Mother sad daughter didn't carry out bombing

Wafa Al-Bas (Courtesy YnetNews.com)

The mother of a woman arrested in a suicide-bombing attempt told a Palestinian TV interviewer she was upset by her daughter's capture, but only because it meant the 21-year-old wouldn't be able to kill Israelis targeted for attack, including children.

The mother of Wafa Al-Bas – arrested at the Erez border crossing last June concealing a 20-pound bomb under her clothing – spoke to official Palestinian Authority television in a segment translated by Israel-based Palestinian Media Watch.

Al-Bas was on her way to bomb the outpatient clinic of Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, where she had been receiving regular treatments for serious burns to 45 percent of her body from a gas stove explosion in her home.

She said her greatest wish was to kill 30 to 50 Israelis, including children.

PMW said the attack likely would have killed or maimed the Israeli doctor who saved her life.

In the Feb. 20 interview, the mother said her daughter had wanted to be a martyr since she was a little girl. But the mother didn't encourage her – not due to opposition to suicide bombing – but because Wafa was female.

"If it was a boy, I would have supported, but since she is a girl I discouraged," the mother said.

PMW commented: "Once again, the message to Palestinian society from broadcasts like this is that suicide bombing is not wrong. Indeed, it is seen as an honor and a joy to raise a child to be a suicide bomber – at least if that child is a son."

PMW published a partial transcript of the interview:

Interviewer: "How did you receive the news of Wafa's arrest?"

Mother: "When I received the news, it was hard for me. Hard."

Interviewer: "Excuse me, was the hardship in that she failed in the martyrdom-seeking operation and was arrested, or in the arrest itself?"

Mother: "The arrest itself. Her wish was martyrdom, Wafa, since she was a little girl."

Interviewer: "Meaning, you hoped she would be a martyr?"

Mother: "Her wish was to be a martyr."

Interviewer: "Did you encourage her?"

Mother: "To tell you the truth, I didn't encourage her. I talked to Wafa about the issue, about not agreeing to it because she is a girl. Were it a boy, I would have supported, but since she is a girl, I discouraged."

PMW noted previous examples of mothers expressing joy in broadcasts on Palestinian TV over a child's "martyrdom."

One mother, in November 2003, said her son's suicide terrorist attack was like a wedding, a time of joy.

"Mothers make sounds of joy [on their son's martyrdom] because she wants him to reach martyrdom. ... I wanted the best for him ... [it was] honor for us," the mother said.

The Middle East Media Research Institute translated a television interview with a Palestinian legislative candidate last December who told why her Islamic faith required her to sacrifice three of her sons to terrorist operations and why she believed there were no prohibitions against killing civilians until the Jews are completely banished from Israel.

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