Worshippers return to synagogue after carnage

JERUSALEM -- Worshipers returned Wednesday to the Kehilat Bnai Torah synagogue in the western Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof, a day after a horrific attack by two Palestinians left five people dead.

CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey says there are dire warnings that what Israel calls a "wave of terrorism" is taking on the overtones of a religious war, and political leaders on both sides accuse the other of fanning the flames.

But not in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood where the four slain rabbis lived and worshiped. At the funeral outside the synagogue where the attack occurred, a rabbi merely noted that there are now four widows and 24 orphans on one street.

Three of the four rabbis were dual U.S.-Israeli nationals, and one was a British-Israeli. An Israeli police officer was also killed in the attack.

"Our future in this world is dependent on God," worshiper Gavriel Cohen said Wednesday morning. "A man can never know what will happen to him."

But Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu vowed to "respond harshly" for what he termed "despicable murders."

As an example of what he has in mind, overnight, Israeli security forces destroyed the home of a Palestinian man who rammed his car into a commuter train stop last month. That attack left a young woman and a baby dead.

The homes of the two Palestinians who attacked the synagogue will also be knocked down. The practice of destroying militants' homes was largely abandoned in 2005, with officials deciding it didn't serve as an effective deterrent. They resumed the demolitions recently.

What particular grievance inspired the two Palestinian cousins to attack worshipers at the synagogue with meat cleavers, knives and a handgun is still unclear, but a relative was quoted as saying he was sure they acted alone, not as part of an organized plot by any group. Both men were killed by police at the scene.

Israeli security officials say such "lone wolf" attacks are the hardest to predict, or prevent.

The issues that fuel these attacks range from Israeli occupation of Arab land to continuing construction of Jewish settlements and disputes over access to Temple Mount, a holy site in Jerusalem sacred to both Muslims and Jews.

CLARIFICATION: "CBS This Morning" video associate with this report referred to the place where the attack occurred as a contested religious site in Jerusalem. In fact, the synagogue is located in an orthodox neighborhood of west Jerusalem which is not generally regarded as a contested religious site.