WORLD> Middle East
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WORLD> Middle East
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Israel in Jerusalem dilemma after bulldozer attack
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-07-04 11:36 JERUSALEM - A deadly rampage in a bulldozer by a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem left Israel grappling on Thursday with the dilemma of how to maintain security in the city along with the premise it is undivided.
Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it along with nearby villages in a move that is not recognized internationally, granting Palestinian residents Israeli identity cards that gave them wide freedom of movement. In issuing the same documents used by Jews, Israel was sending a signal that East Jerusalem -- which Palestinians want as the capital of a future state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip -- was part of the "indivisible capital" of the Jewish state. But Wednesday's attack on Jerusalem's busy Jaffa Road in which three Israelis died and a shooting spree, also in Jewish west Jerusalem, which killed eight Israelis in a religious seminary in March have combined to raise particular concern. Both attacks were carried out by Palestinians from areas Israel regards as part of East Jerusalem. Unlike Palestinians from the West Bank, where Israel has built a controversial barrier, the two men could work and travel in all of Jerusalem. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proposed after Wednesday's incident the demolition of the homes of Arab East Jerusalem residents who carry out attacks against Israelis. "I think we need to be tougher in some of the means we use against perpetrators of terror," Olmert told an economic conference in the southern port city of Eilat. "If we have to destroy houses, then we must do so, and if we have to stop their social benefits, then we must do so. There cannot be a case where they massacre us and at the same time they get all the privileges that our society provides," he said. Related stories:Palestinian kills 3 in Jerusalem bulldozer attack |
