- AL-AM'ARI REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (Reuters) - Thousands of Palestinians marched in a symbolic
funeral on Thursday for the first woman to carry out a fatal bomb attack
against Israel, calling her a hero and urging others to follow in her
path.
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- Family members identified Wafa' Idrees on Tuesday as
the bomber behind Sunday's suicide attack in Jerusalem in which an elderly
Israeli was killed and more than 100 were hurt.
-
- An Israeli police spokesman said police were still
independently
investigating the identity of the bomber whose remains were still being
held by Israel.
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- At least 2,000 Palestinians marched in the 28-year-old
medic's funeral at a West Bank refugee camp, following an empty wooden
coffin draped with Palestinian flags. Pictures of the dead woman were
pinned
to the flags and pasted on the camp's alley walls.
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- "Wafa' is a hero," mourners chanted as masked
gunmen fired in the air.
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- Sunday's attack on Jaffa Road in Jewish West Jerusalem
was the first by a Palestinian woman in the 16-month uprising against
Israeli
occupation.
-
- A mutilated female body was found in an alley off the
main street, popular with shoppers and strollers, after the blast. It was
still unclear whether Idrees detonated the bomb or was killed by a faulty
fuse.
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- Many people in the camp supported her attack and
encouraged
other women to follow suit to retaliate for what they regard as Israeli
aggression against the Palestinian people. "Women now should follow
in her footsteps," said Suha, a camp resident.
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- THOUSANDS MORE LIKE HER?
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- Idrees' friends told Reuters that she was not a known
activist in a Palestinian faction or militant group. But they said they
understood why she had decided to target Israelis.
-
- "I think that the level of Israeli suppression and
degradation against us are creating thousands of Wafas," said Amne
Aydeyyeh, 30, a close friend for 15 years.
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- Idrees was hit by Israeli rubber bullets and attacked
by soldiers during her work as a medic, her family said.
-
- "I believe that she wanted to tell the Israelis
that we can hurt you too. All women should do that," said Rana, who
declined to give her surname.
-
- Most of the suicide attacks which have now killed scores
of Israelis were carried out by Islamist suicide bombers but Idrees did
not fit the usual profile. Family pictures show her in make-up and
sleeveless
dresses.
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- "Wafa's case is only the beginning for other women
to do the same," said Aydeyyeh. "It is not because we want to
kill Israelis but because they are killing our people."
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reserved.
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