ZARQA, Jordan — The Hotaris are preparing for a party to celebrate the
killing of 21 Israelis this month by their son, a suicide bomber. Neighbors
hang pictures on their trees of Saeed Hotari holding seven sticks of
dynamite. They spray-paint graffiti reading "21 and counting" on their
stone
walls. And they arrange flowers in the shapes of a heart and a bomb to
display on their front doors. "I am very happy and proud of what my son did
and, frankly, am a bit jealous," says Hassan Hotari, 54, father of the
young
man who carried out the attack June 1 outside a disco in Tel Aviv. It was
Israel's worst suicide bombing in nearly four years. "I wish I had done
(the
bombing). My son has fulfilled the Prophet's (Mohammed's) wishes. He has
become a hero! Tell me, what more could a father ask?"
In more than a dozen interviews with former and current members of the
militant group Hamas and with Israeli security officials who track them, USA
TODAY was given a rare look into the secretive and terrifying world of
suicide bombers and the culture that creates them.
Lured by promises of financial stability for their families, eternal
martyrdom and unlimited sex in the afterlife, dozens of militant
Palestinians like Hotari aspire to blow themselves up, Israeli and
Palestinian officials say. Their goal: to kill or injure as many Jews as
possible in the hope that Israel will withdraw from Gaza and the West Bank.
Israel captured the land in 1967.
The bombings, which have spread fear and despair among Israelis, have proved
to be the deadliest weapon in the Palestinian arsenal during the current
intifada, or uprising. The intifada has claimed more than 600 lives, most of
them Palestinian, since September.
"Even if we can't reach the goal of an end to occupation, we are inflicting
losses on the enemy," says Abdel Aziz Rantissi, a spokesman for Hamas. The
group has claimed responsibility for most of the suicide bombings.
"Israelis
will have no stability and no security until the occupation ends. Suicide
bombers are Israel's future."
Since 1993, nearly 190 people have been killed and thousands injured in 28
suicide bombings in Israel. Three of those bombings have occurred since
March, including the Tel Aviv disco attack. A fragile Israeli-Palestinian
cease-fire has held for nearly a month, but Hamas officials warn of two more
bombings in the "very near future."
"When I walk outside, young (Palestinian) children come up to me and say,
'Conduct another bombing to make us happy, sheik,' " says Sheik Hasan Yosef,
45, the senior Hamas leader in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "I cannot
disappoint them. They won't have to wait long."
Visions of paradise
At any time, Israeli officials believe, Hamas has from five to 20 men, ages
18 to 23, awaiting orders to carry out suicide attacks. The group also
claims to have "tens of thousands" of youths ready to follow in their
footsteps. "We like to grow them," Yosef says. "From kindergarten
through
college."
In Hamas-run kindergartens, signs on the walls read: "The children of the
kindergarten are the shaheeds (holy martyrs) of tomorrow." The classroom
signs at Al-Najah University in the West Bank and at Gaza's Islamic
University say, "Israel has nuclear bombs, we have human bombs."
At an Islamic school in Gaza City run by Hamas, 11-year-old Palestinian
student Ahmed's small frame and boyish smile are deceiving. They mask a
determination to kill at any cost. "I will make my body a bomb that will
blast the flesh of Zionists, the sons of pigs and monkeys," Ahmed says.
"I
will tear their bodies into little pieces and cause them more pain than they
will ever know."
"Allahu Akbar," his classmates shout in response: "God is
great."
"May the virgins give you pleasure," his teacher yells, referring to
one of
the rewards awaiting martyrs in paradise. Even the principal smiles and nods
his approval.
"You don't start educating a shaheed at age 22," says Roni Shaked, a
terrorism expert and former officer in Israel's Shin Bet secret service.
"You start at kindergarten so by the time he's 22, he's looking for an
opportunity to sacrifice his life."
Some suicide bombers, like Hotari, come to their deadly missions by a
slightly different route. They turn themselves into human bombs because they
are frustrated by the economic and political duress Palestinians experience
in Jordan and throughout the region.
Hamas says its recruiters, most of whom Israeli officials describe as
charismatic religious leaders, look for two qualities in a potential bomber:
an intense interest in Islam and a clean criminal record so as not to raise
the suspicions of Israel's secret service.
Saeed Hotari, who was 22, fit both of those criteria. He was "a devout
Muslim who used to pray, observed fasting and performed all his religious
obligations to the letter and spirit," his father says. One of nine
children, he left Zarqa, outside the Jordanian capital of Amman, for the
West Bank city of Qalqilya in 1999 to seek a better life.
In Qalqilya, he and two other Palestinian youths went to a mosque where
Sheik Jamel Tawil, a Hamas leader, persuaded them to attend a Hamas-run
class on Islamic study. All would eventually be suicide bombers and would
carry out their attacks within days of each other.
At the Hamas-run classes, recruits are reminded of Israel's "illegal
occupation" of the West Bank and Gaza, its "barbaric treatment"
of
Palestinians and the Islamic prophet Mohammed's call for Muslims to wage war
against infidels. "Kill the idolaters wherever you find them," Yosef
says.
(Israeli officials say they are targeting militant leaders like Yosef for
arrest or assassination).
After several weeks of schooling, the youths often volunteer to be suicide
bombers, Yosef says. "If someone confiscated your land, demolished your
home, built settlements to prevent you from coming back, killed your
children and blocked you from going to work, wouldn't you want to fight for
your country?" Yosef asks.
In return for "martyrdom," Hamas tells the youths that their families
will
be financially compensated, their pictures will be posted in schools and
mosques, and they will earn a special place in heaven.
They also are promised something more risqué: unlimited sex with 72 virgins
in heaven. The Koran, the sacred book of Islam, describes the women as
"beautiful like rubies, with complexions like diamonds and pearls." In
one
of the passages of the Koran, it is said the martyrs and virgins shall
"delight themselves, lying on green cushions and beautiful carpets."
Since
the time of Mohammed, martyrs have always been considered those willing to
die defending Islam.
Holy rewards for suffering
For some young Muslims, that offer is too much to turn down.
"I know my life is poor compared to Europe or America, but I have something
awaiting me that makes all my suffering worthwhile," says Bassam Khalifi,
16, a Hamas youth leader in Gaza's Bureij refugee camp. "Most boys can't
stop thinking about the virgins."
But in the end, says Shaked, the Israeli terrorism expert, most of the
bombers don't sign up for martyrdom for the promise of unlimited sex. "They
join because of their absolute devotion to God and their desire to die with
Jewish blood on their hands," he says. "It's not a heroic thing, it's
a holy
thing."
A would-be bomber is selected for his mission only days, sometimes hours,
before it is to occur, Israeli officials say. As part of the preparation,
the recruit is taken to a cemetery, where he is told to prepare for death by
lying between gravesites for hours. He wears a white, hooded shroud normally
used to cover bodies for burial, a former Hamas member says.
The recruit is then taken to a safe house. A video is made in which he
states his consent to become a suicide bomber and his devotion to Islam. It
will be played for the public after his death. A still photograph is taken
that will be reproduced and displayed through the West Bank and Gaza to
honor him after death.
Because secrecy is paramount, Hamas leaders will not allow the recruit to
say goodbye to his family or tell them his plans.
Meanwhile, separate Hamas groups already have selected the target,
constructed the bomb that will be attached to the recruit's belt and started
preparations to get him to the site, Israeli officials say.
Once at the target site, the recruit is told to remain calm, blend in as
much as possible and, when surrounded by Israelis, press a switch to explode
the bomb, Hamas members say. Just as Hotari's friend Mahmoud Marmash did.
On May 18, Israeli security guard Lior Kamisa saw Marmash, 21, standing in
line with dozens of Israelis outside a shopping mall in the Israeli seaside
city of Netanya.
"We locked eyes," Kamisa recalls. "His eyes were frozen. They
showed no
emotion." Realizing that Marmash looked out of place among the Israelis and
was wearing an oversized blue sport jacket, Kamisa radioed for help.
It was too late. Marmash slowly unbuttoned his jacket, slipped his hand
inside and pressed a switch that ignited the dynamite. The explosion killed
five Israelis. Kamisa looked for Marmash but couldn't find him. "He was
gone. He had turned to dust."
On June 1, it was Hotari's turn. Israeli officials, quoting eyewitnesses,
say two Hamas operatives drove him to the Dolphin Disco in Tel Aviv, a
popular club often packed with Russian immigrant teenagers. They said Hotari
slipped unnoticed into line and positioned himself among several girls,
including a 14-year-old who had survived Marmash's attack in Netanya.
Then, while flirting with one of the girls, Hotari triggered the explosives.
The blast was so intense that it tore limbs from the victims' bodies,
scattered their flesh up to six blocks away and vaporized Hotari and the
girl next to him.
It killed 21 people, in addition to Hotari, and injured nearly 100.
Now, nearly 30 days later, his parents are preparing to mark the anniversary
of his death, as devout Muslims often do.
"My prayer is that Saeed's brothers, friends and fellow Palestinians will
sacrifice their lives, too," Hotari's father says. "There is no better
way
to show God you love him."
