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Who is leading the intifada?

Two weeks into the outbreak of security clashes between Palestinians and settlers in Jerusalem, Palestinian factions have yet to step in and lead the popular uprising.

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Palestinians clash with Israeli police at a checkpoint between Shuafat refugee camp and Jerusalem, Oct. 9, 2015. — REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Two weeks into the latest outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian clashes in the West Bank and Jerusalem, none of the Palestinian factions have claimed responsibility for the events, as the field seems to have gone for a random, leaderless walk. In fact, there is disagreement over whether a leader is even needed.

Yahya Moussa, a Hamas leader, chairman of the Oversight Committee in the Legislative Council and one of the leaders of the first intifada in 1987, told Al-Monitor, “The intifada requires that a unified national leadership be swiftly formed in order to coordinate and preserve the [intifada], and the Palestinian Authority leadership should return from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip because if it stays in the West Bank, then the intifada will inevitably fail.”

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