Description

An Israeli policeman stands on guard near the scene after a car rammed a group of pedestrians on Ammunition Hill, between
west and East Jerusalem, on Oct. 22, 2014.(AFP/Menahem Kahana)


Updates:

Palestinian attack suspect suffered mental health issues

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Abd al-Rahman al-Shaludi, who died early Thursday after being shot by Israeli police following a suspected attack on civilians in Jerusalem, suffered psychological issues following his release from an Israeli jail, his mother said.

His mother was quoted by the Wadi Hilweh Information Center as saying that her son suffered mental health issues after being released from Israeli prison custody in March, where he was allegedly tortured.

On the day of the incident in Jerusalem, she had taken al-Shaludi to see a doctor who referred her to a psychiatrist and booked an appointment for Nov. 9.

The family say he was assaulted and threatened while serving three different prison terms, the first of which was in September 2012.

A lawyer representing the family said al-Shaludi's body has been taken for an autopsy against the family's will, while the suspect's mother has accused the Israeli police of murdering her son in "cold blood."

She said police would not cooperate with her and that the family only found out he had died from the media.
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Family of Jerusalem light rail attacker insists he lost control of car

Though Silwan residents say Abdel Rahman al-Shaludi joined Hamas in prison, family says attacker who drove into light rail station, killing a baby and injuring seven adults, was politically unaffiliated.

By Jack Khoury and Nir Hasson for Haaretz | Oct. 23, 2014 | 9:03 PM


Abdel Rahman al-Shaludi’s family members continued to insist Thursday that he lost control of his car and did not deliberately drive it into passengers getting off the Jerusalem light rail on Wednesday. In the crash, Haya Zissel Brown, 3 months old, was killed and seven adults were injured. Afterward, Shaludi tried to run away and was shot to death by a policeman.

Hamas and other Palestinian organizations have praised Shaludi’s act as a heroic blow against Israel, and some residents of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, where the family lives, said Abdel Rahman had affiliated himself with Hamas during and after his 14-month prison sentence on security-related offenses. However, his cousin Abed al-Shaludi said Abdel Rahman, 21, was not connected with Hamas or any political group.

“Since the war in Gaza everybody identifies with Hamas. That doesn’t make him a terrorist,” the cousin said.

Other family members said the Shaludis do not support Hamas or terrorism, even though Abdel Rahman’s uncle, Mohiyedine Sharif, was a senior Hamas military figure. Sharif was killed in a car explosion in 1998, which Hamas blamed on rival Palestinian Authority security forces.

Family members said Shaludi had been frustrated in recent months, having been unable to find a job. His cousin said he was showing the effects of his prison sentence, and had “lost himself,” but that he did not seem capable of committing a desperate, suicidal act of terror.

The cousin said he was told by Shaludi’s mother that Shaludi had been in his room on Wednesday reading the Koran. At one point he said he did not feel well and she took him to a doctor at a health clinic, then they returned home and Shaludi went back into his room to sleep. Less than an hour later, when his mother heard about her son’s involvement in the collision with the light rail, she was unaware he had left the house. She ran into his room and saw he was gone, Abed al-Shaludi said, recounting what he said the mother had told him.

He went on to say that the family has yet to receive Abdel Rahman’s body, and fears that Israel is stalling, waiting to deliver his body late at night to prevent a large funeral. “We believe that he was shot and killed in cold blood and there was no attempt to question him, and hear his side of the story, and that he deserves a funeral like everyone else,” said the cousin.

He added that while residents in Silwan are frustrated and angry over their treatment at the hands of Israel, he doubted that this explained Abdel Rahman’s actions.

“Every day the police come in and make arrests, settlers come every day and stand next to ruins, demolition orders haunt everyone, and all this makes for a desperate and frustrated environment. I don’t know if Abdel Rahman took it too far, but I still believe that he had an accident. If he wanted to carry out an attack, why did he wait until he got there? The videos don’t show that it was definitely an attack, and he might have lost control of his vehicle. For the Israelis, that’s an attack, and they shoot him to death,” said the cousin.

A Facebook page published shortly after the fatal crash contained a picture of Abdel Rahman next to a picture of Inas Shawkat Khalil, a young Palestinian girl who was run over on Route 60 north of Ramallah a few days ago.

“Inas screamed, and Rahman answered,” wrote senior Hamas official Hussam Badran, who lives in Qatar, and who called Shaludi’s act one of heroism. “Those who thought that West Bank residents had abandoned the struggle are wrong, and Shaludi is continuing on in the path of his uncle, Mohiyedine Sharif,” wrote Badran.

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JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- An Israeli infant died and at least eight others were injured when a Palestinian driver slammed his car into a light rail station in occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli officials said.

The Palestinian man was shot and severely injured by Israeli police after his car slammed into the station near the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Israeli police described the incident as a "terrorist attack."

Witnesses said Abd al-Rahman al-Shaludi, 20, was shot by Israeli guards at the light rail station after he lost control of his vehicle and hit commuters standing nearby.

They told Ma'an that al-Shaludi exited his vehicle after striking the pedestrians, at which point he was shot in the back by the guards. They stressed that the incident appeared to be an accident.

However Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said on Twitter that nine people were injured when the car struck the Ammunition Hill light rail station near Sheikh Jarrah.

The driver was shot as he fled the area, he added.

Earlier reports said that the Palestinian was shot dead and that he was the the driver of a car that hit the station.

Al-Shaludi was previously a prisoner in Israeli jails and was held for 16 months before being released on Dec. 22, 2013. He was re-arrested in February for a month.

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Hamas praises Jerusalem attack as 'daring operation' and 'natural response'; Netanyahu held Abbas accountable for the attack, saying he has incited Palestinians against Jews.

By Jack Khoury and Haaretz

Palestinian Authority Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Thursday that Israeli incitement and occupation were to blame for the escalation of violence by Palestinians.

Rudeineh's remarks came as a jab to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who following the terror attack in Jerusalem on Wednesday held Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accountable for the escalation in violence, saying that he had incited Palestinians to attack Jews. A three-month-old baby was killed and seven people were wounded when an East Jerusalem man rammed his car into a light rail station in the city a day in an act of terror.

Pointing to Abbas' call on Friday to Palestinians to use "any means" to bar the settlers from the Temple Mount, Netanyahu said: "That's how Abu Mazen's [Abbas'] partners in government act, the same Abu Mazen who just a few days ago incited to an attack on Jews in Jerusalem."

Abu Rudeineh said in the wake of the attack that the ongoing occupation, the Judaization of Jerusalem and harm to Muslim and Christian holy sites, and the Israeli incitement against the Palestinian leadership, particularly Abbas, were the source of this tense atmosphere. The entire world opposed Israel's occupation, he said, and was beginning to recognize the legitimacy of a Palestinian state.

Abu Rudeineh added that the Palestinian leadership had warned the Israeli government against continuing polices that lead to further escalation and tension, calling instead for an end to the occupation and hostilities.

He further warned that the Palestinians would not return to negotiations with outstretched arms, in light of occurrences in Jerusalem, and said that Israel was trying to evade the peace process by creating a negative atmosphere though continued settlement construction and incitement.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat also took Netanyahu to task for laying the blame on Abbas:"By recklessly claiming that President Abbas is inciting terrorism, Mr. Netanyahu has turned his back on peace. He called the situation in East Jerusalem 'intolerable' without mentioning his government’s recent provocations that have inflamed the political situation."

"Hereby we declare that Israel, the occupying power, and particularly Mr. Netanyahu are responsible for the current situation in Occupied East Jerusalem and throughout the Occupied State of Palestine."

Hamas spokesperson Mushir al-Masri on Thursday praised the attack a "daring operation" and a "natural response to the crimes of the occupation against our people and our holy places."

Abdel Rahman Al-Shaludi, a 21-year-old Palestinian resident of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan who in the past served prison time for security offenses, drove up to the station near Ammunition Hill on Wednesday evening and hit passengers disembarking from the train. He was shot and arrested trying to flee the scene on foot, and later died of his wounds.

The United States condemned the attack, calling it “despicable.”

“The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms today’s terrorist attack in Jerusalem. We express our deepest condolences to the family of the baby, reportedly an American citizen, who was killed in this despicable attack, and extend our prayers for a full recovery to those injured. We urge all sides to maintain calm and avoid escalating tensions in the wake of this incident.” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement released Wednesday, hours after the attack.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said in a statement that Wednesday’s attack in Jerusalem and an attack on the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa are both a result of the rise of radical Islam.

“The terror attacks which took place yesterday almost simultaneously at two sides of the world, Jerusalem and Ottawa, demonstrate again that terrorism is a worldwide epidemic that must be fought strenuously and without compromise,” Liberman said.

“Terror is not the result of building in Jerusalem, Ottawa, New York, Madrid, London or Mombasa, but of the war of radical Islam against the Western world. We stand alongside our friends in Canada, who have demonstrated by their firm stand alongside Israel and again recently in joining the war against ISIS, that they will not give in to terror. Israel, too, will remain firm in the fight against terror and terrorists.”

Relatives of Al-Shaludi told the Palestinian Maan news agency that he had been recently released from an Israeli prison where he served 14 months. He was the nephew of Mohiyedine Sharif, the former head of Hamas’ armed wing who was killed in 1988.

Al-Shaludi posted messages and video clips in support of Hamas on his Facebook page, the Times of Israel reported.