JERUSALEM: Residents recall horrors of Jerusalem bulldozer rampage

Record ID: 352498

  • Title: JERUSALEM: Residents recall horrors of Jerusalem bulldozer rampage
  • Date: 3rd July 2008
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF PEOPLE READING NEWSPAPER HEADLINES CLOSE OF NEWSPAPER HEADLINE READING 'BLOOD BULLDOZER: 3 KILLED IN JERUSALEM ATTACK'
  • Embargoed: 18th July 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA6QN9V7J53H6P8BH9WSXL6P2IE
  • Story Text: Israeli residents of Jerusalem express shock of deadly bulldozer attack that killed three and wounded dozens. Attacker's associates claim attack was traffic accident.
    Israeli residents of Jerusalem on Thursday (July 3) expressed shock at the deadly bulldozer attack that killed three and wounded scores more on Wednesday (July 2).
    People continued to walk along Jaffa Street, a main road leading into the heart of Jerusalem, where signs of the deadly rampage were almost invisible because of on-going construction works.
    Newspaper headlines screamed "Blood Bulldozer", and called an off duty soldier who shot the attacker "A Hero".
    Palestinian construction worker Hosam Dwayyat drove the 20-tonne earthmoving vehicle for 500 metres (546 yards) along one of west Jerusalem's busiest roads, killing three Israelis as he crushed cars and overturned a bus before being shot dead.
    One resident called on the government to be tough with those who carried out such attacks.
    There was no claim of responsibility from Palestinian militant groups and police said they were trying to establish if 30-year-old Dwayyat had acted alone.
    At his family home in the Arab east of the city, some residents gathered outside the house but there was no sign of the crowds and banners that normally accompany the funerals of Palestinian guerrillas.
    Neighbours and relatives said Dwayyat was divorced from a Jewish Israeli. Police said he had a history of drug offences but no known political links.
    Local Mukhtar, Zuhair Hamdan, said Dwayyat was not affiliated with any Tanzim (militant wing of Palestinian Fatah) in the world. This man has made a traffic accident, he said, and should not be called a martyr.
    Shimon Kokus, a lawyer representing Dwayyat's family, expressed the family's condolences to the victims and claimed Dwayyat was insane at the time of the attack.
    Kokus also blamed Israeli police for mishandling the event, and killing Dwayyat instead of arresting him.
    Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said the attack was an act of "senseless, murderous violence". An aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called it an attempt to wreck peace negotiations and urged Israel to show restraint in its response.
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