Israel arrests Palestinian alleged to have rammed car into Border Police officers

Shin Bet: Premeditated attack underlines the high risk posed by line attackers in Jerusalem

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Car used in suspected terror attack in Jerusalem (photo credit: PALESTINIAN MEDIA)
Car used in suspected terror attack in Jerusalem
(photo credit: PALESTINIAN MEDIA)
Security forces announced on Wednesday the arrest of an east Jerusalem Palestinian man on suspicion of being behind a vehicular attack in Jerusalem’s a-Tur neighborhood last month, in which four Border Police officers sustained light to moderate injuries.
The suspect had turned himself in on April 26, a day after the attack.
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said evidence collected at the scene of the attack and the subsequent investigation pointed to a 31-year-old suspect named Majdi Muhammad Salah, a resident of the Shuafat refugee camp, who holds an Israeli resident card.
“He carried out the vehicular attack from nationalistic motives,” the Shin Bet said.
“After the attack, Salah fled the scene and abandoned his car. He escaped to a hideout.
An attempt to arrest him at his home that same night did not succeed.
“But the following night, on April 26, he turned himself in to the Israel Police and was transferred to the Shin Bet for questioning,” the agency added.
Before his arrest, Salah tried to set up false testimonies with his relatives, the Shin Bet added.
The attack was “premeditated,” the agency added, noting that Salah had previously considered running down Israelis in Jerusalem’s Mea She’arim neighborhood or in Ashdod.
On the spur of the moment, he decided to launch the attack in a-Tur after “recognizing an opportunity, and he sped his car toward the Border Police officers,” the Shin Bet stated.
The alertness of the officers prevented the attack from becoming deadly, it said.
The attack came 10 days after another Palestinian man ran down two Israelis, on April 15, near the capital’s French Hill area, murdering a man and wounding his girlfriend.
The recent incidents underline “the high level of threat and high danger posed by lone attackers, particularly in the city of Jerusalem, as well as the need to fully prosecute all of those involved in such attacks, and strengthen deterrence against them,” the Shin Bet said.