Israeli Palestinian realignments

Formerly interhostile Palestinian factions in the West Bank are joining to fight Israelis; the two sides regularly kill each other.

The article describes repeated Israeli attacks as "in response to" repeated Palestinian attacks. That asymmetry seems arbitrary: this looks like a cycle in which each attack inspires an attack by the other side. Each side is constantly retaliating for what the other side is constantly doing, and vice versa.

If Israel had protected Palestinians who were not violent, and respected their rights at least somewhat, the Palestinian Authority could have validly said it was providing benefits to the Palestinians. But Israel did not do enough to restrain its fanatics, so the Palestinian Authority could not gain anything by recognizing Israel's authority.

I suspect that the fanatical Israeli annexationists aim to whip up all-out war, figuring that they can make that an opportunity for ethnic cleansing, as Uri Avnery said was their goal.