THE ISRAELI soldiers arrived before dawn but the suicide bomber’s father and furniture had already gone.

Samir Hammad’s relatives had cleared their Jenin home of their scanty possessions, anticipating the house demolition with which Israel usually punishes the families of suicide bombers. But not this time. Not yet.

A search of the surrounding houses in the village of Arka turned up Hammad’s father, Samih, who was arrested and taken in for interrogation. Even as he was being questioned, Israel’s Cabinet met during the Passover holiday to decide its wider response to Monday’s bombing at a falafel stall in Tel Aviv which killed nine people.

Six Israelis, two Romanian workers and a French tourist were among those who died. The casualties included a 16-year-old American boy who was fighting for his life in Tel Aviv medical centre after surgery.

Although Hammad, 22, belonged to Islamic Jihad, Ehud Olmert, Israel’s acting Prime Minister, decided to hold the new Hamas-led Palestinian Government responsible, insisting that even if it was abiding by a truce it should halt the violent activities of all Palestinian factions. However, Mr Olmert also decided against an immediate military offensive, instead ratcheting up the pressure on Hamas by revoking the residency status of three Hamas MPs living in East Jerusalem. This is likely to force them out of the city. The Cabinet also approved a crackdown on the entry of Palestinians without permits into Israel. The response came amid US calls for restraint, and widespread international condemnation of the bombing. President Bush counselled moderation, saying: “I have consistently reminded all parties that they must be mindful of whatever actions they take and mindful of the consequences.”

It was little surprise that the bomber came from a village near Jenin, one of the West Bank’s strongholds of Islamic militancy. From the Hammad home his family can see the olive groves and fertile valleys of Israel but feel nothing for its denizens save enmity.

Within hours of his death Hammad was a fully accessorised “martyr”, complete with farewell video, posters and heroic slogans. Sitting on the few cushions remaining in the small hilltop house his mother Samya, 42, complied with photographers who clamoured for her to pose with a poster, but the house was unadorned with militant propaganda.

“He was a hero and I am proud of Samir but I have suffered from his loss,” she said of her eldest son. “I have seen their soldiers killing our children and destroying our home, making everything bad, so how can I see them sympathetically or kindly?”

The family described Hammad as intelligent and frustrated by lack of opportunities, notably being forced to drop his studies with al-Quds (Jerusalem) Open University because his family had no money. His uncle, Imad, blamed his becoming a bomber on “psychological pressure” caused by the conflict.

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