Israeli security officials view Abbas as key to stability
Despite the latest terror attacks in the Etzion settlement and at the center of Tel Aviv, Israeli security sources say that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is committed to security cooperation with Israel and will work to defuse tension.
To the Israel Defense Forces, it is not at all clear that we are in the midst of a third intifada — quite the contrary.
“We are constantly checking out the situation on the ground,'' a high-ranking military source in Judea-Samaria who asked to remain anonymous told Al-Monitor on Nov. 12. ''At this stage, all the current data we examine and all the key indicators are indeed not remaining steady; but on the other hand, they do not register a significant increase. Yes, there is a rise in the number of incidents, but all the stabilizing forces are still present with no small amount of influence. True, there are violations of civil order and Molotov cocktails are thrown and there were terror attacks in recent weeks. Still, in order to get a comprehensive view of reality we have to take a deep breath and examine things with a professional eye.” The officer added, “The results of such a probe show that we aren’t there yet.”
