"Here we go again." That's the text message I just received from a friend in Israel's Border Police. It's a reference to more disturbances here in and around Jerusalem he and other police are facing.
In the city, you can see the signs of a nascent Palestinian uprising. An Israeli surveillance balloon is stationed over the Temple Mount during Friday Muslim prayers. A police helicopter patrols the skies around the Old City. Anecdotal reports sift out of the combat areas near Sur Baher, Ras Al Amud or the Old City itself.
It started a week ago. I first heard about it from friends who live near the Western Wall. They heard the sound of tear gas canisters and saw Palestinians fleeing across the housetops. Like other uprisings before, it's not always what it appears, as if a "spontaneous" outbreak of violence burst forth. For example, there have been reports of rocks being stored beforehand on the Temple Mount before the rock throwing began. But now a week old, it remains to be seen what direction this will take.
There's a real concern we're on the cusp of another Palestinian intifada. Ironically, just when the Palestinian economy seems to be blossoming, an intifada could rise up to snuff out the economic gains. My colleague Erick Stakleback wrote on the rise in the West Bank economy on one of his latest blogs. You can see it here.
This excerpt from an article in YNet makes the point that when the Palestinian economy starts reviving; historically a new Palestinian uprising seems to break out:
The statistics are clear and frightening: Every time the standard of living in the Palestinian parts of the West Bank reaches a new zenith, an Intifada breaks out and turns back the wheel.
This was the case in 1987, this is what happened in 2000, and this may be happen now.
The similarities are worrisome. Again, just like 22 years ago and nine years ago, the Palestinian economy is completing a period of impressive growth. Again, just like on the eve of the two previous Intifadas, the media provide extensive and gleeful coverage of the economic miracle in Nablus, Ramallah, and Jericho.
New stores are opening up, the coffee shops are packed, and unemployment is down. And again, Israel's public opinion tends to believe that the Palestinian problem has been resolved given the current reality. What else can the Palestinians aspire for when they have advanced autonomy and when their standard of living skyrockets? As a reminder, at the end of a hot August in 2000, tens of thousands of Israelis hit furniture stores at the outskirts of Qalqiliya.
Meanwhile, other Israelis waited in long lines for direct buses from southern Tel Aviv to the casino in Jericho. According to data provided by the International Monetary Fund, the per capita income in Palestinian Authority areas during the years 1995-2000 rose by 8-10% per year." Sever Plocker, YNet News.com, October 9, 2009.
Where did the current violence come from?
One of the sources for the current violence is a man called Sheikh Raed Salah, the head of the Islamic Movement in Israel. He's a serial inciter.
For example, a few years ago when Israel began excavating an archeological site outside the Temple Mount, he accused Israel of digging underneath the Al Aksa Mosque on the Mount itself. Anyone with good eyesight could see that the site was situated far away from the mosque itself. But Salah is not alone. Voices throughout the Muslim world are calling for Muslims to rise up and "protect" the Al Aksa mosque.
But other voices are being raised as well. Not for incitement, but for intercession. Just last week, thousand of believers gathered here in Jerusalem as part of the Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem. Millions more joined in prayer around the world.
For them, this latest threat to the peace of Jerusalem needs to be met with prayers to the God of Israel. As Psalm 121: 4 says, Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep."
They would say this is one more time "to pray for the peace of Jerusalem."
Typhoons have devastated the island nation of the Philippines, and Israel is one of those nations sending out medical teams to lend a hand. Here's a story on these volunteers.