Who are the suicide bombers?
    

Vocabulary

suicide 1) самоубийство
commit suicide — покончить жизнь самоубийством
2) самоубийца

ignite 1) зажигать
2) загораться

depth глубина, глубь; pl пучина а get out of one's depth — быть не по силам, быть выше чьего-л. понимания

appear 1) появляться
2) казаться

straight 1. a 1) прямой
2) правильный
3) честный
4) амер. неразбавленный
2. adv 1) прямо
2) немедленно straight away — сразу

conscious 1) сознающий be conscious (of) — сознавать with conscious superiority — с сознанием своего превосходства
2) сознательный; здравый

release 1. n освобождение
а press release — официальное заявление для печати
2. v 1) освобождать
2) выпускать
3) разрешать публикацию (книги, речи и т. п.), демонстрацию (фильма)

T-shirt майка

contrary 1. a 1) противоположный (to)
2) неблагоприятный
3) разг. упрямый
2. n противоположность on the (или to the) contrary — наоборот
3. adv вопреки act contrary to common sense — поступать вопреки здравому смыслу

fervency горячность, пыл

purpose 1. n 1) намерение; цель answer the purpose — годиться, соответствовать; подходить
of set purpose c — умыслом
on purpose — нарочно
to the purpose — как раз, кстати to little purpose, to no purpose — зря, напрасно
to some purpose — не зря, не напрасно
2) целеустремлённость, воля
2. v намереваться

deepen 1) углублять
2) углубляться

gradually постепенно

reward 1. n вознаграждение; награда
2. v 1) награждать
2) воздавать

embrace 1. v 1) обнимать
2) обниматься
3) принимать (теорию, учение и т. п.)
4) включать, охватывать
2. n объятия

zeal рвение, усердие

vigilant бдительный

The suicide bombers can get right to their targets
By BBC News Online's Kate Milner

A series of suicide bombings against Israelis in the past few days have ignited fears in Israel of a new campaign - as threatened by Islamic militant groups.

In 1996, for example, Israel was paralysed by a series of suicide bombings that killed more than 50 people.

It is a measure of the depth of feeling among Palestinians - anger, resentment and in some cases despair - that there appears to be no shortage of recruits ready to die for a Palestinian state.


I am the next martyr... I will tear their bodies and their bones into pieces
Hussein Mohammed Tawil, suicide bomber
The suicide bombers are typically unmarried men in their late teens and 20s.

They act in the belief that they will go straight to paradise, where they will get places of honour next to God.

Media-conscious

Most of the bombers are affiliated to the Palestinian militant groups Hamas or Islamic Jihad.

Hamas has admitted it was behind a suicide attack that killed two Israeli teenagers at a bus stop on 28 March, and also an attack on a bus in Jerusalem on 27 March that injured 30 Israelis.

In an amateur video released by Hamas, the bomber of the first of these attacks read a statement vowing to kill Jews and become the next martyr.

"I will tear their bodies and their bones into pieces so they will taste death," said Hussein Mohammed Tawil. "To kill the Zionists, the occupiers, we will do this in honour of the martyrs, in honour of the Prophet."

Hamas said the bomber was a university student in the West Bank city Ramallah. He appeared from the video to be in his early 20s, clean-cut and wearing a t-shirt.

The young man blew himself up next to a bus in the French Hill area of Jerusalem. He had worn explosives on his belt.

Such attacks are, according to analysts, planned meticulously, along the lines of a military operation.

In some cases, support teams transport the bomber by van or car to the location minutes before the detonation.

The Palestinian militant groups, which are Sunni Muslim, resemble the Lebanese Shia'a militant group Hezbollah in that they are acutely media-conscious and the timing and positioning of attacks are carefully considered to achieve the maximum public impact.

The explosives usually have a hand-pulled detonator rather than a button, because it is less likely to go off accidentally.

Promised rewards

Some media reports have speculated that suicide bombers take drugs before they go on their missions, but this would run contrary to the strict religious teachings they adhere to.

They are likely to be motivated by religious fervour.

According to Islamic tradition, he who gives his life for an Islamic cause will have his sins forgiven and a place reserved in paradise.

For many years, suicide attacks on Israelis have been seen by some Palestinians as just such acts of martyrdom.

Recruits are reassured by their organisation that their families will be looked after materially until they die, and there are charitable organisations that exist for this purpose.

Recruits are picked out from mosques, schools and religious institutions. They are likely to have shown particular dedication to the principles of Islam, and are singled out for deeper study.

Gradually, they get more involved in political issues, and are taught the rewards that will await them if they sacrifice their lives.

Eventually, many of them will volunteer for a suicide mission, hoping for greater glory.

They will spend less and less time with their families and devote themselves to religious study and spiritual preparation. They are sent out with just a day or two's notice on how and where to blow themselves up.

Faced with men who embrace their mission with such zeal, Israeli security forces will have to be extra vigilant to stop them.

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