CFR Update 7/2 Tensions in Israel Escalate After Possible Revenge Killing

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Daily News Brief July 2, 2014

Top of the Agenda Tensions in Israel Escalate After Possible Revenge Killing Clashes between Palestinian youth and Israeli security forces erupted Wednesday (NYT) after police found a body believed to be that of a Palestinian teenager reported missing in East Jerusalem. The incident suggests a possible revenge attack (Haaretz) a day after the funerals of three Israeli teens kidnapped and murdered in the West Bank. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for a swift investigation of the "reprehensible murder" (AP) while the Palestinian Authority, after meeting in emergency session Tuesday, warned that its control over the Palestinian street could crumble amid increasing Israeli pressure (Haaretz). Also on Wednesday, Israeli forces demolished the Hebron home of a suspect linked to the April murder of a police officer, provoking still more clashes (Ma'an). Analysis "While Israel continues to accuse the Hamas movement and its leadership of being responsible for the abduction, Palestinian security forces attribute the abduction to the Qawasmeh clan of Hebron specifically. Though the clan is known for identifying with Hamas, it also has a well-earned reputation as troublemakers," writes Shlomi Eldar in Al-Monitor. "Abbas now faces widespread calls from Israel and abroad to abrogate the unity pact his Fatah party reached with Hamas last April. That agreement led to the formation of a technocratic government that was widely recognized internationally, including by the United States. Yet with today's news, even Israeli leaders on the left are calling on Abbas to disassociate itself from Hamas and the unity agreement," writes CFR's Robert M. Danin. "The larger question is how long the West Bank status quo will last. No successful national liberation movement has depended so heavily—in the realms of finance, security, diplomacy, and mediation—on the closest ally of its occupier. US funding to the Palestinians is an obstacle to, or excuse for refraining from, just about every means of leverage against Israel that Palestinians might employ," writes Nathan Thrall in the New York Review of Books.