Israeli 'price tag' extremists determined to set the territories ablaze
Both Israeli and Palestinian extremists try to inflame a new cycle of confrontations: marginalized settler youth on one side, established Palestinian terror organizations on the other.
Two dichotomous forces are simultaneously in motion on the Israeli-Palestinian front. On the one hand is US Secretary of State John Kerry, who tirelessly shuttles between the parties, trying to milk the ram in a bid to draw up a framework agreement. On the other are madmen from both sides who are trying to set the ground ablaze.
What will come first — peace or a third intifada? In my opinion, the latter stands a better chance. To have peace, what is needed is an Israeli leader with the personal traits of the late French President Charles de Gaulle and the late South African President Nelson Mandela, and a Palestinian leader on the scale of Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion. They both have to make terribly difficult decisions from their standpoint, needing to overcome political complications, bad blood, a history rife with obstacles and a hostile environment. Regrettably, neither one of the incumbent leaders has the necessary qualities. However, you don’t need much for a third intifada to break out: a handful of madmen here, a raging mob there, a small spark at the right time to ignite the powder keg and boom! We have an intifada.
It nearly happened this week. A law-enforcement operation by the Israeli authorities on Jan. 7, which sought to uproot seedlings planted by Israeli settlers near the settlement of Shilo, unleashed the rage of the “hilltop youth” who decided to stage an act of protest. Some 16 activists got together and started marching from Esh Hakodesh outpost toward the Arab villages in the vicinity. According to one version, they entered the Palestinian village of Qusra to carry out a “price tag” operation.
It is in this village where things started to spiral out of control. From being the assailants, the settlers were the ones assaulted. Soon enough, they were surrounded by a raging Arab mob. Beaten up and pelted with large stones, they were humiliated and put into an isolated structure where they were kept inside. At the same time, hundreds of Arabs were seeking to lynch them. Some of the village dignitaries were able, albeit barely, to stop a massive massacre until the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) arrived at the scene, rescuing the settlers and putting the commotion to rest.
