Israel should cut off outlying Arab neighborhoods from Jerusalem, Israel's vice premier proposed Thursday, the day after a Palestinian driver 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, claiming it would improve security.
In Wednesday's attack, the assailant, Hussam Dwayat, 30, drove a massive construction vehicle - 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.
Israeli 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.
Dwayat 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.
Palestinian president 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. According to the AP, he added that Palestinian and Israeli delegations will have a meeting in Washington "in the coming days."
