Fatah officials: No organizing hand behind ‘lone wolf’ attacks

Senior Fatah officials say there is no organizing hand behind the violent incidents of the past few days and that the attacks are lone wolf attacks by individuals responding to “Israeli aggression,” according to Haaretz.

According to the officials, the Palestinian Authority is in “waiting mode” since the return to Ramallah of President Mahmoud Abbas, who has not called for the Palestinian leadership to convene or issued any condemnation of the Palestinian violence.

“In Israel they are alarmed as if the murder of the couple on Thursday evening and the stabbings yesterday came out of nowhere,” a Palestinian official tells Haaretz. “In Israel they ignore the settlers’ aggressions against Palestinians and in the West Bank, often under the watchful eyes of cops and soldiers. Israel must make a decision to stop the settlers’ wanton aggressions, otherwise any security or diplomatic effort by the PA is irrelevant.”

Another Fatah official remarks that most incidents occur in areas which are under full Israeli control and in which the PA has no control.