Middle East News Thread

IDF Prepares for More West Bank Violence

The attack of the masses on a Nahal Brigade infantry patrol in Hebron ahead of last weekend is not just another warning sign of the possibility that Judea and Samaria will soon start to burn: It is another manifestation of the fact that years of almost total quiet are reaching their end.

Even more grave than the attack is the fact that it is being exposed here for the first time: Palestinian security forces have stopped taking active measures against Hamas terror infrastructure in the last few days. The IDF is starting to survey the picture and begin to ready for the possibility that a new round of significant violence will erupt in Judea and Samaria during the first quarter of 2013.

Arab-Israeli Mayor Warns Of Arab Spring in Israel

When the Palestinian Authority received non-member observer status in the United Nations, there was great joy in the Arab communities in Judea and Samaria. Fireworks were lit in Ramallah, Qalqilya and Hebron to express euphoria over the diplomatic victory. But in Tira, no one was celebrating.

The mayor paints a grim picture:

“It must be understood that in the future, the big problem of the state of Israel will be how to get along with the Arab residents and citizens, especially the youths who will not be willing to settle for the things we settled for,” continues the mayor. “They see the Jewish communities around them developing positively and dynamically, while the Arab communities are collapsing under deficits and suffering from lousy infrastructure.

“What was acceptable to us will not be acceptable to our children. They are exposed to the media, they have Facebook and YouTube. They see what is happening in the world and around them. They have aspirations for the future and they have demands. They want to feel like equal citizens and to experience full equality.”

Israel has already withheld the December transfer, saying the money would be used to start paying off $200 million the Palestinians owe the Israel Electric Corporation.

Lieberman, a hardliner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative coalition government, said the Palestinians also had another debt with the Israeli water authority that would have to be paid off.

Countries opposed to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime meet in Morocco on Wednesday for talks on Syria’s 21-month conflict after the US gave official backing to a new opposition bloc.