RAMALLAH, West Bank — The atmosphere seemed calm in the West Bank on Aug. 2, two days after settlers set fire to the Dawabsha family's house in the village of Douma, southeast of Nablus. The incident resulted in the death of 18-month-old Ali Dawabsha, and his parents and brother suffered third-degree burns.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, there were limited scuffles between Palestinians and Israeli forces. One incident on Aug. 1 resulted in the death of Laith al-Khalidi, 15, from the Jalazone refugee camp near Ramallah. Confrontations flared up between Palestinian youths and Israeli forces after Friday prayers. In one of these, Khalidi was shot in the back and died the next day.

It looks like the situation in the West Bank will come to a standstill in light of these limited confrontations and the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) unwillingness to allow the security conditions to deteriorate and leave the conflict to unfold in the international political arena.

The Palestinian leadership met at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah on the evening of July 31. Among the decisions made during the meeting, it was agreed for the PA to “communicate with the Arab parties to put forward a draft resolution before the UN Security Council regarding the crimes and terrorism practiced by settler groups, present the Dawabsha family's case to the International Criminal Court as an urgent matter and activate the president’s request to the United Nations to set up a special force to protect the Palestinian people.”