Bulldozer driver shot dead by panicking citizen

Tuesday 22 July 2008

A Palestinian bulldozer driver was shot dead in Jerusalem after injuring at least 16 people as he rammed cars in the second such attack this month, Israeli police and medics said.

JERUSALEM, July 22 (Reuters) - A Palestinian rammed a
bulldozer into vehicles on a busy Jerusalem street on Tuesday,
ahead of a visit by U.S. Democratic presidential candidate
Barack Obama, and wounded 16 people before being shot dead.
 

The attack, just down the road from the hotel where Obama
was to stay, was the second such incident in Jewish west
Jerusalem in three weeks.
 

It occurred while Israeli President Shimon Peres hosted
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at his official residence
less than a kilometre (half-mile) away.
 

Israeli officials said the driver was a Palestinian from a
village in an area of the occupied West Bank that Israel
considers part of Jerusalem. Its residents have freedom of
movement throughout the city and Israel.
 

"The bulldozer driver left a construction site, and hit two
cars," a police spokesman said. "A civilian who saw what was
happening, shot him. The bulldozer continued on its way. A
border police patrol ... continued to shoot and the terrorist
was killed."
 

The bulldozer also hit a bus. Emergency services said at
least 16 people were wounded, one seriously. After the attack,
police set up a cordon around the yellow bulldozer and the
slumped body of the driver inside.
 

"This was another attempt to murder innocent people in a
senseless act of terrorism," said Mark Regev, a spokesman for
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
 

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The attack
was praised by Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip as "a natural
reaction to the crimes of the (Israeli) occupation".
 

Abbas, whose Fatah faction lost the territory to Hamas in
fighting a year ago, told reporters he "condemned and rejected"
the attack and said such incidents "hurt our reputation and
peace in general".
 


 

TIGHT SECURITY
 

Obama was due to arrive in Israel from Jordan later on
Tuesday and stay at the King David Hotel, less than 200 metres
(yards) from the scene of the attack. Police said they had no
immediate evidence to suggest it was linked to the visit.
 

The area is one of the most heavily guarded in a city hit by
multiple suicide bombings during a Palestinian uprising that
began in 2000.
 

A bulldozer attack in Jerusalem on July 2 killed three
Israelis. Its Palestinian driver, a resident of Arab East
Jerusalem, was shot dead by an off-duty soldier and police.
 

Tuesday's attack coincided with the first visit by a
Palestinian president to Israel's official presidential
residence.
 

"I am full of confidence the problems will be resolved,"
Peres said after a red-carpet greeting for Abbas, who is engaged
in statehood negotiations with Olmert that have shown little
sign of progress.
 

"I feel both sides believe there is no alternative to
peace," Peres said.
 

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said before the
meeting that Abbas would seek Peres's help to halt "settlement
expansion that is undermining peace talks" that began at a
U.S.-hosted conference in Annapolis, Maryland last November.
 

In his remarks at the presidential residence known as Beit
Hanasi, Abbas said: "Despite the passage of time, despite
difficulties and obstacles, there is an end to this long
conflict."
 

Peres said he hoped to reassure Abbas that Israel remained
committed to the U.S.-brokered negotiations despite a political
crisis revolving around corruption allegations against Olmert
that could lead to an early election.
 

A Palestinian flag and an Israeli flag provided a backdrop
as both men posed for photographs. Such trappings are absent
when Abbas and Olmert meet at the prime minister's official
residence in Jerusalem.
 

The United States hopes for a Palestinian statehood deal
before President George W. Bush leaves office in January.