Published Friday 06/11/2009 (updated) 08/11/2009 13:52 Nidal Hasan

Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - An American army psychiatrist accused of shooting dead 13 soldiers in the US state of Texas on Thursday is the son of Palestinian immigrants, according to news reports.

The suspect, 39-year-old Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, was shot during what US officials termed a rampage on Fort Hood, a large American military base, and remained on a ventilator Friday at a civilian hospital in stable condition, army officials said.

The Washington Post reported that Hasan's father, Malik, immigrated to the US at age 16 from a village in the West Bank. His family tended an olive grove there, the newspaper quoted neighbors as saying.

The New York Times quoted Hasan's cousin, Nader, as saying both parents, now deceased, had immigrated to the US from a small Palestinian town near Jerusalem. The newspaper said Nader refused to confirm they were Jordanian, which some outlets were reporting.

Hasan's mother's obituary, in The Roanoke Times in 2001, listed her birthplace as Palestine, in 1952.