Jerusalem attacker had son with Jewish girlfriend

Saturday July 05, 2008 14:10 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

Israeli online daily, Yedioth Ahronoth, reported that the Palestinian man who carried out the attack in Jerusalem on Wednesday had a relationship in the past with an Israeli Jewish woman, and they had a 7 year old child.

File - 2007

At least three Israelis were killed and 30 others were wounded, two seriously, as the attacker drove a bulldozer into an Israeli bus and a number of cars on Jaffa Street in West Jerusalem on Wednesday midday.

Israeli sources said a Palestinian from Jerusalem, identified as Tayyser Dowikat, 31, carried out this attack, and was shot by Israeli policemen who were in the area. The attacker according to an Israeli police source had a criminal record as he was sentenced on February 2001 to 12 months imprisonment for assaulting his girlfriend.

Yedioth Ahronoth report stated that Dowikat was involved with a Jewish woman from a settlement in Jerusalem.

Speaking under conditions of anonymity, the woman told the newspaper that she is still in love with him even though that they ended their relationship five years ago, "I am afraid to tell how much I still love him, he never left my imagination for a second, he was a good person who cared about others, ".

The 27 year old women never stated her name, but referred to herself as "Sh", stated that they met 12 years ago and fell in love" from the first sight".

 He was her first love while she was a high school student as he worked as a bulldozer driver in Jerusalem.

She stated that she had to hide this affair from her mother as she harshly rejected their relationship. His parents never knew that he had a Jewish girlfriend until they broke up.

The ex-girlfriend also stated that the police called her for questioning because of their previous involvement.

The Associated Press reported that Dweikat was married to a Palestinian woman identified as Jamileh, 20, and both had two sons aged 3 and 5.

His mother-in-law, Hoda Dabash, stated that his ex-girlfriend stayed with his parents for nearly 18 months until her family took her away from him as they did not like him.

 The ex-girlfriend stated that she does not believe that Dweikat carried the attack out of nationalist motives. She added that “the problem was that he smoked lots of drugs”.

 Later on, she added, he became very abusive and would hit me really hard, “I was even willing to convert to Islam for him, I still loved him”.

 The ex-girlfriend also said that her child does not know that Dweikat is his father, and that she registered the child as the son of a man she married later on and divorced. She is currently living in a settlement in East Jerusalem.

 The Associated Press reported that residents of his neighborhood, Sur Baher, said that Dweikat was an “unpopular trouble maker” and that the morning after he carried his attack, some female relatives shouted martyr outside his home but his father silenced them.

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