Jerusalem terror threatens fragile ceasefire
02/07/2008
A Palestinian man has driven a bulldozer into a bus and several cars on a busy street in Jerusalem, killing three people and threatening the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Gaza strip militants.
The driver - who was shot dead by a police officer - wreaked havoc on Jaffa road, critically injuring seven other people and hurting dozens more in the rampage.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev described the incident as a terrorist attack and called it a "senseless act of murderous violence".
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas denied responsibility for incident - which represents a departure from the group's preferred modus operandi - but nonetheless chose to praise the attacker.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said: "We consider it as a natural reaction to the daily aggression and crimes committed against our people in the West Bank and all over the occupied lands."
The incident threatens to undermine current attempts to stabilise the region, coming just two weeks into a new ceasefire and following signs of progress in which Israel allowed concrete supplies to enter Gaza this week for the first time since 2007.
Palestinian foreign minister Riyadh Al Maliki had even expressed hopes that the Gaza ceasefire could be extended to include the West Bank - where harsh restrictions on the movement of Palestinian inhabitants remain in place.
The last major terrorist attack in Jerusalem occurred in March, when Hamas claimed responsibility for killing eight Jewish teenagers in a shooting spree at a religious school.
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