He Was Arab and Israeli and Now a Victim, Too
Ayman Kabaha, an Israeli Arab student killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber in Jerusalem on Tuesday, was buried here today on a rocky hillside, mourned by relatives on both sides of this Arab village that lies half in Israel and half in the West Bank.

Mr. Kabaha's death at the hands of a fellow Arab underlined the predicament of the people living here. A million Israeli Arabs are caught in a conflict between their country and their people. "We're between the hammer and the anvil," said Abed Mahameed, an Israeli Arab friend of Mr. Kabaha. "We want the Palestinians to be free of occupation, but suicide bombing is a savage form of resistance, and we can be its victims along with the Jews. We're in a tremendous dilemma."

"It hurts me inside, but I can't say anything," said Mahmud Kabaha, 25, a relative of the slain student from the Israeli Arab side of the village. "There's pressure on us from both directions."

Jihad Kabaha, 30, from the West Bank side of Bartaa, was reluctant to say anything about Ayman Kabaha's death that he feared could get him in trouble with either Palestinian militants or the Israeli authorities. "God have mercy on him," he said.

But others spoke more freely, denouncing what they called the killing of innocents by both Palestinians and Israelis. "We are against the acts of the suicide bombers, but we are also against what the Israeli Army is doing in the occupied territories," said Riyad Kabaha, a former mayor of the Israeli side of Bartaa who now directs an Arab-Jewish peace center. "We're against any killing of civilians."

"The suicide bombers harm Palestinian interests, and the occupation is against the interests of Israel," he said, adding that his response reflected "my identity problem as an Israeli Arab who feels part of the Palestinian people and part of Israel."

Ghassan Kabaha, mayor of the West Bank side of Bartaa, said the root of the suicide attacks was the Israeli military presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Ayman Kabaha's death by suicide bombing, he said, "is a result of the occupation."

"We condemn the reason for his death, which is the occupation," he said. "Removal of the occupation will stop the bloodshed."

Abdel Kader Jad, also from the West Bank side of the village, said that while the suicide bombings were a response to Israeli killings of Palestinians, the bombers were no heroes. "Making peace is more heroic than martyrdom operations," he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/20/international/middleeast/20ARAB.html