Friday, July 4, 2008
Israeli border police outside the house of Hussam Dwikat, who plowed a bulldozer into a busy street, killing three people
(JERUSALEM) — Israel should cut off outlying Arab neighborhoods from Jerusalem, Israel's vice premier proposed Thursday, the day after a Palestinian construction worker from one of these districts went on a deadly rampage in the city's center.
Vice Premier Haim Ramon proposed changing the route of Israel's separation barrier to exclude the Arab districts, saying it would improve security. The barrier already rings much of the city.
In Wednesday's attack, the assailant, Hussam Dwayat, 30, drove a massive construction vehicle in a bloody rampage — ramming buses, crushing cars and targeting pedestrians. Three people were killed before Israeli security personnel shot and killed him. Police said they believe Dwayat acted alone and was not connected to any Palestinian militant group.
No possible motive was provided though city officials confirmed that an order to demolish Dwayat's home was issued in 2005 on grounds that it was built illegally.
Dwayat won a stay in court, but was ordered to pay tens of thousands of dollars in fines. Many Palestinians in Jerusalem build illegally, saying it's very difficult for them to obtain permits from the Israeli authorities.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack saying Thursday, "We want peaceful solutions through negotiations."
Abbas, on an official visit to Slovenia, said President Bush phoned him just hours after the deadly rampage to "support" peace negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis. He also said that Palestinian and Israeli delegations will have a meeting in Washington "in the coming days," but provided no details.
Still, Wednesday's attack raised new questions about the future of the city and the government's policy toward Jerusalem's estimated 250,000 Palestinian residents, who make up about one-third of the total population.
Dwayat, the assailant, was a resident of Sur Baher, one of those areas that became part of Jerusalem in 1967. Speaking to Israel's Army Radio station, Ramon said that Sur Baher and other outlying Palestinian neighborhoods "were never in Jerusalem." "They were annexed in 1967 and we call them Jerusalem, even though there is not one Jerusalemite there. No Israeli goes near them," he said.
He said these neighborhoods should be treated as if they are part of the West Bank "because that's what they were originally."
He added that Israel should consider moving the route of its West Bank separation barrier to put these villages outside Jerusalem's boundaries, and strip people there of their Israeli residency rights. "It would be much more difficult to carry out attacks like these and 50,000 Palestinians who live in those two neighborhoods would not be able to reach Jerusalem so easily if they didn't have blue (Israeli) identity cards," he said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment