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Despite despair, no signs of third Palestinian intifada

The youth of the West Bank are tired of occupation, economic crisis and corruption, but with no charismatic leadership, they do not envisage a third intifada.
A Palestinian girl stands outside her torched house next to graffiti spray-painted on an outside wall of the home, in the West Bank village of Sinjil, near Ramallah November 14, 2013. Israeli settlers set fire to a Palestinian house on Thursday, leaving behind a message saying they were avenging the death of Eden Attias, an Israeli soldier killed by a Palestinian the previous day, residents said. The graffiti reads "Regards to Eden, Revenge!." REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNRES

NABLUS — While the vociferous argument between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State John Kerry over the Iranian nuclear file was still going on, it is about the Palestinian issue that Kerry sent a warning to Netanyahu. According to him, if the current round of talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority doesn’t end with a diplomatic arrangement, a third intifada could erupt in the West Bank.

Kerry’s threat, which has been echoed by people in both the West Bank and Israel, received chilling affirmation on Nov. 13, when a 16-year-old Palestinian boy murdered Israeli soldier Eden Atias on a bus in Afula. Israeli security officials described the incident as another “mood-based attack,” i.e., an attack planned and carried out by an individual motivated by the overall atmosphere in the West Bank, rather than by someone sent to commit it on behalf of one of the Palestinian groups. Atias is the fourth Israeli to be killed in such an incident over the past three months. Three of the victims were soldiers, and one was a civilian.

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