Not knowing when you're well off: step forward Palestinian youths announcing a new intifida

Winston Churchill famously said that "To jaw, jaw is better than to war, war". He was talking during the Cold War, a phrase he had helped to coin with his earlier talk of "an Iron Curtain descending over Europe". However, some people just don't know when they're well off, or, come to that, when to talk rather than fight. Despite the Mayor of Hebron downplaying, as the title of the article linked to below says, talk of a third intifada, there are those who claim it's already started.

How do we know this? Well, according to The Times of Israel, "On Friday, a group of Palestinian youths from divergent political streams formed the “National Unity Brigades,” which said it was already fighting a third intifada, or uprising." This demonstrates either remarkable optimism that this time things will be different or, instead, remarkable stupidity. At a time when the IDF has severely degraded Hamas's ability to fire rockets into Israel and managed to get Morsi of Egypt to police the cease-fire, when their most likely nearby supporter, Assad of Syria, looks finally and definitively to be on the way out and, as reported just a day or so ago, Abdullah of Jordan appears to be promoting a resumption of talks between Israel and the PA makes this announcement (and fact?) likely to be on the stupid side of the equation.

As though the IDF are going to be cowed or even bothered by a group of youths, with more time than sense on their hands, threatening to "set the land on fire". The IDF (and, of course, the Border Police) are more likely to sweep them them aside. Unfortunately, this may also mean deaths on the palestinian side. And we know what the world will make of that. Deaths on the Israeli side will, of course, be ignored. As usual.

By: Brian Goldfarb