Friday, April 26, 2002

Young Egyptians Hearing Call of 'Martyrdom'
One day recently, a 23-year-old Egyptian man, Milad Mohammed Hemeida, strode past Egyptian guards near the border with Israel, scattering them with a warning: "If anyone comes near me," he said, "I will blow myself up."

Mr. Hemeida kept going, security officials said, straight into the narrow no man's land that separates the two countries. From the other side, Israeli soldiers ordered him to stop, then fired over his head. "God is great!" Mr. Hemeida shouted back in Arabic.
One of the Israeli soldiers fired again, felling the young man with a single shot.

Mr. Hemeida was not carrying any explosives, officials said. But since his death the following day, he has been celebrated in Egypt as the first in a new line of Arab martyrs to the Palestinian cause.

The specter is one that has long frightened officials in both Israel and the Arab countries that surround it — of promising young Arabs, frustrated by a lack of opportunity at home and infuriated by Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, joining the fight in a way they have not done since 1948.

It is also a prospect that has suddenly become very real.

Egyptian officials have confirmed that half a dozen young men and women, including Mr. Hemeida, have been stopped trying to sneak into Israel since last week, apparently to carry out attacks. One Egyptian security official said that since last month, the security forces have been arresting several such young people each day.

In response, Egypt has tightened control of the border, carefully searching young people at checkpoints well back from the international line. Last Sunday, security officials outside this northern town turned back journalists trying to reach the city of Rafah, on Egypt's seven-mile border with the Gaza Strip, saying they could no longer visit without special Interior Ministry permission.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/26/international/middleeast/26EGYP.html

No comments:

Post a Comment

con·cept