For several years now, while Israel’s domestic security situation was considered relatively good, with long periods of quiet punctured by few incidents and frequent reports of air strikes against hostile targets in neighbouring countries, Military Intelligence kept issuing a strategic alert regarding an outbreak of violence emanating from the West Bank, either because of internal Palestinian tensions or due to individual frustrations. Whatever the cause, the warning seems to have sensed it right, with a series of deadly attacks on civilians in major urban centres With fear turning to panic, Israel’s political and security leaders tried to go on the offensive, responding to a perceived wave of terror with Operation Waves Breaker, focusing on the Palestinian Authority district of Jenin.
How effective can these cross-currents be, and what are the possible repercussions? To analyse it we are joined from central Israel by Brigadier General (Res.) Yossi Kuperwasser – Project Director on Middle East Developments, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Dr. Nir Boms, Research fellow, Moshe Dayan center at Tel Aviv University, and Col. (Res.) Reuven Ben-Shalom, TV7 Powers-in-Play Panelist, Cross-Cultural Strategist and Associate at ICT, Reichman University.
