Israelis hit by new digger attack

[[R_H]]

BBC

A Palestinian in a mechanical digger has rammed traffic in west Jerusalem, injuring at least 10 people before being shot dead, Israeli police say.

A bus and a number of cars were hit during the incident. Some cars were crushed and one was turned on its roof.

Witnesses say an armed civilian first shot at the driver, before he was killed by border police.

Three weeks ago a Palestinian man went on a deadly rampage in a heavy vehicle in Jerusalem, killing three Israelis.

A BBC correspondent says it is thought the 2 July attacker was simply a disturbed man without political motivation - but Israelis will worry Tuesday's incident was a copycat attack and that this could now be a new tactic.

Police identified the perpetrator as 22-year-old East Jerusalem resident Ghassan Abu Tir. It is not known if he was connected to any militant group.


Gunshots

The latest attack took place in a busy part of central West Jerusalem, close to the King David Hotel where US presidential candidate Barack Obama will be arriving within hours.

As the incident was unfolding, Israeli President Shimon Peres was for the first time receiving Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas at his official residence in Jerusalem, which is also nearby.

"I was going home when I saw the tractor going into a bus four or five times. All the windows of the bus exploded," said a 16-year-old Israeli at the scene.

"Then I saw the tractor going down the street pushing cars. I saw more people running and after two minutes I heard two or three gunshots," Yohanan Levine added.

A driver interviewed by Israeli TV said his car was rammed twice by the front shovel of the digger and he only just managed to swerve to avoid a third charge aimed at his head.

Photographs of the immediate aftermath show the driver's body slumped in the cab and at least eight bullet holes in the glass next to him.


Official visit

Israeli police called it a "terror attack", although there was no immediate claim of responsibility by any Palestinian militant organisation.

Police said the driver was from a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank which Israel has designated part of the enlarged Jerusalem municipality.

Mr Abbas told reporters he "condemned and rejected" the attack and said such incidents "hurt our reputation and peace in general".

It was the first time a Palestinian Authority president had visited the Israeli presidential residence, known as Beit Hanasi.

Mr Abbas was welcomed in a formal ceremony with Palestinian flags flying at the reception point. Such trappings are normally absent when Mr Abbas meets Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at his official residence.

In his remarks, Mr Peres said: "Israelis have a burning desire to reach peace with the Palestinians."

Mr Abbas has been meeting Israeli leaders regularly since attempts were made to give the peace process fresh impetus at an international conference in the United States last November.

[Ace Pace]

A copycat attack basically, in a very busy street. I'm not sure what the Israeli Arab community is trying to do. Make sure Israel automatically assumes they're equivilent to Palestinians? Drive unemployment even higher up?

[cosmicalstorm]

I feel sorry for the people who are trying to reconcile the two communities.

[FireNexus]

Am I the only one who read the title as "They dug underground to their target?"

I was really hoping that the Underminer had popped up in Israel.

[Ender]

A copycat attack basically, in a very busy street. I'm not sure what the Israeli Arab community is trying to do. Make sure Israel automatically assumes they're equivilent to Palestinians? Drive unemployment even higher up?

They are trying to kill Jews. That's really all it comes down to. If the situation were reversed and the Arabs had everything and the Israelis had nothing, there would still be large chunks of the population out to kill them simply based off the religious difference.

No, I can't substantiate that with anything more then the conversations I had with people in the Middle East when I was in port. Apologies for that, and if you dismiss this post as a result, well there you are. But what I gleamed of the mindset of the average guy over there is that a good chunk of the population doesn't care about the actions of Israel, or the politics, or the economics, or the treatment of the Palestinians, or the treatment of Arabs in Israel, or whatever. They care about the fact they are Jews. And the majority would turn a blind eye to what that chunk did so long as the targets were Jews.

Its like the hate over here, but amplified.

[Sea Skimmer]

These attacks plus the Killdozer incident in Colorado are pretty perfect justification for civilian .50-20mm caliber anti tank rifle ownership.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

These attacks plus the Killdozer incident in Colorado are pretty perfect justification for civilian .50-20mm caliber anti tank rifle ownership.

In the Killdozer incident, didn't the guy use concrete to armour his dozer?

On the Topic in question, this is pure racism. Then again, there's so much of it on both sides, that they are better off on opposite sides of the planet. Though that might spur other problems...

[Sea Skimmer]

In the Killdozer incident, didn't the guy use concrete to armour his dozer?

He sandwiched concrete between mild steel plates, and with enough thickness that some areas would have been proof against early Bazoooka rounds. However one of the reasons anti tank rifles ever worked was because they could be aimed at especially vulnerable parts of even the heaviest vehicles like viewing slits or the final drive sprocket.

On the Topic in question, this is pure racism. Then again, there's so much of it on both sides, that they are better off on opposite sides of the planet. Though that might spur other problems...

I’ve always thought the world would have been much better off if the Jews had been given Tanganyika as a homeland. The place didn’t have a history of particularly brutal colonial exploitation; it still has hoards land and the population even today is realtivly small. The only Muslims around are all on Zanzibar, which could simply be allowed to remain independent. Course the place is also home to sleeping sickness and other nasty things.

[The Grim Squeaker]

I’ve always thought the world would have been much better off if the Jews had been given Tanganyika as a homeland. The place didn’t have a history of particularly brutal colonial exploitation; it still has hoards land and the population even today is realtivly small. The only Muslims around are all on Zanzibar, which could simply be allowed to remain independent. Course the place is also home to sleeping sickness and other nasty things.

Tanganyika/Tanzania? There was a brief suggestion concerning Uganda, but it wasn't a serious suggestion, where did you get anything about Tanzania then?

[The Yosemite Bear]

why am I thinking when did Bogan Rednecks in Aussieland start going after isrealis?

oh wait wrong "Diggers"