Stormy protests over the past few weeks throughout the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, which reached a climax yesterday, may not be a negligible and coincidental series of incidents. It seems that after years of lying dormant, things are starting to heat up again in the West Bank.

Talat Ramieh was killed Friday in a clash with Israel Defense Force soldiers, which broke out following earlier struggles between hundreds of Muslim worshippers and police on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Those clashes started after Muslim worshippers hurled stones at Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall following Friday prayers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The violence spread to villages around the capital, which are becoming a familiar backdrop to clashes between Palestinians and security forces. Yesterday, too, protests continued after Ramieh’s funeral, from which hundreds set out for the Qalandiyah checkpoint, where nine people were injured in violent confrontations.

Friday it was apparently a rumor that a group of Jewish extremists was calling to save the Temple Mount from Muslims that led to violent unrest among worshippers.

These individual events seem to create a bigger picture. The Palestinian street, which has been indifferent over the past four and a half years to events around it, including the Fatah-Hamas split, is showing much more motivation to face off against the IDF.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

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