Foiled suicide bomber now a peace activist

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But informers tipped off the Israelis and al-Qudsi was arrested.

Troops barged into her parents’ home one night in April 2002 and drove her away. She said they beat her with fists and rifle butts until she reached the local army lockup. She quickly confessed, but spent 42 days being questioned about who else was involved in the plot.

In a plea bargain, an Israeli military court sentenced her to six years in prison.

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Her lawyer, Khaled Dazuki, said the sentence was relatively light because no suicide belt was found. Dazuki believes the plan was in its early stages and his client wouldn’t have gone through with the attack.

Al-Qudsi described the Israeli prison as a warren of dirty, vermin-infested cells where guards sometimes tear-gassed troublesome inmates, including herself.

Now she has a job with a prisoners’ aid group, plans to study social work, and talks about her eagerness to tell ordinary Israelis her story and hear theirs.

She also struggles to explain her decision to become a bomber.

Asked how she could leave her young daughter motherless, she said, “God would have taken care of her.” Yet she also said the worst part of being in prison was being away from her child. She and Diana, now 13, are inseparable. The teenager says she’s thankful her mother is alive, wants nothing to do with politics, and dreams of going abroad to study law.

What made her change her mind after her arrest? She said that times are different now.

“I’m not sorry about what happened,” al-Qudsi said defiantly. She wanted the world to know about the suffering of the Palestinians under occupation, but said: “At the time, I didn’t think as a human being. I thought only of revenge.

“If I had thought it through better, I might not have made this decision.”