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They call themselves “The Revolt”, and under the alleged leadership of Meir Ettinger , the 24-year-old grandson of outlawed Kach movement founder Rabbi Meir Kahana, they planned to foment a violent confrontation between Israel and the Palestinians as a step toward Messianic redemption.
This is the narrative being put out by the Shin Bet and the Israeli government.
Mr Ettinger has now been put under administrative arrest and, whether or not his group was a fully-fledged underground or just a bunch of impressionable youths, they seem to have failed to achieve their goal.
The “price tag” attacks of which they are accused have destroyed Palestinian homes, fields, churches and mosques. Last week, 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsheh was killed and members of his family critically injured in an attack that bore all the hallmarks of a “price tag” arson.
However, there was no general uprising. Riots broke out, as they have after previous incidents; several protesters were killed in confrontations with soldiers; and Israeli vehicles were stoned and targeted with molotov cocktails. But these outbreaks were short-lived and the level of violence has not reached anything resembling a “third intifada”.
For nearly a decade, despite the lack of progress in the diplomatic process between Israel and the PA, the dynamic on the ground has not produced a serious escalation.
The leaders on both sides — particularly since Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in 2009 — are bitter rivals, but there is a shared interest in maintaining a semblance of order in the West Bank.
For Israel, the priority is maintaining the safety of settlers and Israeli civilians within the Green Line. For the Fatah-dominated PA, there is the fear that losing out to mob-rule will allow rivals to stage a comeback and rebuild their military infrastructure destroyed by Israel during the Second Intifada.
That is why, despite the “national unity” agreements between Fatah and Hamas, security co-ordination between the IDF and Shin Bet on one side and the chieftains of the PA’s security apparatus on the other has continued.
Another reason is that the there is collective fatigue of conflict among the Palestinians — and a desire to lead something resembling normal lives. “Families in the West Bank have electricity 24 hours a day, while their relatives in Gaza are lucky if they have it for a few hours,” said a senior IDF officer. “There is little appetite among the Palestinians for another round of violence. They remember the previous intifadas well.”
