Intifadas have rules of their own. At first the field bubbles with economic distress, clashes with settlers, despair and hopelessness. Then a singular event sparks a fire and builds the first circle of recruits to the intifada. In the current uprising, this circle is made up of young assailants who lack organizational affiliation and carry out mostly knife attacks without directives from anyone. But as time passes and the number of casualties on the Palestinian side increases, the circle of recruits widens. The desire to take revenge for the deaths of the attackers becomes the main motive for what is seen by many Palestinians as a war of no choice.

At a certain point the pressure to join also affects members of the Palestinian security forces. The population in the territories believes these forces are supposed to defend it and maintain security in the face of any threat, and the main argument is that when they sit on the fence, the weapons they carry become meaningless.

In the first intifada, armed members of Palestinian organizations (Fatah, the Popular Front and Hamas) joined the multitudes who protested at the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza. In the second intifada, Palestinian police, including the Preventive Security Forces in Gaza and the West Bank, were forced off the fence and into the circle of recruits against Israel.

Now we're seeing the first signs that the "individual intifada" has reached this stage. Amjad a-Sukari, a police officer who worked as the personal security guard of the Palestinian Authority's public prosecutor in Ramallah, Ahmad Hanun, carried out a shooting attack on the morning of Jan. 31 near the Beit El settlement and injured three Israeli soldiers.