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The Qawasamehs (also Qawasmeh, Kawasmeh) are a Palestinian tribe living in Hebron. It is one of the largests tribes in the city, with more than 10,000 people in its lines.
The Qawasameh tribe is associated with the terrorist group Hamas and was the main supplier of militants to the Hebron cells of Hamas. The Hamas in Hebron was lead by a family from the Qawasameh tribe. Two of its prominent leaders, Abbedalla Qawasameh and Bassal Qawasameh were taken out by IDF raids in June and September 2003.
According to the IDF, Abbedalla Qawasameh was taken out in June 2003 by the YAMAM elite CT unit after resisting an arrest. He opened fire on the YAMAM officers who replied fire and killed him. According to Palestinian witnesses, however, a squad of Israeli police disguised as Palestinian labourers opened fire on him as he left a Hebron mosque [1]. The controvertial assasination let to criticism of Israel from U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.
His replacer, Ahmed Bader was taken out on September 9. Ahmed Bader was replaced by Abbedalla's relative - Bassal Qawasameh (also Basel Qawasmeh, Kawasmeh). They both were involved in Jerusalem's bus bombings. Bassal survived less than a month. On September 22 he was traced by IDF forces near Dura. He barricaded himself in a house but the Palestinian women who owned the house notified the IDF forces. After Bassal refused to surrender and opened fire on the soldiers, tanks first shelled the building, then an armoured Caterpillar D9 bulldozer was brought and razed the house over Bassal. Qawasameh's corpse was found with a machinegun under the debris.
