In Jerusalem, construction vehicle becomes destruction tool again

About 10 hours before Sen. Barack Obama was due to check in, Avi Levi drove past the King David Hotel here and felt a yellow front-end loader smack the rear of his No. 13 bus.

He stopped, thinking it was a just an accident on the heavily guarded route past West Jerusalem’s classiest hotels and shops.

But within seconds, the loader’s massive shovel was smashing the side of the bus like a battering ram, trying to tip it over and showering 30 screaming passengers with glass. It was the start of a rampage today that ended with six Israelis injured and the Palestinian assailant dead, shot by a pistol-toting Jewish settler and a uniformed border policeman in front of scores of terrified onlookers.

The dead man, wearing shorts and the white skullcap typical of a religious Muslim, was identified as a 22-year-old Jerusalem resident employed for years driving construction vehicles. Israeli authorities called it a terrorist attack but said they believe he may have acted alone.

It’s been years since the second Palestinian uprising petered out and suicide bombingattacks halted on buses and in crowded cafes. The West Bank and Gaza Strip have been well sealed off, and Palestinian militant groups have focused on Israeli targets there.

But Tuesday’s demolition spree was part of a new threat. Like two deadly attacks on the Jewish side of the city this year, it was carried out by a Palestinian whose residence in mostly Arab East Jerusalem gave him permission to travel anywhere in Israel.

And as in the previous attack, on July 2, the weapon was a heavy construction vehicle to which the perpetrator apparently had access through his job.

“They keep on inventing ways to attack us,” Mayor Uri Lupoliansky told reporters after hearing the commotion from nearby and rushing to the scene. “Every work tool has become a weapon.”

 boudreaux@latimes.com