Today we once again witnessed the dire consequences of the “Lone Wolf Intifada,” with the stabbing attack at Jerusalem’s Jaffa Gate. And yet, relatively speaking, this intifada seems to be under a degree of control both on the Israeli and the Palestinian sides, with security coordination being maintained. Palestinian workers are still coming into Israel. The Palestinian Authority is surviving. And overall, Israeli citizens have become used to a sick reality in which almost every day Palestinians try to attack them.

But what would have happened if the Hamas infrastructure exposed by the Shin Bet in Abu Dis in East Jerusalem Wednesday had managed to carry out even a small portion of its plans?

You don’t need a wild imagination to consider what would have happened if one suicide bombing had taken place, or maybe even two. The Israeli government would have come under immense pressure to take steps against the PA, and the call for a closure of the major West Bank cities would have come from every direction. The pressure would likely have led to a ban on all Palestinian workers entering Israel, and possibly even to a widespread IDF operation in one or more West Bank cities.

And from that point on, it would be a small step indeed to a still graver deterioration. Tens of thousands more unemployed Palestinians would be on the streets, with hundreds of thousands affected by their loss of income. More violent confrontations with young Palestinians would likely ensue. The fraying of cooperation between the PA security forces and the IDF would be inevitable, maybe even a complete severance of such cooperation. And at the end of that slippery slope, the collapse of the PA itself.

To read the article in full go to The Times of Israel.