Israel Matzav

A hit and run 'accident' or a terror attack?

A bulldozer hit an Israeli car near Havat Gilad on Monday night, and forced another Israeli car into a ditch alongside the road. The driver, a 'Palestinian,' fled, but was later caught. The IDF is saying it was a hit and run 'accident' and not a terror attack.

Police on Monday night said that an initial investigation suggested that an incident in which a bulldozer driven by a Palestinian man struck an Israeli vehicle and caused a second motorist to swerve into a road ditch was not an attempted terror attack.

Two people were lightly injured in the Monday evening incident, near the Havat Gilad outpost, southwest of Nablus.

The driver whose vehicle was struck, a resident of Kadumim, was lightly injured, and continued onwards, stopping only after he reached the Jeit junction.

A second Israeli vehicle driven by a woman, a resident of Yitzhar, swerved to the side of the road after noticing the tractor parked in the middle of her path, in an effort to avoid a collision, police said.

Conflicting reports emerged in the minutes after the incident, with some reports saying the second vehicle was chased and deliberately struck by the tractor driver.

The man from Kedumim, who unlike police was there when the incident took place, claims that the bulldozer driver tried to kill him.

Shai Kisler, the Kedumim resident who was injured when a tractor driven by an Arab hit his vehicle near Havat Gilad Monday night, disputes the contention of the IDF that the incident was a “hit and run accident.” Kisler said that he had been driving near Havat Gilad, with the Arab driving the tractor right in front of him. “All of the sudden he stopped, blocking the road,” Kisler said. “I stopped as well and made a u-turn, because I was afraid he was setting up a terror attack. The tractor then made a u-turn as well, and started pursuing me very quickly, eventually hitting me. Afterwards he kept driving and hit several more cars. A jeep that he hit fell 20 meters off the side of the road,” Kisler said.

In a statement, the IDF said Monday night that the incident, in which 2 Israelis were hurt, was a “hit and run accident,” not a terror attack. The statement said that the Arab was shaken up by the first accident and fled the scene on foot. He was arrested a short time after the incident and is in police custody.

There were two terror attacks using bulldozers in Jerusalem in July 2008, and one in March 2009. I'd bet on Monday night's incident being a terror attack.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:06 PM