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Why We Aren't Seeing a Third Intifada

(Ha'aretz) Anshel Pfeffer - The memory of thousands of Palestinian deaths in two intifadas and four Gaza conflicts inhibits any mass outpouring of rage onto the streets. Plus, Palestinians see on their televisions the desolation in other parts of the Arab world, like Syria and Yemen. There may be hundreds of individuals motivated to take a knife or Carl Gustav submachine gun and attack Israelis in the hope of becoming martyrs, but that is not a feeling common to wider swathes of Palestinian society. The critical mass of tens of thousands prepared to risk their lives in a desperate uprising doesn't exist. Likewise, Israel's policy to continue letting Palestinian workers from the West Bank arrive daily in Israel has created a major incentive for maintaining the calm. At least half the families in the West Bank are reliant in some way on the Israeli economy, and they don't want to go back to the intifada reality when Israel imported foreign workers to replace Palestinians. For the overwhelming majority of Palestinians, the price of another intifada is simply too high.
2017-12-15 00:00:00
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