The Kehilat Bnei Toragogue synagogue in West Jerusalem was attacked early this week. Two Palestinians killed four rabbis. A police officer was also shot dead. Religious conflict seemed about to erupt in the holy city. There has been a series of such attacks lately. Tension has mounted over the right to pray at the Temple Mount/ Harem al-Sharif. The conflict started with the abduction and murder of a Palestinian teenager which was suspected to have been in reprisal against the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers. Conflict raged in the Gaza Strip for two months thereafter. Political leaders in the two countries are at the moment busy putting their own houses in order. Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu was not willing to contain the hate-Palestine campaign launched by his right wing coalition partners in the Cabinet. He proceeded to start a blame game against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. It was despite the fact that Israeli security officials had told the Knesset in Tel Aviv in no uncertain terms that Abbas was not fomenting terror against Israel. The extremists in the Israeli Cabinet should be aware that attacking Abbas would not ensure the safety of Israeli citizens. Nor would their plans for new settlements in East Jerusalem be to their benefit.
Abbas is also in an aggressive mood. The U.S was hard put to prevent him from condemning the synagogue attack. It has been said that the assailants are playing a lone hand and are not attached to any organization. All this aggravates the problem for Abbas and Netanyahu. So far the fighting between Israel and Palestine has been in the nature of a national conflict. One hopes it will not escalate into a sectarian war which will be disastrous for both, with the ISIS hovering in the neighbourhood.
