Tension Builds in Anticipation of Weekend Protests against Israel

The maxim about expecting the worst and being prepared for everything presumably describes the challenge facing Israel’s security echelon as plans for mass protests against the Jewish state over the weekend take shape. While few expect one million marchers to move against the capital from the Palestinian territories and neighboring countries, the possibility of hundreds of thousands of participants in the “Global March on Jerusalem” is realistic. Israeli army troops who have been trained in non-lethal crowd control tactics are being instructed to proceed with caution, the line-in-the-sand being preventing demonstrators from crossing into Israeli territory. Israel has been in contact with neighboring governments both directly and indirectly and all claim demonstrations planned for Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Syria will be non-violent. The weekend’s events are not seen as an isolated incident with word of further demonstrations already in the works. Speculation that a third Intifada – a period marked by unbridled violence – was raised this week when Marwan Barghouti, a charismatic Palestinian leader serving five life sentences  for murders committed during the last Intifada, in a letter smuggled from prison called for renewed resistance against Israel including a complete economic and diplomatic break.