JORDAN ATTACKS CLAIM 17 FROM ONE FAMILY

Nov 10, 3:25 PM (ET)
By MOHAMMED BALLAS

SILET AL-THAHER, West Bank (AP) - In this Palestinian village, the Akhras clan mourned 17 relatives killed by a suicide bomber in Jordan - the first time Palestinians have been a target in a suicide attack.

"Oh my God, oh my God. Is it possible that Arabs are killing Arabs, Muslims killing Muslims?" asked a weeping Najah Akhras, 35, who lost two nieces.

Similar thoughts were heard over and over in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Thursday, as Palestinians expressed outrage over suicide attacks aimed at civilians.

The bombings at three hotels in Amman on Wednesday night killed at least 56 people, including 27 Palestinians with roots in the West Bank. Among the victims were members of the Akhras clan who were attending a family wedding, the West Bank's intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Bashir Nafeh, a diplomat and a prominent banker.

For more than five years, Palestinian militants have carried out dozens of suicide bombings in Israel, killing hundreds of people, often with wide support from a public that believed the attacks were a justified response to Israeli military rule.

But the mood has changed in recent months following a cease-fire with Israel, and the attacks in Amman could further sway public opinion against suicide bombings.

"Palestinians have tasted the blind violence that does not differentiate between people - children, women, wedding parties, ordinary people," said Palestinian newspaper commentator Hani al-Masri.

"I expect now a significant change in the Palestinian political culture," he said. "For sure, this attack will push Palestinians to reconsider this way of suicide bombings, and I think it would reduce support for attacks that kill people without any differentiation."

The Palestinian Authority ordered flags lowered to half-staff for one day and declared a three-day period of mourning. "It's a very sad day for Palestinians, and we extend our condolences to King Abdullah and the Jordanian people," Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said. "We condemn this attack vehemently."

In Silet al-Thaher, the Akhras family set up a house of mourning. The groom, 36-year-old Ashraf, was a member of the clan.
Ashraf's father died in the bombing at the Radisson SAS hotel, along with four cousins and two young nieces. Five people from the bride's family, including her father, also were killed.
All the victims lived in Jordan, where their families had fled when Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast War, said another clan member, Saed Akhras.
In a telephone interview from Amman, Ibrahim Akhras, a cousin of the groom, said he had stepped out of the hotel to buy flowers and was returning when the blast went off.
"The ceiling of the hall collapsed over the people, and I saw kids and women screaming in their blood," he said. "It was devastation. Children were crying. No religion, no Islam, no Muslim people allow this to happen."
Two high-ranking Palestinian security officials, a senior Palestinian banker and the commercial attache at the Palestinian Embassy in Cairo died in the bombings, the Palestinian envoy to Amman, Atala Kheri, said Thursday.
An east Jerusalem businessman, Bashar Qadoumi, also was killed, his family said.
Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for the blasts, linking them to the war in Iraq and calling Amman the "backyard garden" for U.S. operations.

Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi said the attacks would generate widespread animosity toward the terrorist group. While Palestinians and Jordanians have generally supported Iraqi resistance against American troops in Iraq, they are appalled by daily insurgent attacks against Iraqi civilians.

"I don't think al-Qaida or any of these violent extremists have had support among mainstream Arab opinion at all. Now they are making sure they are turning everyone against them," Ashrawi said.

Such condemnations were widespread Thursday, but many Palestinians seemed most upset that the victims in Amman were Muslim. Some hinted that attacks against Israeli or American targets could still be acceptable.
At a small mosque in Gaza City, worshippers asked God to send the souls of the Amman victims to heaven and to prevent the attackers from harming the image of Islam.

"I oppose killing Jewish civilians," said Radwan Abu Ali, a 22-year-old university student in Gaza City. "They could go and fight American soldiers. They could come to Palestine to fight Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. But to kill innocents, there is nothing to describe them but criminals and the enemy of God."