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Border Guard forces near terrorist's home
Photo: AP

Mourning tent in Jerusalem terrorist's home dismantled

Prime minister, defense minister support demolition of house of Israeli Arab who murdered three people in bulldozer terror attack

Border Guard officers on Thursday instructed the family members of a terrorist who murdered three people and injured dozens in Jerusalem on Wednesday to dismantle a mourning tent installed near the terrorist's house in the east Jerusalem village of Sur Baher.

 

The officers, who have been touring the area since the bulldozer attack, noticed that the relatives of Husam Dawyyat were erecting a mourning tent near his house.

 

Jerusalem District Police Commander Aharon Franco announced Wednesday that the police would not allow the display of mourning signs in the house, as the ones seen in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber near the home of the terrorist who killed eight yeshiva students in the capital in March.

 

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday that "there is no way to fence-off the Arabs of east Jerusalem and every home of a potential terrorist. We need to stop the terror attacks carried out by east Jerusalem Arabs, and if that must be done through means of deterrence or the demolition of a home – then so be it."

 

Olmert held several high-profile consultations with cabinet ministers and top defense and diplomatic officials in his government, seeking to draw lessons from the two terror attacks carried out in Jerusalem by residents of the eastern part of the city – on Jaffa Street on Wednesday and the shooting rampage at the Mercaz Harav seminary in March.

 

The prime minister is chiefly hoping to initiate a deterrent move aimed at preventing the next terrorist who may come from the capital.

 

The ministers believe that deterrent actions, like demolishing a terrorist's house or stripping his family of welfare rights, could stop the next attack.

 

Olmert also discussed the matter with Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, and asked for the latter's judgment of the possible legal ramifications of implementing such measures. Mazuz, in turn, is expected to summon his own consultations on Thursday to review the issue and make a recommendation.

 

Meanwhile Thursday, Knesset Member Gilad Erdan (Likud) asked MK Tzachi Hanegbi (Kadima), chairman of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, to hold a discussion at the beginning of next week on a bill banning the erection of mourning tents for terrorists.

 

"The Knesset must speed up the handling of this matter in order to prevent the return of the sights we saw after the attack at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva," said Erdan, who initiated the bill.

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.03.08, 13:13
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