Uprising took even Arafat by surprise IDF soldiers in Nablus, 2002. (Wikimedia Commons)
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JERUSALEM, May 21 (JTA) Early last week, Yasser Arafat struck a match, but by week’s end it seemed that he did not know how to put out the flames.
The Palestinian Authority president wanted a limited and controlled protest, but was surprised to be confronted with a massive, violent uprising and the orders of his political leaders ignored by his own street protesters.
The threat of renewed violence in the territories had been hanging in the air for some time, but the scope of the violent demonstrations was much larger and more dramatic than anyone had anticipated.