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The Latest Intifada: A Sense that Palestinian Opposition to Israel Has Failed

(Times of Israel) Haviv Rettig Gur - The latest wave of Palestinian terrorism has broad support neither among the people nor among the elites. One of the most remarkable facts about the stabbings and protests that dominate the headlines is how few Palestinians are actually participating in them: a few hundred, and, at moments of dramatic mobilization, perhaps a few thousand. The simple arithmetic is undeniable: the Palestinian people are not lashing out at the Israelis. They are staying home. The attackers of Israelis, who are often dying almost instantly in the attempt, are battling, too, the growing Palestinian realization that their national movement has no answers, no narrative or political vision that offers a way forward to better days. Few Palestinians now expect or even seriously fantasize that any sort of victory might flow from these new suicides. Israelis who ultimately brushed off the suicide bombings of the Second Intifada by continuing with their daily lives will not be cowed by stabbings in the street. The quick deaths the attackers meet time and again only bring the collapse of Palestinian solutions and self-respect - and Israeli unflappability - into sharper relief. If the Jews can't be made to leave, then what is the value of Palestinian sacrifices made on the altar of this misbegotten strategy?
2015-10-30 00:00:00
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