Jerusalem terrorist's family told to take down mourners' tent

Haaretz Last update - 15:59 03/07/2008
By Jonathan Lis, Avi Issacharoff and Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz Correspondents

The family of the East Jerusalem Palestinian who killed three people in an attack in the capital on Wednesday was told by Border Police on Thursday to remove a mourning tent it had set up to mark his death. Hussam Duwiyat, 30, from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Zur Baher, was shot dead by security forces after stealing a bulldozer from the construction site where he was working and driving it into a bus and a number of cars on Jaffa Street in downtown Jerusalem. Three people were killed and dozens were wounded. The family lawyer said Wednesday that Duwiyat was not a terrorist and therefore the attack could not be described as terror. "This is a tragic event, the family and I send our condolences to the bereaved families and wish the wounded a speedy recovery,": said Shimon Kokush. "This was a young man who was jailed for rape. He was a junkie and drug-user." According to his family, Duwiyat had been employed as a bulldozer operator in recent years. He was not known to be involved in political activism in his community. However, the Battalions for the Liberation of the Galilee claimed responsibility for the attack, saying Duwiyat was recruited several months ago. Security sources said that the claim was likely false.