Formerly interhostile Palestinian factions in the West Bank arejoining to fight Israelis;the two sides regularly kill each other.The article describes repeated Israeli attacks as "in response to"repeated Palestinian attacks. That asymmetry seems arbitrary: thislooks like a cycle in which each attack inspires an attack by theother side. Each side is constantly retaliating for what the otherside is constantly doing, and vice versa.If Israel had protected Palestinians who were not violent, andrespected their rights at least somewhat, the Palestinian Authoritycould have validly said it was providing benefits to the Palestinians.But Israel did not do enough to restrain its fanatics, so thePalestinian Authority could not gain anything by recognizing Israel'sauthority.I suspect that the fanatical Israeli annexationists aim to whip upall-out war, figuring that they can make that an opportunity forethnic cleansing, as Uri Avnery said was their goal.