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Will There Be a Third Intifada?
(Al-Monitor) Shlomi Eldar - Will a third intifada erupt on the Temple Mount and spread like wildfire across the West Bank? A senior Palestinian official explained that without a prominent body like Fatah coaxing the street, there will be no intifada on the scale of the two previous ones, which began in 1987 and 2000. But Fatah's senior members are preoccupied with who will succeed Abbas. By all indications, an all-out conflict with Israel is not really seething below the surface. Yunes Aida of Hebron said, "I was 14 when the second intifada broke out. There were many fatalities and casualties. It was a big mess. It didn't bring us a solution. People know that another intifada and more fatalities will only make their lives harder. They don't have the energy for that. It's not just my own personal opinion. I'm telling you what all the people here are saying." The Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority leaders are not interested in a return to total chaos and the destruction of PA institutions, which were painstakingly built and are now considered by West Bank residents to be their legitimate political and civilian establishment.