Bereaved family refuses Jihad apology

The family of Jamil Qa'adan who was killed in Hadera bombing last month says apology by Islamic Jihad is not accepted

Roee Nahmias|Published: 11.05.05 , 18:37

The Qa’adan family whose son Jamil was killed in the Hadera suicide bombing last month is struggling to cope with the grief. The death of Jamil, a 48 years-old Hebrew teacher, was the third tragedy in a row for his family from the Israeli-Arab town of Baqa al-Gharbiya. His father passed away two weeks ago, and his younger brother Ziad died on the operating table during a heart surgery about a month ago.

Qa'adan arrived in Hadera after he finished work in Haifa, and was on his way to a local Bank branch near the market when the blast occurred.

A recent apology from Islamic Jihad for the death of Jamil did little to assuage the Qa’adans. Jamil’s brother Abdelrasek told Ynet that the family refuses to accept the apology. Jamil, says Abdelrasek, was the family’s supporting pillar and no apology will bring him back.

“We don’t accept Islamic Jihad’s apology. What’s the point in apologizing when you kill my brother? Declerations like these do not comfort us. Jamil was the central pillar of the family and with his death the family collapsed. If my brother’s death would have brought forward the establishment of an independent Palestinian state I would have sacrificed myself for this purpose. Yet do apologies bring Jamil back?” said Abdelrasek.

Abdelrasek continued that his brother earned a decent living from his own hard work and decided to serve his people. “His Jihad was in his work as a teacher in the Arab sector. I still can’t believe he is not alive. My brother is a shahid (martyr) of education and culture and we call on everyone saying: ‘enough blood spilling’,” he said.

He added that there is no escape from dialogue for reaching fair peace between Israel and the Palestinians. “Enough to bereaved families, enough to widows and orphans,” he said, hoping his brother’s death would be the last in the ongoing conflict.

Abdelrasek thanked all those who visited and supported the family including officials from the Education Ministry and Israeli Arab Members of Knesset.

Five Israelis were killed and 20 others were injured when Hassan abu-Zayed, a 20-year-old Islamic Jihad activist from West Bank town of Kabatiya, near Jenin, blew up himself outside a falafel kiosk in the Hadera market.