RAMALLAH, West Bank — On the morning of Oct. 13, a mass strike brought cities and towns in the Palestinian territories to a halt. Various sectors including local municipalities and public educational institutions joined the strike to protest Israel’s escalation in the West Bank and Jerusalem since the beginning of October 2015.

Throngs of an estimated 40,000 Palestinians took to the streets in the town of Sakhnin in response to a call by the High Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens in Israel in support of the uprising in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Although the events in Jerusalem and the West Bank were the main triggers that pushed the Palestinians to protest, the uprising was also instigated by an array of other reasons, including the continued Israeli government campaigns of incitement, hatred and racism.

Arab ​Knesset member Basel Ghattas told Al-Monitor that the movement represented by the mass strike and the protest in Sakhnin “reveals the state of public wrath and tension caused by the Judaization of Jerusalem, the assault on Al-Aqsa Mosque, the increasing manifestations of racism and hatred between Jews and Arabs and the constant incitement by [Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu and the government’s right-wing parties against Arabs.”