BICOM

Palestinian organisers have called for demonstrations to take place in the West Bank and Gaza today against Israel and in support of Fatah-Hamas unity. Palestinians have been urged to hold mass rallies in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip as part of a campaign aimed at pressuring both Fatah and Hamas to end their dispute. Demonstrations started yesterday in Gaza with several hundred young Palestinians taking to the streets. The campaign has been initiated through Facebook and various Palestinian youth groups. The demonstrations have also been endorsed by several Palestinian politicians.

The IDF will be on high alert in the West Bank over the next few days in expectation of the protests and thousands of Palestinians taking to the street. The main protest is taking place in Ramallah and may spread to other parts of the West Bank. The Israeli army has been preparing for such large scale demonstrations which have been seen recently in other countries in the Middle East and Northern Africa. However, Israel fears that the non-violent demonstrations could escalate and spiral out of control. The Palestinian Authority and Hamas security forces are also on high alert to prevent any outbursts of violence and incitement against the two factions. The Hamas government recently used violence to quell demonstrators in Gaza calling for Palestinian unity, but have since allowed further pro-unity protests to take place, including yesterdays, centred around the Square of the Unknown Soldier.

In other news, the IDF and Shin Bet security services continued to carry out arrests in the West Bank yesterday as they searched for suspects involved in Friday’s terrorist attack that took place in the settlement of Itamar.

Further reading – BICOM Analysis: Will there be a Facebook Intifada?