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Three Killed in Jerusalem Rampage
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While Israeli officials suggested Edwyat had political motivations, friends and relatives in his East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sur Baher said that he had never expressed strong views and that his final act had caught them off guard.
"He didn't interfere with other people's business," said an uncle who did not want his name used. "Everybody in the neighborhood likes him. This was a shock and a surprise for every one of us."
Edwyat dated a Jewish woman for several years. A neighbor and a human rights worker who had spoken with the family said Edwyat had fathered the woman's child. Relatives said his only two children are by his Palestinian wife.
Police said Edwyat had a criminal record involving drug charges, but they did not provide details.
Several armed Palestinian groups asserted responsibility for Edwyat's attack. Israeli officials said their initial assessment was that he had acted alone.
Edwyat had been driving the earthmover as part of work on a planned 13-story apartment building for ultra-Orthodox Jews. He left the site just before noon and guided the earthmover onto an adjacent street, Jaffa. Witnesses said he immediately started ramming traffic both with the body of the vehicle and with the large shovel attached to it by a mechanical arm.
Drivers and bus passengers who were in the earthmover's path described a scene of initial confusion, followed by terror as they realized they were under attack.
"We heard a noise and just thought there had been an accident," said Eyal Ben-Nun, 16, who was on a bus headed home from school at the time. "But then the driver called for us all to get out."
When the passengers saw what was going on, Ben-Nun said, they ran from the bus screaming. He got off just before the machine sent the bus careening into the curb. "He just kept going, driving over one car and then another. He hit another bus and knocked it on its side," Ben-Nun said.
The attack occurred during a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, the armed Islamist movement in charge of the Gaza Strip. It sparked hostility toward the Palestinians at a time when Israel is negotiating a possible peace deal that could lead to the creation of a Palestinian state.
"You can't make peace with evil," said Hannah Shaish, standing a few steps from one victim lying lifeless on a stretcher.
The end of the rampage was caught on video by a local television station. When the video begins, the earthmover is at a standstill, and bystanders appear to believe the driver has been killed or subdued.
But then the vehicle suddenly lurches forward and takes off down the street. Several people give chase. The machine climbs atop one last car just as a police officer, Eli Mizrahi, leans into the cab and fires two rounds with a handgun.
On Wednesday night, Israeli officials were considering demolishing Edwyat's home, as well as other punitive measures.
"The residents of East Jerusalem have to stop this if they want to continue living with us," said Maj. Gen. Shahar Ayalon, deputy commissioner of the Israeli police.
Special correspondents Samuel Sockol, Sufian Taha and Hillary Zaken contributed to this report.
