The leading question the past week has been whether a new wave of Palestinian violence is about to be unleashed on Israel in the wake of the controversial Deal of the Century announced with much fanfare by U.S. President Donald Trump. With their usual foresight, the Palestinian leadership wants nothing to do with any peace plan or with Israel, as they have done for the last 72 years. The words Palestine and peace each have one "p", two "e’s" and an "a" in common, while the "c" in peace is missing from Palestine. Every time the word peace is mentioned the Palestinians rather rely on the "c" in the word coercion, which is defined as using force or threats to achieve an objective. So with the "c" in peace replaced with the "c" in coercion, we cannot hope to expect anything other than Palestinian violence.
True to form the past week has seen an upsurge in violence with a small difference. The entire spectrum of terrorist options open to the Palestinians is being applied, including shootings, balloon bombs, fire balloons, car rammings, knife attacks, rocket and mortar attacks, with no purpose other than to make life difficult for Israelis while keeping global attention focussed on the region. In tandem with the violence, the Palestinian leadership is also continuing with its lawfare making use of various United Nations and other international agencies to sanction and punish Israel for existing. The weeks ahead will tell us whether Israel is in for an extensive cycle of violence, or whether wiser heads in the Arab world will prevail and convince the Palestinian authorities to seek the "c" in peace rather than the "c" in coercion.