...In October, Luay Al Sadi was killed in the Tulkarem refugee camp by Israeli commandos dressed as Arab women. "Suheib's reaction was severe," his father said. Two months later, he approached a checkpoint leading from Tulkarem to Israel. His behavior aroused the troops' suspicion. When they asked him to remove his shirt, he blew himself up, killing two Palestinian bystanders and an Israeli soldier.

Four years ago, at the height of the intifada, 75 percent of the Palestinian population supported suicide bombings, according to polls, and the perpetrators were celebrated in songs and videos that played constantly on Palestinian television. But the mood is different now. Suheib Ajami received the obligatory martyr's funeral in Attil, and local dignitaries paid homage at the gravesite, but there was little glamour attached to his death.

But Ajami says that many parents have pointed to the fates of Suheib and his classmate as cautionary tales. "They are telling their kids that belonging to an armed group guarantees a bad end," he told me. "There are two options, prison or death." What's more, many Palestinians have begun to blame Islamic Jihad for their sorry living conditions. "For normal people, Islamic Jihad is not popular," Ajami told me. "My neighbors tell me, 'Look at our lives now, because of your son.'"...