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.”
Read more on JNS: https://www.jns.org/a-terrorist-with-a-work-permit-attacks-economic-cooperation/