Dead bomber’s uncle not allowed to attend funeral

THE Irish-based uncle of a Palestinian suicide bomber who killed 10 people in Jerusalem yesterday will not be allowed travel home to attend his nephew’s funeral.

Jihad Jaara, 32, is one of two Palestinian men brought to Ireland in May 2002 as part of a deal brokered by the European Union to end a siege at the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank.

Mr Jaara and Rami Kamel, 23, were among 13 militants allowed by the Israelis to walk away from the five-week stand-off on condition they did not return to Israel or the occupied territories. The other 11 were taken in by seven other EU countries.

It emerged yesterday a nephew of Mr Jaara was the man who blew himself up on a bus as it passed close to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s official residence in central Jerusalem during the morning rush hour.

The blast killed 10 people and injured 50 others. The bomber, Ali Jaara, 24, was only identified through a statement from the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade saying he had gone on a “revenge mission”. The statement said he had sacrificed himself to avenge the deaths of eight Palestinians killed during a raid by Israeli security forces in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

Ali Jaara was a single policeman who lived in a permanent refugee camp outside Bethlehem.

The Palestinian delegate-general to Ireland, Ali Halimeh, said he had heard about Ali Jaara’s death but had not been in contact with his uncle here.

The Department of Justice, which has responsibility for the two men while they are in Ireland, said it could not comment “for security reasons”. But the Department of Foreign Affairs, which organised their transfer here two years ago, said the terms of their stay here ruled out a return home without Irish and Israeli agreement.

“They have been granted temporary residency rights on humanitarian grounds which means they cannot leave the State without permission. There is no possibility of either of them going back to the West Bank at present,” a spokesperson said.

The men were originally given one year’s residency but the arrangement is to be renewed indefinitely despite their wish to be allowed visit their homeland.

The men’s shared living arrangements had to be reviewed last year after Mr Kamel married an Irish woman, leading Mr Jaara to complain he was homeless as his religion prohibited him from sharing a home with an unrelated female.