On Tuesday, Mohammad Murad Souf entered the West Bank city of Ariel and went on a rampage of stabbing and ramming cars into traffic that left three dead. The attack comes not long after an IDF crackdown on the upstart terrorist group the Lions’ Den, which led to a modest decrease in terrorism. What is unusual about Souf is that he is one of the 130,000 Palestinians who possess permits to enter Israeli-controlled areas to work. Yaakov Lappin comments:

The IDF already has 26 battalions stationed in Judea and Samaria—a very large number—as part of “Operation Break the Wave,” launched in March in response to a series of terror attacks, and it is unlikely that this incident will result in further deployments at this time.

According to Doron Matza, a specialist on Palestinian issues, Israeli Arabs, and Middle Eastern affairs, as well as a former senior official in the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), the past months have made it clear that a growing number of Palestinians are rejecting the deal that Israel has been offering them: economic well-being and stability in exchange for security quiet.

“If you look at the full Palestinian and Arab system between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, there are signs that the old order is falling apart. This was an order characterized by security stability based on a kind of political-economic-security deal—unwritten—between Israel and Palestinian elites,” Matza said. This arrangement saw Israel provide a level of autonomy to Palestinians including the facilitation of Palestinian institutions that can pay salaries and provide status symbols to those—security forces and civilians—affiliated with and benefiting from the economic cooperation with Israel, he argued.

And so, Matza said, the decision by the terrorist on Tuesday to strike at the Ariel industrial zone is symbolic of a desire to “plunge a knife into a place where economic symbiosis between Israelis and Palestinians occurs.”

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.