A low simmer with spikes
Palestinian youth throw stones towards Israeli security forces during clashes in the West Bank town of Hebron on October 4, 2015. Photo by Hazem Bader / AFP
3rd intifada?
Ready or Not, the Third Intifada May Be Here
A spike in violent attacks on Wednesday make renewed conflict between Israelis and Palestinians impossible to ignore.
By Adam Chandler, Atlantic
October 07, 2015
For more than a year, there’s been sustained debate about whether the ongoing tensions and fits of violence in Israel, the West Bank, and in particular, Jerusalem, would fully culminate in a third Palestinian uprising.
In recent months, amid failed peace talks, continued fallout from the latest war in Gaza, politically motivated riots and car attacks, deadly rock-throwing and deadly responses to rock-throwing, stabbings, fatal arson and shootings, clashes at holy sites, the expansion of settlements and price-tag attacks, the rhetorical canceling of both previous peace deals, and the future peace process, the answer seems to be increasingly be this: A Third Intifada is here and it doesn’t resemble the previous two.
On Wednesday, just days after the 15th anniversary of the Second Intifada, the implicit seemed to become explicit. Across Israel, the West Bank, and in particular, Jerusalem, violence swelled with riots, car attacks, stone-throwing, stabbings, and arrests. “A Wave of Terror” is how The Jerusalem Post characterized the day’s violence on its live-blog.
Owing to the violence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a trip to Germany where he was set to celebrate 50 years of Israeli-German relations. “We are still in the midst of a wave of terror,” Netanyahu said on Wednesday. “We have known worse times than this and we will also overcome this wave of terrorism with determination, responsibility, and unity.”
Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas sought to distance himself from the violence. “I support a popular, nonviolent struggle and oppose all violence and use of weapons. I’ve made clear a number of times that I don’t want to return to the cycle of violence,” Abbas told Haaretz.
At many turns over the past year, both men have continued to accuse the other of incitement to violence, including during competing United Nations addresses last week. One upshot of the fraying relationship between the two sides is diminished cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian security forces, which has been a keystone of limiting violence throughout the years.
The character of the recent violence has also changed from previous years, which has made it more difficult to contain. The rise of more “lone wolf attacks,” be it by settler youth in the West Bank or more pedestrian Palestinian attacks that come without coordination from terrorist groups, have given some sense of spontaneity to the violence. As a result, the tensions have remained at a low simmer, never fully escalating and never fully receding.
That may have changed with Wednesday’s riots and surge in violence. No matter what, it’s bad news for everyone.
An Orthodox Jew passes Israeli police on patrol in an alley of the Old City of Jerusalem on Sunday 4th October. Photo by Atef Safadi / European Pressphoto Agency)
3rd intifada?
Amid specter of a third intifada, Israel curbs access to Jerusalem’s Old City
By Maher Abukhater and Batsheva Sobelman, LA Times
October 04, 2015
Israeli authorities took the extraordinary step of banning non-resident Palestinians from the Old City of Jerusalem on Sunday as an increase in violence gave rise to concerns that a third intifada, or uprising, may have begun.
Tensions continued to simmer in Jerusalem and the West Bank as two Israeli victims of a stabbing attack were laid to rest and Palestinians clashed with police and soldiers.
Hundreds of Israeli police officers patrolled East Jerusalem and the Old City and clashed with residents throughout the city. The worst violence was in the neighbourhood of Issawiya, where a 19-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed by police who suspected him of stabbing an Israeli youth earlier in the day.
The move to limit entry to the Old City, Jerusalem’s ancient tourist and market hub, was unprecedented and was described as “a drastic measure” by police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. The order barred access on Sunday and Monday — the last two days of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot — to Palestinians who are not residents of the Old City. Israeli citizens, residents, tourists and students were exempt.
Police set up barricades at gates leading to the Old City, a warren of picturesque stone passageways where about 40,000 people live, most of them Palestinians.
Police also barred Muslim men under age 50 from entering the Al Aqsa mosque compound, which has been a center of tension for the last three weeks. Police had entered the compound the night before and removed dozens of Palestinians who were keeping a vigil in the mosque.
Israel captured the Old City and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East War and later annexed the areas. Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of an independent Palestine.
Our enemies know how to hurt us, but will not defeat us.
– Israeli President Reuven Rivlin
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon telephoned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday evening to discuss the latest events. Abbas, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, urged Ban “to speed up efforts to provide international protection to the Palestinian people before things get out of hand.”
Israeli officials vowed to restore security.
“Our enemies know how to hurt us, but will not defeat us,” said President Reuven Rivlin. “The fight against terrorism requires determination and inner fortitude.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held urgent consultations with army, police and intelligence chiefs upon his return from the United States and was set to convene a security Cabinet meeting Monday evening.
Sultan Abu Einain, a leader in Abbas’ Fatah party, told Palestine TV that the events in the West Bank and Jerusalem “are signs of a third intifada.”
The first intifada broke out in December 1987 and lasted until about 1993, when the Oslo peace process began. The second erupted in September 2000 and lasted until 2005, following Abbas’ election as president of the Palestinian Authority.
Einain’s sentiment was echoed by some Israeli analysts. Writing in the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot, journalist Nahum Barnea also described the developments as a third intifada.
“It is important to call it by its name,” he wrote.
Two fatal attacks on Jews in recent days have ratcheted up the level of tension.
Two Jewish men, one walking with his wife and infant and the other rushing to his aid, were stabbed to death Saturday in Jerusalem’s Old City, Israeli officials and news reports said.
The suspected killer, a 19-year-old Palestinian law student from the West Bank city of Ramallah, was fatally shot by police.
Earlier in the week, a man and his wife were shot to death on a West Bank road while driving with their four children, who were unharmed.
The Palestinian who was shot by police Sunday was identified as Fadi Elwan. Police said he had a knife and had stabbed and wounded an Israeli youth.
Elwan’s family disputed the police account and said he was going to pray at Al Aqsa mosque when he was chased by a mob of Israelis, prompting him to run toward the police patrol before he was shot several times and killed.
Video clips show Elwan being chased by men who appear to be Orthodox Jews shouting, “Shoot him, shoot him!”
Police later raided Elwan’s home and briefly took his father and uncle into custody for questioning. Clashes broke out throughout the day between residents of the neighborhood and police.
In addition to the violence in Jerusalem, Palestinians clashed with Israeli soldiers and settlers in various areas of the West Bank.
Jewish settlers reportedly attacked a Palestinian home just outside Ramallah late Saturday, prompting clashes with its residents and other Palestinians.
Farther north, an Israeli army unit raided the Jenin refugee camp early Sunday to arrest a Palestinian militant but ended up clashing with residents and destroying the Palestinian’s home without arresting him.
Nader Irsheid, director of the Jenin hospital, said 22 people were brought to his hospital with gunshot wounds, mainly to the lower parts of the body. He said two people with serious injuries were transferred to a hospital in Nablus.
Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official in Nablus, said Israeli settlers damaged 200 cars belonging to Palestinians and set fire to several acres of olive groves. Israeli soldiers set up checkpoints around Ramallah and Nablus and nearby villages, causing hours-long delays for motorists.
Israeli Intelligence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Yisrael Katz [L] said in an interview that Israel might be forced to launch another comprehensive military operation in the West Bank, similar to one carried out in 2002 after a wave of suicide bombings.
The attacks on Israelis prompted fierce criticism against Netanyahu from his political opposition, with hawks denouncing him for being lax on Palestinian violence and doves for failing to lead a policy to engage Palestinians.
Former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called for a halt to the monthly transfer of tax revenue Israel collects for the Palestinian Authority and suggested revoking travel permits for Palestinian officials, as well as imposing the death penalty for Palestinian attackers and demolishing their family’s homes.
Opposition leader Isaac Herzog called for coupling security measures with diplomatic efforts to harness what he called a “genuine regional desire” for change. “If this government cannot provide security for its citizens it should draw the conclusions,” he said.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan acknowledged security had been undermined by the wave of “popular terrorism” and outlined a list of steps authorities were taking to fight back. Among these, he said, were beefing up police and special units in Jerusalem, increased jail time for perpetrators, changing rules of engagement in firebomb and rock attacks and extensive army activity against Palestinian suspects.
However, Erdan dismissed the call for renewing the political process with the Palestinians, which he said was a euphemism for capitulation to Palestinian demands. “So far, the diplomatic process has not brought more security, but less,” he told Israel Radio.
The fatal attacks on Israeli civilians drew strong condemnation from the U.S. State Department, which expressed concern over mounting tensions in Jerusalem’s holy sites as well, and called on all sides to “avoid an escalation.”
The European Union too denounced the previous attack and urged a political solution to the conflict.
Special correspondents Abukhater and Sobelman reported from Ramallah and Jerusalem, respectively.