After years of relative quiet, Israel’s Shin Bet security service is warning of a rise in terror attacks since Israeli and Palestinian “peace” negotiators have resumed talks in July. In November, there were 167 attacks in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, compared to 136 in October, the AP reported.
On Sunday, a pipe bomb, planted by Palestinian terrorists, exploded on a bus near Tel Aviv. Miraculously, there were no casualties, but the blast caused heavy damage. On Monday, an Israeli policeman was stabbed outside a Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria. On Tuesday, an Israeli civilian was killed by a Palestinian sniper in a cross-border shooting from Gaza, which was retaliated with Israeli airstrikes.
Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon has been talking about an “atmosphere of attacks.”
“This is an unacceptable situation for us and despite the difficulty of dealing with an individual assailant who is incited to kill Jews, we will act with force and in other ways to harm those who try to carry out attacks,” Yaalon said.
The Palestinians argue it’s all Israel’s fault, because their people have been frustrated by the lack of progress in peace talks, while Israel continues to build—or, rather, promise to build—Jewish settlements.
“Politically, there is no sign of any hope and on the economic side there is no sign too,” said Jihad Harb, a Palestinian commentator. “People are frustrated by political groups who failed to bring them independence, so therefore they behave individually.”
Of course, describing their own people as the kind who, if they didn’t get their way, would stab you, does not contribute much to Israelis’ willingness to negotiate.
Israeli leaders have been accuse the Palestinians of spreading hatred and incitement to violence—except for chief negotiator Tzipi Livni, who claimed that Israel is not negotiating with the Palestinians who resort to violence, only with those who don’t.
Which makes you wonder if she’s been negotiating with the right people to begin with, since Israel’s interest is mostly that the Palestinian who are killing Jews should stop.
“The terrorist attacks against Israelis over the last few days are a direct result of the incitement and hatred propagated in Palestinian schools and media,” said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Netanyahu. “We are disappointed that so far President (Mahmoud) Abbas has not condemned these acts of terrorism as one would expect from a partner in peace talks.”
Minister of the Economy Naftali Bennett is convinced the attacks were a result of the talks, not of their failure to show results.
“We only just started talking about concessions and they immediately got an appetite and they murder Israeli citizens,” he told Israel’s Army Radio. “When we concede, when we hand over territory, they murder us. We have to get this rule into our heads. When we stand strong, even if there are no negotiations, there is quiet.”