The terror wave, one year on

It has been over a year since Israel began dealing with the latest wave of Palestinian terrorism, which is characterized by lone-wolf attacks, often by minors who have decided to act independently and spontaneously. Most of these terrorists do not have a history of involvement in terror activity and do not belong to a particular terrorist organization.

The wave of terrorism began with almost daily attacks, which in the winter slowed down to one or two attacks every week. The wave now appears to be picking up again. Thirty-nine Israelis have been murdered in this wave of attacks, and nearly 500 have been injured. These numbers could have been much higher if not for the IDF's determined preventative efforts, and in some cases, those of the Palestinian security forces. Most of the attackers, more than 200, were killed while attempting to carry out attacks, making them a sort of suicide mission for the terrorists.

When the wave initially began, some tied it to tensions over the Temple Mount, which the Islamic Movement in Israel fed with the slogan "Al-Aqsa is in danger." Since then, the tensions over the Temple Mount have calmed, and we can see that the motivation to attack Jews does not require any special reason or background situation.

This wave of terrorism is unique in that it is not directed by any particular organizer. The Palestinian Authority is wary of condemning the terrorists and even adopts them into its fold -- but, in contrast with the previous intifada, neither it nor any of its organs is initiating the terrorism. Hamas, for its part, is deep in a struggle for survival in the Gaza Strip, and in any case, it is too weak to launch a broad, populist terror campaign in the West Bank, as opposed to the localized attacks that its active cells carry out in the field. It is also important to note that the Palestinian population as a whole is not taking part in the current wave of violence, even if it supports the attackers after the fact. Any sensible Palestinian understands that the present reality in which West Bank Palestinians live, complex as it may be, is preferable to the situation prevailing in the Arab world, from Libya to Syria, Iraq, and even the Gaza Strip.

But the young attackers have their own logic. The motive is usually personal and a challenge to the reality of their lives, which is essentially the reality for young Arabs throughout the Middle East. The defiance is directed at society -- near and far, Palestinian and even Arab. This is a generation of young people influenced by social networking websites and acting according to their dictates, while ignoring their parents and social framework. And today, radical Islam, including Islamic State group doctrine, sets the tone on these social networks.

It is unlikely that a 13- or 15-year-old who sets out to attack is wondering about the Palestinian leadership or the future of the territories after the era of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. True, sometimes friction with Israeli soldiers serves as a motivating factor, but in the broadest sense, the reality is that the young Arab generation lacks a future and hope, and social networking sites fill their lives and push young Palestinians to carry out attacks. The intolerable ease with which any conflict slides immediately into violence -- something we have witnessed among Israeli Arabs too -- only facilitates the phenomenon.

Like past waves of terrorism, this one too will fade away, though it is hard to say if it will be months or years before then. Israel has succeeded in preventing escalation, as well as the eruption of a broad, popular violent outburst, by immediately responding to attacks without compromising the relationship it has with Palestinian society and with the PA, both of which are also uninterested in escalation. As in such previous chapters of our lives, we must grit our teeth, work to prevent attacks and respond to them assertively, and wait patiently for better days to come.

טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו