JERUSALEM, Israel – Leaders in Israel recently reached out to their Palestinian counterparts ahead of a Muslim observance, wishing them a happy holiday. They accompanied that greeting with a call to the Palestinian Authority to combat rising terrorism and violence.

The holiday outreach followed a surprise attack when Palestinian terrorists launched 2 rockets from Jenin for the first time in 18 years – a claim later refuted by Hamas.

Although the rockets fell short of their target, it’s just the latest example of violence in the northern West Bank, part of the area the Bible calls Judea and Samaria. Dozens of Israelis have been killed or wounded in hundreds of attacks since the beginning of the year.

During a visit to northern Samaria, Likud Knesset member Danny Danon said the current situation makes Israel look weak to its enemies and that there must be a move to crush the terrorist infrastructure before it’s too late.

“Residents of the area of Samaria are going through a difficult time, with relentless terror attacks by Palestinian terrorists. There’s no choice! We must react with a military operation, in order to strike the terror cells,” Danon urged.

While standing next to the widow of Meir Tamari, a terror victim buried a month ago on his 32nd birthday, Danon assured the crowd of his belief that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will respond.

“I hope that very soon, we’ll see the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) operating inside the villages, we’ll see the checkpoints return to the place where they murdered a Jew at the hands of a Palestinian that still hasn’t been caught, and in this way we can relay a very clear message of who is the landlord here in the Land of Israel,” Danon said.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of the upcoming Feast of the Sacrifice that marks Abraham’s willingness, according to Muslim theology, to sacrifice Ishmael – not Isaac.

Click above to watch the full CBN News interview with Seth. J. Frantzman

Middle East Analyst Seth J. Frantzman told CBN News, “There’s been basically a kind of terrorist infestation in the northern West Bank, which is mostly members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and others from Hamas and disgruntled members of the Fatah (Abbas’s party).”

Frantzman said this current wave is made up of men mostly born some 20 years ago, following the Second intifadah, or uprising.

Their anger is bolstered by a huge supply of weapons flooding the area, much of it likely paid for and smuggled in by Iran.

“You have, basically, all the bad elements you don’t want, in one place,” Frantzman noted.

He added that while this isn’t new to Israel, the weakness and the breakdown of the P.A.,headed by the 88-year-old Abbas, presents a unique problem.

“(Israel) always faces terrorist groups, but the presence of large numbers of weapons in Jenin and the failure of the Palestinian Authority – which is a U.S. and Western-backed institution – to control Jenin, which is underneath its own territory, is the main contributing factor,” Frantzman explained. “Not having authorities control the city, not having police or anyone there, allows the armed men to do whatever they want.”

For at least a year, Israel has unsuccessfully used armed raids to root out the terrorists, but it hasn’t proved to be enough. 

“I think the Palestinian Authority has to be able to control most of its cities better,” Frantzman said. “That means, I think, the United States and others that deal with the Palestinian Authority need to take this much more seriously.”

Frantzman believes the focus should be to take away the guns, stop the smuggling, and prosecute those trading in illegal firearms. That could allow Israel to then precisely target those behind the attacks.

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