Wafa al-Biri, a 21-year-old Palestinian woman, attempted to kill the doctor who had saved her life. But not for the reasons you might think.
NBC's Martin Fletcher writes:
"She was easy pickings for someone with a bomb and a cause. According to Wafa, the al-Aqsa militants came knocking. Here was a vulnerable young woman, willing to die, and moreover with the golden ticket -- a pass for humanitarian reasons to a hospital in Israel. After all, who would check the underwear of a sick young woman on her way to the hospital?
"A hundred patients mill around the outpatient ward in the morning. Wafa could die a hero and a martyr with Jewish blood on her hands and not just her veins, after the dozen blood transfusions she received in the Israeli hospital."
Fletcher's story is here.
The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies notes that "a senior figure in Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, nicknamed Abu Muss'ab, said in an interview:
"Today's attempt has failed, but the next attempt will be a success and it will make the Israelis tremble."
The interviewer then asked Abu Muss'ab: "But if the terrorist attack had succeeded, it would have ruined any chance the Sharon-Abu Mazen summit may have for success and would have been a death blow to the disengagement [plan]." He answered: "The political agenda is no concern of ours." ... Later on, Abu Muss'ab also threatened to send "not [just] one female suicide bomber, not [just] one male suicide bomber, but an unlimited quantity of suicide bombers to every stretch of land in occupied Palestine ..."