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Hebron branch of rogue Hamas wing has dark history

The abduction and killing of the three Israeli students is not the first terrorist incident associated with the Hebron-based group.
Undated file picture of three Hamas militants Ahmad Bader (L) Basel
Qawasmeh (C) and I'zzedin Misk (R). Basel Qawasmeh was killed September
22, 2003, during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city
Hebron while Ahmed Bader and I'zzedin Misk were killed on September 9,
2003. REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamoun REUTERS

EG/NH - RTR3CT5

Marwan Qawasmeh is one of the two suspects for the abduction and murder of the three Israeli youths who were brought to their final resting place on July 1. Before they were murdered, one of the youths succeeded in calling the police and reported that he had been abducted. One can clearly discern the voices of the abductors on the police recording and a volley of shots from an automatic weapon. There's no doubt about it: The three youths were killed in cold blood, at point-blank range, only a few minutes after they entered the car apparently driven by Marwan Qawasmeh and the second abductor, Amar Abu Aisha.

This same week, I published an article about the Qawasmeh clan in Hebron and and gave a historical overview of some members of the family who have been implicated in past terrorist incidents. This family produced a long line of suicide terrorists and executors of terror acts in Israel, mainly during the period of the second intifada. In response to my article, Palestinian journalist Daoud Kuttab published a rejoinder in which he argued that "the stereotypical argument was fleshed out by Al-Monitor's Shlomi Eldar in a piece that is full of this sense of collective responsibility.''

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