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19 Injured in Third Attack by East Jerusalem Resident

An East Jerusalem Palestinian man [1] deliberately crashed his black BMW into a crowd of pedestrians near Jerusalem's Old City at about 11 p.m. Monday (Sept. 22), wounding 19 people. Seconds after the attack, the perpetrator was shot and killed by an off-duty soldier. [2]

Two of the victims are in serious condition, four sustained moderate injuries, and the rest were mildly wounded. Most of those hurt were Israel Defense Forces soldiers on their way to the Western Wall for prayers marking the upcoming Jewish new year. Authorities have not yet released the name of the attacker. [3]

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld confirmed it was a terrorist attack and Israeli TV reported that the man was from Jabel Mukaber, a village in Arab East Jerusalem. [4]

It was the third time in the past few months in which East Jerusalem Palestinians used vehicles to carry out terror attacks. [5]

On July 2, three Israelis were killed and 46 others were injured by an East Jerusalem Palestinian man who deliberately plowed his tractor into a crowd of pedestrians and overturned two buses in downtown Jerusalem. [6] On July 22, more than 16 Israelis were wounded, including children and an infant, after a terrorist deliberately plowed a bulldozer into vehicles, including a passenger bus. [7]

The attack comes one day after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert turned in his resignation and less than a week after Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni won the Kadima party primaries, putting Livni in line to become the next prime minister. Both Olmert and Livni are actively working toward a peace agreement that will include a two-state solution.

"It's hard to imagine that it is a coincidence that this terrorism is increasing at the same time that Iran is ratcheting up its nuclear program and its rhetorical attacks on Israel," said The Israel Project Founder and President Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi.

Earlier this month, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, "The Zionist regime is an artificial regime… a fictitious regime." [8] He also said, "The Zionist regime is a regime that will disappear." [9]

Since Israel gave up Gaza three years ago, almost 10,000 rockets, missiles and mortars have been fired at Israel by Iran-backed terrorist groups including Hezbollah and Hamas.

Press Contacts
Dr. Jonathan Spyer
Field: Middle East affairs, Israel-Palestinian conflict, international politics,
Affiliation: Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center at the Inter-Disciplinary Center in Herzliya.
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Dr. Jonathan Rynhold
Field: US-Israel relations, Middle East affairs, Israel-Palestinian conflict, Middle East-Far East relations, Lectures in political science at Bar-Ilan University
Affiliation: Bar Ilan University
Cell: 972-54-577-5817
Tel.: 972-3-531-8873
E-mail: rynhold@mail.biu.ac.il

Prof. Joshua Teitelbaum,
Field: U.S.-Israel relations, history and politics of the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia and the Palestinians.
Affiliation: Senior research fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Senior Lecturer in the Middle Eastern History at Tel Aviv University, visiting associate professor of political science at Stanford University.
Cell: 972-54-431-2980

Marcus Sheff, Executive Director, The Israel Project-Jerusalem Office
Cell: 972-54-807-9177

Mrs. Shoham Rubio, Spokeswoman, Shaarey Tzedek Hospital - Treating injured
Cell: 972-50-740-0661

Yael Bosem-Levi, Spokeswoman, Haddasah-Ein Kerem Hospital
Tel: 972-50-404-8666

Meir Indor, Director of Almagor Terror Victims
Cell: 972-54-440-3636

Micky Rosenfeld, Israel Police Spokesman
Tel: 972-50-627-5870 (cell)

Yerucham Mandola, Spokesman for Magen David Adom (Israeli Red Cross)
Cell: 972-52-256-9955; Email: dover@mdais.co.il

Bernard Barrett, Jerusalem Representative, International Committee of the Red Cross
Tel.: 972-2-582-8845; Cell: 972-52-526-0191

Bana Sayeh, Jerusalem Representative, International Committee of the Red Cross
Tel.: 972-2-582-8845; Cell: 972-52-601-9142
__________

Footnotes:

[1] "Palestinian drives into crowd, injures 15, police say, CNN, September 22, 2008, http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/09/22/jerusalem.attack/index.html

[1] Lis, Jonathan and and Amos Harel, "19 hurt as terrorist plows car into Jerusalem crowd," Haaretz, September 23, 2008, http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1023443.html

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Hadi, Jonny, "Bulldozer driver shot dead after going on rampage in capital," The Jerusalem Post, July 2, 2008, http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1214726186987&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[6] Haaretz Service and News Agencies, "Bulldozer driver goes on rampage in Jerusalem, apparent copycat of recent deadly attack," Haaretz, July 22, 2008, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1004437.html

[7] "Myth of Iran Wiping Israel Off the Map Dispelled", Press TV, Sept 18. 2008 http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=69866§ionid=3510302

[8] Ibid.

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