Which directly led to the first armed conflict between Arabs and Israelis

Without steps to maintain relative quiet, confrontations could grow rapidly.

In January, an Israeli cabinet member’s provocative visit to the Holy Esplanade (the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount complex, revered by Muslims and Jews alike) highlighted again the sensitivities at the city’s sacred spaces. East Jerusalem, where Israelis and Palestinians are in constant, unmediated contact, and where turmoil in the spring of 2021 culminated in eleven days of war between Israel and Hamas, requires particular vigilance. A spark anywhere in the occupied territories could set off a chain reaction throughout Israel-Palestine.

Among them are deadly Israeli military raids in Palestinian population centres in the West Bank killings of Israelis by individual Palestinians mob rampages by Israeli settlers incendiary statements by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new far-right government and the Knesset a restless and militarily potent Hamas in the Gaza Strip and a Palestinian Authority (PA) that has, in many Palestinians’ eyes, lost legitimacy as its security apparatus starts to break down. Tensions have been rising for the past few months, fuelled by a combination of factors. Persistent violence in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank could escalate ahead of major Muslim and Jewish holidays – Ramadan and Passover – which will coincide in 2023 as they did the two preceding years.

Which directly led to the first armed conflict between Arabs and Israelis