Over the last month, tensions have escalated and clashes have erupted in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. By the beginning of November, 74 Palestinians had been killed by the Israeli army and Israeli police (15 of whom were children), 2,600 had been injured with live and rubber-coated bullets, and more than 5,400 had received medical treatment due to Israeli tear gas. Over the same span, 10 Israelis were also killed and more than 100 injured, mostly from a series of stabbings of soldiers, settlers, and bystanders by Palestinians.

Readers familiar with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict recognize that confrontations and tensions exist on a daily basis. So why now? And, relatedly, what now?

The Israeli government claims that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas incited individual attacks and demonstrations in his September 30 speech to the United Nations General Assembly. But Israel gives too much credit to the old man. Few if any would argue that Abbas — unlike Yasser Arafat — is capable of igniting such mass mobilization. Indeed, according to a September opinion poll, two-thirds of Palestinians want Abbas to resign.