Word: martyrdom
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These days Palestinians celebrate the suicides in newspaper announcements that read, perversely, like wedding invitations. "The Abdel Jawad and Assad families and their relatives inside the West Bank and in the Diaspora declare the martyrdom of their son, the martyr Ahmen Hafez Sa'adat," reads a March 30 notice for the 22-year-old killer of four Israelis in a shooting attack. Palestinian children play a game called "Being a Martyr," in which the "martyr" buries himself in a shallow grave. And the job of bomber comes with established cash bonuses and health benefits for the surviving family. How else...
...Right now, somewhere in the West Bank, a hardened Palestinian militant is coaxing a traumatized teenager into becoming a human bomb. The recruiter is offering the glory of martyrdom in service of his suffering people. What alternative future does that teenager see? The frightening reality is that for much of Palestinian society the future looks so grim as to give suicide bombing a ghoulish appeal. And that's why restarting a process toward separating Palestinian society from Israeli occupation by creating a viable Palestinian state is a matter of considerable urgency. Both sides currently believe they're fighting for their...
...every case of martyrdom, there is a personal story of tragedy and trauma. A curious journalist once asked me to introduce him to a potential martyr. When the journalist asked, "Why would you do it?" he was told, "Would you fight for your country or not? Of course you would. You would be respected in your country as a brave man, and I would be remembered as a martyr...
...vanish in a morning breeze, can Israelis possibly hope for peace? They are living side-by-side with a culture that has embraced self-immolation as a weapon of war, in the hopes that enough blood will buy them what negotiation could not. The Palestinian people have chosen martyrdom and murder over compromise; how, then, does one seek a compromise with them? How does one negotiate in hell...
...bathroom without their permission. Sharon has made no secret of his belief that rather than cajoling Arafat to act, the best way to fight terrorism is to prevent him from acting by keeping him entirely isolated. His captivity has made Arafat more inclined to embrace the martyrdom language of Hamas than to sign off on the Tenet cease-fire plan. And if the operation's motivation was to stop the suicide bombings that have terrorized Israelis to the point of despair, then the fact that there have been six such attacks in as many days suggest there's no likelihood...