19 wounded in Jerusalem terror attack

A terror attack took place last night in central Jerusalem. According to the latest reports, 19 people, most of them off-duty IDF soldiers, were wounded when a Palestinian resident of east Jerusalem drove a car into a crowd waiting to cross the road. Two of the wounded were reported to be in serious condition. Following the attack, the driver of the car was shot dead by an IDF officer at the site of the incident.

According to news reports this morning, the driver of the car was a resident of the village of Jebel Mukaber, in southern Jerusalem. Israeli Police Chief Inspector Ilan Franco told reporters that there had been no prior warning of the attack, although the general level of alert in the capital had been raised because of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is taking place at the moment.

The attack at Tzahal Square is the third terrorist attack to take place in Jerusalem in the last three months. The three attacks have various elements in common, which set them apart from other forms of terror that have been used in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The acts of terror to which Israelis have tragically grown accustomed have usually been the work of organised terrorist groups, who train, arm and dispatch the operatives who carry out the attack. The bus bombers whose activities took a heavy toll of life in the 2000-2004 period followed this pattern.

The latest attacks in Jerusalem have been very different. All three have been carried out by individuals who appear to have made the decision to carry out their act independently of any organised political or paramilitary framework. The identity of yesterday's attacker is not yet known, but in the previous two attacks of this kind, the perpetrator was found to be an individual with no history of involvement in terror organisations.

While attacks of this kind are unfamiliar in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they follow a pattern well-known to observers of global jihad type terrorism. The phenomenon of 'self-starter' terrorists - who become indoctrinated through contact with radical preachers, or even via the internet, and who then go on to organise themselves for acts of terror - has been well observed. Examples of it have been seen in various European countries, including Britain. This pattern now appears to have arrived in the vastly more tense and problematic Israeli-Palestinian context. It is perhaps a sign of the times that after the last 'bulldozer' attack in Jerusalem, the Israeli cabinet for the first time held a full discussion on the issue of the Global Jihad, the methods and behaviour patterns which characterise it. Yesterday's attack is the latest indication that 'self-starter' terrorists, usually influenced by jihadi ideology of one kind or another, must now, tragically, be seen as part of the landscape of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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