Questions, pain linger after Jerusalem attack

Rampage revives division debate

An Israeli soldier rested on a damaged bus shelter where a Palestinian worker went on a rampage with an earthmover. (Kevin Frayer/associated press)

JERUSALEM - Jean Relevy, a handyman with an intense curiosity about the world, lived for many things: the challenge of wiring a concert hall, the chance to banter over biology and chemistry with friends, the grandchild he planned to welcome this summer.

But to the sobbing mourners who gathered on a hilltop in West Jerusalem yesterday to bury him, Relevy, 68, died for just one thing.

"He was killed because he was Jewish. Not for any other reason," said Moshe Levy, a rabbi who eulogized Relevy at his funeral.

Relevy was among three people killed Wednesday when a Palestinian construction worker went on a rampage with an earthmover on one of Jerusalem's busiest streets. More than 40 people were injured before the driver, 34-year-old Hussam Edwyat, was shot dead by police.

The attack was the second in four months involving a Palestinian from East Jerusalem, which is mostly Arab, who crossed over into predominantly Jewish West Jerusalem. A day after the rampage, differing interpretations of Edwyat's motives reflected the wide gulf between the city's two halves.

Israeli officials and the Israeli media described Edwyat as a terrorist who had deliberately targeted Jews. But friends and relatives in East Jerusalem described a man with no political affiliations or particular grievances against his Jewish neighbors. Instead, they said Edwyat had suddenly snapped for reasons they did not understand.

Edwyat's act immediately influenced the debate over the future of Jerusalem, a city divided between Palestinians and Israeli Jews that both consider holy and claim as their capital. There is no wall between the city's halves, and East Jerusalem's 250,000 Palestinian residents generally have residency cards that allow them to travel and work in Israel.

Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon suggested rerouting the barrier between Israel and much of the West Bank so that it would exclude numerous Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem - including Edwyat's Sur Baher - and lock many more Palestinians out of Israel. The neighborhoods Ramon referred to were once Palestinian villages outside the Jerusalem municipal boundaries but were annexed by Israel after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The annexation is not recognized internationally.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday that he favored a return to an Israeli practice of demolishing assailants' homes in order to deter attacks. Use of the tactic ended several years ago.