海角大神

鈥� A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas strained to tamp down tensions in the West Bank as Palestinians protested by the thousands and called for a third intifada, and militants in Gaza broke a November cease-fire by firing a rocket into southern Israel.

"The Israelis want chaos.... We will not allow them to drag us into it and to mess with the lives of our children and our youth," Mr. Abbas said, according to Reuters, as he sought to cool tensions and聽cast the uptick in Palestinian anger as a result of Israeli incitement.

But Abbas is up against formidable voices who seem to see another uprising as the inevitable result of days of large-scale protests across the West Bank against conditions for Palestinian inmates in Israeli prisons, sparked by the Feb. 23 death of one such inmate.

鈥淭his is the new intifada,鈥� said Mustafa Barghouti, a rival to Abbas in the 2005 presidential election, according to Bloomberg. 鈥淎 popular resistance has started.鈥� Calls for a third intifada come despite the fact that public sentiment still largely opposes a full uprising.聽

海角大神 reported yesterday that the most recent protests come on top of frustration about the seemingly endless Israeli occupation and settlement growth, as well as Israeli and international inaction.

But, as the Monitor reports, only 32 percent of Palestinians support a third intifada, according to a poll taken before the death of Arafat Jaradat, the Palestinian inmate. Sixty-five percent oppose it, with 41 percent of them saying it will hurt the Palestinian cause.

Reuters reports that international leaders had hoped the unrest in the West Bank was dying down prior to the rocket attack from Gaza, for which the militant group Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility. The news agency described the attack as 鈥渁n apparent show of solidarity鈥� with the protests. It was the first such attack since a cease-fire was signed in November to end eight days of Palestinian rocket fire and Israeli air strikes.

The Wall Street Journal reports that 鈥淚srael is taking the unrest seriously,鈥� with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holding 鈥渟ecurity consultations鈥� yesterday and sending a representative to Ramallah to urge the Palestinian Authority (PA) to calm the protesters.

Mark Regev, a spokesman for Mr. Netanyahu, pinned blame for the protests, some of which turned violent, on PA officials, the Journal reports. "There were elements within the [Palestinian Authority] who were actually encouraging incitement and violence," Mr. Regev said. "The Palestinian Authority has an obligation to maintain law and order."

And Amos Gilad, an Israeli defense official, told Army Radio that 鈥淚t looks as if the Palestinian Authority is trying to walk a delicate tightrope: both raising unrest and displays of violence and not wanting the matter to spin out of control,鈥� the Sydney Morning Herald reports.