According to security analysts, Israel has dramatically increased its security crackdown on the West Bank and East Jerusalem in an effort to prevent Palestinian assaults.

They claim that it is doing so by increasing arrests, employing excessive force, destroying suspects’ houses, and bolstering its military presence across the West Bank and along the 1,200-kilometer separation wall that separates the area from Israel.

However, analysts told the media that these tactics would not succeed until there is a political process that gives Palestinians hope that the Israeli occupation will cease.

The ongoing Palestinian assaults have sparked a disagreement between Israel’s political and military authorities since there is no one Palestinian perpetrator to blame and target in response to the attacks. This was also true in 2002, during the second Palestinian intifada and Operation Defensive Shield.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has asked that Hamas pay the price for incitement, citing a speech by the group’s head, Yahya Sinwar, as the impetus for the recent assaults. Meanwhile, military leaders advocated launching a large-scale military action against Jenin and adjacent towns, claiming that the majority of the assailants originated there.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz threatened the Palestinians, saying: “Without security stability, the Palestinian economy will be damaged, the steps we have taken will collapse, and the land from where the perpetrators come will be shaken.”

Officials in Israel expect the wave of Palestinian attacks to continue for several weeks. Shin Bet is having difficulty dealing with the issue since the assailants do not publish statements on social media before carrying out assaults.

On the first anniversary of the commencement of last year’s conflict in Gaza, dubbed the “Sword of Jerusalem Battle” by Hamas, Palestinian factions reaffirmed their willingness to fight the Israelis.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement said: “The ‘Jerusalem Sword’ battle constituted an important chapter in the history of the conflict with the Zionist enemy, who thought that his hand was free in Jerusalem and that his policies and plans had provided the opportunity to impose temporal and spatial division at Al-Aqsa Mosque and to displace our people in Sheikh Jarrah (a neighborhood in Jerusalem).

“The resistance imposed equations and rules of engagement that made Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa its top priorities.”

The Israeli army is bracing for an escalation of hostilities on upcoming dates of special significance to Palestinians, such as May 15, the anniversary of the Palestinian Catastrophe (Nakba); May 29, the anniversary of the occupation of Jerusalem, when settlers organize a march; and June 5, the anniversary of the occupation of the West Bank, Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, and the Syrian Golan Heights.

According to Ghassan Al-Khatib, a Palestinian political expert, the Palestinians’ violent reactions were sparked by Israel’s unprecedented measures against them.

“Provocations by Israeli extremist right-wingers at Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, and a free hand given to settlers in the West Bank to attack the Palestinians and their properties, have caused Palestinian outrage,” he said.

“The problem is that the current Israeli government is fragile and is forced to make concessions to settlers and Israeli right-wing parties, whether regarding Al-Aqsa Mosque or in the West Bank, in addition to the economic hardships the Palestinians are experiencing.

“The solution to the problem of violent Palestinian reactions is not by using military force, but rather by mitigating provocations against the Palestinians, improving the economic situation and giving them hope for a political future.”

Israeli authorities launched a massive crackdown in East Jerusalem in April. Police arrested 894 Palestinians, imposed home-confinement orders on 37 others, banned 590 people from Al-Aqsa Mosque, injured 463 people, and demolished one house, according to a report issued by Jerusalem Governorate.

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