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At midday on Wednesday, 2 July, Hossam Dawyyat, a Palestinian from the Sur Baher neighbourhood of Jerusalem, took a Caterpillar bulldozer used for the construction of the tram in central Jerusalem and ran amok, killing three Israelis and injuring more than 70 by crashing into passing cars and buses. Immediately the news reports began about a terrorist attack and the Galilee Freedom Battalions-the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh, a small resistance organization based in Jerusalem, claimed responsibility. This same organization claimed responsibility for the attack carried out against the Merkaz Harav yeshiva in March, earlier this year.

As time passed, the original and knee-jerk assumption that this incident in central Jerusalem was a terror attack began to weaken. According to Hassib Nashashibi, a field worker with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), Hossam Dawyyat was a drug addict and yesterday’s events were the terrible result of his personal problems. Dawyyat’s lawyer, Shimon Kokush, contends that according to Israeli law, there exists no legal basis for the categorization of Dawyyat’s actions as terror. His brother, Issam Dawyyat, noted that “my brother did not belong to any organization. He was not even a religious person. After terror attacks, he always used to say, 'What is this nonsense? Why do we need this?'

While Hossam Dawyyat’s state of mind prior to his killing spree may remain unknown forever, the Israeli government exploits yesterday’s tragedy in order to further develop a political offensive against the Palestinian population of Jerusalem.

Vice Premier Haim Ramon (Kadima) told Israeli Army Radio on Thursday morning that Israel should treat the East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Jabel Mukaber and Zur Baher as Palestinian villages of the West Bank, and revoke the permanent residency status of their residents.

"One of the main reasons that the attack was carried out yesterday with such ease was because there are Palestinian villages that for some reason are called Jerusalem - Jabel Mukaber and Zur Baher. They need to be treated as we treat Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jenin and Nablus," Ramon told the Army Radio.

The categorization of the events in central Jerusalem as a terror attack is not an isolated event. It comes at the end of a week in which the Knesset passed a series of laws aimed at further segregating Palestinian citizens of Israel. One such law prohibits Israeli citizens that visit enemy countries to be elected to the Knesset for seven years. This law, which acts to override the substantial immunity enjoyed by Knesset members, is directed primarily at Palestinian Members of Knesset, as they are the ones who visited and visit countries such as Yemen and Syria, defined by the Israeli government as enemies.

A second law denies Palestinian citizens of Israel the right of family reunification when their spouses are from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This law even does not attempt to appear as universal. It characterizes only the relationships between Palestinian citizens of Israel and Palestinian residents of the Occupied Territories.

Taking the time to assess the situation objectively with the weight of evidence—Dawyyat’s lack of religious or ideological history, his drug problems and criminal background—points to the likelihood that the events of yesterday are similar to the shootings at Virginia Tech in April of 2007. Instead, however, the events in central Jerusalem are being quickly categorized as a terror attack in support of the anti-Arab atmosphere encouraged by the political echelons and broadcast media in Israel.