israelis. Now she says she wants to meet them.

Just released from prison at age 30, the former hairdresser insists she has no regrets, but says times have changed.

"I hope to join a peace group," she says.

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"I am ready to talk to Israelis, to get closer."

Her transformation mirrors broader changes in Palestinian society in the West Bank, where enthusiasm for an armed uprising against Israel has given way to conflict fatigue and even some soul-searching over the use of violence.

Al-Qudsi's story also provides a glimpse of the motives of a suicide bomber and how easy it was at one time for militants to recruit young Palestinians - mostly men but also a few women - for 131 bombings that have killed hundreds of Israelis.

For al-Qudsi, the personal appeared to intersect with the political. While she said she wanted to avenge the suffering inflicted on Palestinians by Israeli troops, her ex-employer said al-Qudsi also felt depressed and stigmatized by her divorce.

Interviewed in her parents' home in the West Bank city of Tul Karem, al-Qudsi wore a tailored leather coat, pants, stiletto-heeled boots and a headscarf that seemed more a nod to social norms than a sign of religious piety. She appeared confident and optimistic.

One of 10 children, she married a cousin at 16, gave birth to a daughter, Diana, and divorced after two years when her husband took up with another woman. Returning to her parents' home with her baby daughter, al-Qudsi started working at a beauty parlor.

Her former boss, Zahwa Zakallah, described her employees as a fun-loving group that would occasionally take day trips, including several to the beach at Netanya, an Israeli city 16 kilometers west of Tul Karem that would become al-Qudsi's target.

Life changed after the intifada broke out in 2000. As a wave of bombings and shootings by Palestinian militant groups crested, Israeli forces reoccupied West Bank towns in a major military offensive. Troops also ringed the headquarters of late Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat, effectively putting him under house arrest.

Al-Qudsi said she was increasingly driven by a desire for revenge, and was particularly upset by Israel's humiliation of Arafat, a Palestinian icon.

In early 2002, her 16-year-old brother, Mahmoud, was caught with a suicide belt and sentenced to 18 years in prison. And a 27-year-old West Bank paramedic became the first female suicide bomber, killing an elderly Israeli man in Jerusalem.

Al-Qudsi said she sought contact with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent wing of Arafat's Fatah faction. She said she was told to reconsider and come back in a month. She persisted and was eventually accepted.

"I was waiting for the moment I could push the button and see the bodies flying," she said.

Her handlers wanted to send her to the town of Hadera, but al-Qudsi said she insisted on Netanya because she knew her way around the town. She was fitted for a vest meant to hold 33 pounds of explosives under the maternity dress.

The plan was for her to be accompanied by a male bomber disguised as an Israeli medic who would detonate his explosives minutes after she did, in order to kill Israeli rescuers.

But informers tipped off the Israelis and al-Qudsi was arrested.

Troops barged into her parents' home one night in April 2002 and drove her away. She said they beat her with fists and rifle butts until she reached the local army lockup. She quickly confessed, but spent 42 days being questioned about who else was involved in the plot.

In a plea bargain, an Israeli military court sentenced her to six years' imprisonment.

Her lawyer, Khaled Dazuki, said the sentence was relatively light because no suicide belt was found. Dazuki believes the plan was in its early stages and his client would not have gone through with the attack.

Al-Qudsi described the Israeli prison as a warren of dirty, vermin-infested cells where guards sometimes tear gassed troublesome inmates, including herself.

Now she has a job with a prisoners' aid group, plans to study social work, and talks about her eagerness to tell ordinary Israelis her story and hear theirs.

She also struggles to explain her decision to become a bomber.

Asked how she could leave her young daughter motherless, she said, "God would have taken care of her." Yet she also said the worst part of being in prison was being away from her child. She and Diana, now 13, are inseparable. The teenager says she's thankful her mother is alive, wants nothing to do with politics, and dreams of going abroad to study law.

"I'm not sorry about what happened," al-Qudsi said defiantly. She wanted the world to know about the suffering of the Palestinians, but at the time, "I didn't think as a human being," she said. "I thought only of revenge."

"If I had thought it through better, I might not have made this decision.

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1.	this animal should be locked away for ever	13:22	\|	don	03/03/08

2.	In her own words	13:24	\|	Nik Miller	03/03/08

3.	reach out to my ass	13:26	\|	Dror	03/03/08

4.	From suicide bomber to peacenik	13:29	\|	Gerald Zang	03/03/08

5.	A released pedophile who`d not regret would be condemned	13:55	\|	Absolute Sweden	03/03/08

6.	I wish you and your daughter a good life: take good care of her	13:56	\|	AA	03/03/08

7.	Delusional	14:21	\|	Mary	03/03/08

8.	love your daughter	14:27	\|	NR	03/03/08

9.	The terreroist who kills children	14:32	\|	Palestinian	03/03/08

10.	perfect example of why we need death penalty	14:40	\|	Yair Ben Zion	03/03/08

11.	Good story, but isn`t something missing?	14:52	\|	Nechama	03/03/08

12.	#7 mary of boston - YOU are an ILLEGAL occupant	15:02	\|	CK Tan	03/03/08

13.	Keep dreaming. I don`t see any signs of "conflict fatigue" !	15:39	\|	Jew	03/03/08

14.	#7 MARY, MARY QUITE CONTRARY, HOW DOES YOUR LOGIC GROW?	15:42	\|	SPTZ	03/03/08

15.	Mary#7 - that explains the many Israeli peace offers	16:06	\|	William	03/03/08

16.	Thank you for instructing us	16:15	\|	Robert Haymond	03/03/08

17.	Yes, Mary Jews want the whole huge land of Israel for themselves!	16:59	\|	Genuine Tosefta	03/03/08

18.	Female Suicde Bomber	17:02	\|	Mel (M)	03/03/08

19.	Where are these "broader changes" the writer has fabricated?	17:17	\|	McQueen	03/03/08

20.	She should`ve taken revenge on her ex-husband instead	17:18	\|	McQueen	03/03/08

21.	Palestinian	17:38	\|	Brad	03/03/08

22.	# 9 Very well said. I agree.	17:52	\|	Lara	03/03/08

23.	REVENGE!	18:01	\|	PE	03/03/08

24.	#9 \| @"Palestinian"	18:04	\|	Anti-Psycho	03/03/08

25.	#9 \| @"Palestinian"	18:04	\|	Anti-Psycho	03/03/08

26.	@Shifa al-Qudsi	18:06	\|	terror victim	03/03/08

27.	#7, Mary, dilusional. Israel 20% Arab, Jordan Palestine, 0% Jews	18:07	\|	David	03/03/08

28.	#7, MAry, oh, and the Arabs control over 80% of the land	18:09	\|	David	03/03/08

29.	Shifa al-Qudsi	18:15	\|	Yesh Chroman	03/03/08

30.	# 11 SPTZ	18:18	\|	Mary	03/03/08

31.	Now there will be a Mother-Daughter suicide bomber team, exciting	19:04	\|	Genuine Tosefta	03/03/08

32.	palestinian	20:05	\|	Connie	03/03/08

33.	Wants to be part of "peace group"? How`s that different from a	20:33	\|	SLAVO	03/03/08

34.	Palestinian#9 - addition to Connie`s remarks	20:59	\|	William	03/03/08

35.	To Don	21:09	\|	Mark B.	03/03/08

36.	# 1 SPTZ	21:24	\|	Mary	03/03/08

37.	Collaberating with the enemy	21:33	\|	M.O.	03/03/08

38.	@10, dror, igal amir did kill - better executed-	22:35	\|	vladimir	03/03/08

39.	@13, connie, pals are subhuman, so they cannot understand the dif	22:38	\|	vladimir	03/03/08

40.	Shifa al-Qudsi	17:59	\|	Iain Duncan	25/04/08

41.	"When they start loving their children more than they hate ours"	09:31	\|	Alain	08/09/08

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