Palestinians open suicide bombing exhibition
Commemorating their year-old uprising against Israeli occupation, Palestinians opened an exhibition yesterday that included a grisly re-enactment of a suicide bombing in Jerusalem.
Wearing a military uniform and a black mask, a Palestinian entered a doorway of a replica of the Sbarro pizza restaurant in Jerusalem and set off a fake explosion.
Visitors crowded through the door to see a recreation of the August 9 suicide bombing, complete with fake body parts and pizza slices strewn all over.
In the actual attack in downtown Jerusalem, the bomber and 15 other people died.
In other rooms, visitors looked through dark windows to see figures dressed as suicide bombers, each with one hand on Islam’s holy Koran and the other on an automatic rifle, re-enacting the last testament real suicide bombers give in front of video cameras before staging attacks.
‘‘Our message from this exhibition to our people is that the occupiers will suffer as long as we are under occupation,’’ said Ala Hamedan, one of the organizers of the weeklong exhibit.
‘‘To the Israeli people: If you leave the occupied territories, you will not suffer and you will not see blood anymore,’’ he said.
Twenty-one Palestinians have blown themselves up in the past year, killing more than 50 people and wounding hundreds, unsettling and infuriating Israelis.
Palestinians say their uprising, or intefadeh, is a struggle for statehood and an end to Israel’s 34-year occupation in the West Bank and Gaza.
A shrine in one room pays tribute to three leaders of the militant Hamas movement who were killed in targeted attacks by Israeli troops.
Three open graves surrounded by candles hold white coffins for Jamal Mansour, Jamal Salim and Salah Darwazeh, all top Hamas men in Nablus.
Near the exit of the exhibition is a large rock in front of a figure wearing the black hat, black jacket and black trousers typically worn by ultra-Orthodox Jews.
A recording inside the rock calls out: ‘‘O believer, there is a Jewish man behind me. Come and kill him.’’
Al Najah University in Nablus, a hotbed for militants, has spawned several suicide bombers since the uprising began.
Many students belong to or support Hamas, which opposes peace deals with Israel and has claimed responsibility for many of the suicide bomb attacks
Looking at the exhibits, where the mood of visitors was generally one of determination and anger, economics student Ghadir Haddad, 19, identified fully with the displays of violence.
‘‘This exhibition shows the reality we live in. Suicide bombings here, killings there,’’ she said. ‘‘I’m very happy because, as they kill and torture us, they are also killed and tortured.’’
