Living up to its threat to escalate its violent demonstrations along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, Hamas has organized the largest melee since it began weekly “Return Marches” six months ago. As of Tuesday morning, officials were estimating that some 4,000 Palestinians were participating in confrontations with Israeli defense forces, with no deterrent factor apparent even after the deaths of seven Palestinians since Friday when the estimate of rioters was as high as 20,000. Protesters have been hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails at the Israelis in record numbers while a significant number of kites and balloons laden with incendiary devices and explosives have successfully floated into Israeli air space resulting in fires. On Tuesday morning, a major Israeli thoroughfare was closed as sappers were called to the scene to dispose of what was believed to be an improvised explosive device. In recent days, officials have discovered at least two explosives in areas not normally affected by the terror kites and balloons.