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Fears of New Intifada Are Wrong

(Ha'aretz) Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel - Tuesday's violent demonstrations occurred mostly in the villages around Jerusalem, with incidents also in Hebron and in Bil'in, but these were not mass demonstrations. Jerusalem police described the incidents during the past two days as a blatant failure of the Palestinians, both the Palestinian Authority and its Hamas rivals, to set the territories ablaze. In the village of Al-Suwaneh, one of the epicenters of Tuesday's confrontations, Israeli security forces dispersed several dozen Palestinian stone-throwers without much effort after arrests by undercover policemen. In a few hours, relative calm was restored, despite the wild incitement in the Arab media of recent days. Even though the events were the most serious in the past two years, it still resembled an intifada lite. It was hard to find any passion in the demonstrators' eyes. In east Jerusalem, as in the West Bank cities, fatigue is discernible. The Hamas leaders in Gaza who are calling for a third intifada may have nothing to lose, but in the West Bank, the vast majority of the people prefer to keep things calm. The American condemnation that Israel received also contributed to the demonstrations of recent days. When the Obama administration attacks the Netanyahu government, the Palestinian Authority receives a boost - for popular protests and toughening its stance in the proximity talks.
2010-03-17 09:21:24
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