Palestinian Bulldozer Driver Goes on Jerusalem Rampage (Updated 2:33pm)

Israellycool is liveblogging this story.
See also Backspin, who was nearby where the terrorist attack occurred.

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Abe Greenwald quotes from an article about an al Qaeda 'chief theoretician' who recommends a change in strategy:

“countless small operations” that render daily life unbearable, rather than a few spectacular attacks such as 9/11.

Greenwald notes how today's terror attack fits the description of this new strategy.

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Lisa Goldman has a post on Pajamas Media:

At 2 p.m. Israel time, the chief of the Jerusalem police told reporters, as seen on Channel 10 (Hebrew link), that the man was suspected of being a lone wolf who committed the attack for no apparent reason. He was not suspected of having connections to any terror organization, but special units were nonetheless dispatched to comb his East Jerusalem neighborhood and interview residents.

...the Israeli security services — never known to minimize possible danger when lives are at stake — continued to insist that the Jerusalem incident was not a terror attack.

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New law proposed in Knesset in reaction to the terrorist attack:

The Knesset approved in a preliminary reading on Wednesday two bills that would enable the government to revoke the citizenship of Israeli Arabs involved in terror activities as well as that of their families.

The vote came hours after a Palestinian man went on a deadly rampage in downtown Jerusalem, ramming a bulldozer into a crowded bus and a string of vehicles, killing at least four people and wounding dozens.

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From Soccer Dad, in a comment on Contentions:

According to a number of sources it was the (off duty) soldier who killed the terrorist who was related to the man who killed the Mercaz Harav attacker.

The story thus far:

At least three people were killed and about forty others injured - many severely when a Palestinian bulldozer driver went on a rampage in downtown Jerusalem early Wednesday afternoon. VOA's Jim Teeple reports the bulldozer driver was killed by police who are describing the incident as a terrorist attack.

Israeli civilians emerge from a bus that was overturned after being rammed by a bulldozer being driven by a Palestinian on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem, 02 Jul 2008
Israeli civilians emerge from a bus that was overturned after being rammed by a bulldozer being driven by a Palestinian on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem, 02 Jul 2008
Witnesses reported a scene of chaos and panic as the bulldozer plowed through cars, knocked over a bus and damaged buildings on a busy downtown street near the city's main bus station.

The driver of the bulldozer was shot by police. They say no motive is known in what police are describing as a terrorist attack.

"The employee of a contractor company working on the street here in Jerusalem directed his bulldozer in the direction of civilian vehicles - a bus and cars that are on the street all the time yelling Allah al-akbar, apparent to us based on things we have experienced in the past,' said Daniel Seaman, a spokesman for the Israeli government. "This is undeniably a terrorist attack."

Police say the attacker was a Palestinian who lived in East Jerusalem who held Jerusalem identity papers. Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem have access to Jewish West Jerusalem and carry out nearly all construction work in the city.

In March, another Palestinian from East Jerusalem attacked a Jewish seminary not far from where today's incident took place, killing eight students.

David Hazony observes:

Although Israel has done a great deal to thwart attacks from Palestinian organizations operating in the West Bank and Gaza, the problem of East Jerusalem is in some sense tougher — and tougher still if it turns out that he, like the attacker at Merkaz Harav, was working alone. Most East Jerusalem Palestinians have Israeli citizenship, carrying the same blue ID that non-Palestinian Israelis do, and have no restrictions on their travel throughout Israel. Most East Jerusalem Palestinians are just regular people with no interest in, or connection to, terror. And to build a wall through Jerusalem, the way Israel has done between its territory and the West Bank, will be tantamount to re-dividing the city — a prospect that few Israelis today are interested in.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be hearing a lot of rhetoric from some politicians about what to do about terror by Israeli Arabs, especially those in East Jerusalem. Putting restrictions on Israeli Arabs’ travel, as Shas leader Eli Yishai has called for today, sounds like the wrong direction for a country that takes pride in its democratic way of life. But this doesn’t make the problem go away. We should expect to hear from Mr. Olmert in the coming hours.

But what is there left for him to say?

Update: From HonestReporting:

While BBC Online currently covers the story "Bulldozer rampage hits Jerusalem," this was not the original headline. Offering a glimpse into the BBC's warped journalism, the initial headline read "Israel bulldozer driver shot dead".

Read the whole thing.

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