Israeli bus gunman was army deserter

THE 19-year-old who killed four Israeli Arabs on a bus had deserted the army to protest at Israel’s upcoming withdrawal from Gaza, taking refuge in a militant Jewish settlement with his military-issued rifle.

But Israeli security forces missed that and other warning signs, including a plea by the young man’s father to find him. The incident raises questions about Israel’s ability to rein in Jewish extremists in the run-up to the pullout, even as it demands harsh action by Palestinians against Muslim radicals.

Violence by extremist Jews, though relatively rare, has altered Middle East peacemaking in the past - as did the 1994 massacre of 29 Arabs by American-born Jewish physician Baruch Goldstein, and the murder a year later of then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish fanatic.