THIRTY-SEVEN YEAR MILITARY OCCUPATION MAKES ISRAELI WOMAN WONDER...

from the New York Times

The improbable friendship between Tali Fahima, a 28-year-old Israeli woman, and Zacaria Zubeidah, one of the most wanted Palestinian militants, began last year with a telephone call made out of curiosity. Now she is under arrest on suspicion of helping to plan an attack against Israel, and her case is a front-page story in Israel.

Ms. Fahima, the daughter of Moroccan immigrants who was then a legal secretary with no history of political activism, sought out Mr. Zubeidah because she wanted to understand what motivated Palestinians to commit acts of violence against Israelis.

"I had to ask why a man goes ahead and does this," she said in a March interview with Israeli television. "There is a reason for this. A man doesn't wake up one morning and decide, 'O.K., I'm going to carry out an attack.' "

Ms. Fahima was arrested Monday as she was making her latest journey into the West Bank, to see Mr. Zubeidah in Jenin. As she was being led in handcuffs to a court hearing on Tuesday, she angrily defended him.

"He does not plan attacks," she said. "Even if he does, so what? They live under occupation. Do you even know what that means?"

"Don't worry, they are just trying to keep me away from friends I have there, from Zacaria," she continued. "I will never turn Zacaria in. He is a freedom fighter."