THE MOTHERS
Avigail Levy, Rachel’s mother – a strong, brave, outspoken woman. Following the bombing she gave repeated interviews to local and international media, and became very active politically. She is still struggling to come to grips with her daughter’s death and visits her grave every Friday. A member of a support group for parents who have lost children in the conflict, Levy is the only one without a marriage partner.
She remains intensely focused on her daughter’s death, is highly emotional and wants to know exactly what happened that day in order to understand the other side, including al-Akhras’s reasons for doing what she did. To that end, Levy has actively sought a meeting with the mother of her daughter’s killer. She believes that former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon should have acted differently earlier to prevent bombings like the one that took her daughter’s life. Levy and her family had once been close friends with a Palestinian family (during their years in California). Now, since her daughter’s death, Levy has become increasingly distrustful of Arabs in general. Still, she says she is willing to do whatever it takes to stop the bloodshed. She constantly saying – “Enough”, lets stop it and make a change for a better future.
Um Samir al-Akhras, Ayat’s mother – cries over the loss of her daughter. When her husband is around, she hardly speaks and does not express her thoughts and feelings, which is not uncommon in traditionally conservative Middle Eastern families. However, when her husband is not around, al-Akhras has a lot to say. She is full of sorrow over her daughter’s loss and objects to the very idea of suicide bombing, yet she believes it was God’s choice for her daughter. Al-Akhras insists that, had she been aware of her daughter’s plans, she would have done everything in her power to prevent her from going on the suicide mission. Like Levy, she has wanted to meet.