Response to question #3, Kimmerling

Who started the incidents? Were they Arabs, or others?

Here a bit of imagination is required, though the framework is fairly evident. According to Ze'ev Drory, author of a work on the reprisal raids that emerged from his MA thesis at Tel Aviv University in the late 1980s, the shooting incidents occurring between 1953 and 1956 on Israeli borders occurred primarily on the Jordanian border (particularly in 1954-1955, when there were 153 incidents, or nearly 3 a week), and the Egyptian border a year later (319, or almost one per day). The total number of shooting incidents on these borders, as well as the Syrian and Lebanese borders, grew from 134 in 1953-54, to 301 in 1954-55, to 436 in 1955-56.

These are statistics, but behind every statistic is a story. It is doubtful that there was never a situation in all these incidents where a Palestinian was innocent of belligerent action and the Israelis made a mistake or were the first to show aggressive intent. And it's impossible to gather all of the data, or to make blanket assumptions about the ethnicity of those involved in these border actions. But perhaps one indicator is Israel's contemporary response to terrorist attacks. For example, in January and February 2003, there were no successful terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians. Over two hundred, however, were attempted by Palestinian terrorists. This number eclipses the 1953 figure for the number of border shooting incidents.

So what's the point? The point is that there is a very real resentment on the part of a number of people that translates into violent action, and this action occurs on a recurring basis with a minority of Palestinians. The stereotype of Islam is of explosive-carrying extremists calling for the destruction of Israel. Even though the majority of Arabs and Muslims are peace-loving and simply desire to live their lives, the radical behaviors of a few have - from long ago to now - fomented an environment rivaled by none in the earth for its martial clamor. And its desire for peace.

Sources: Drory, Dershowitz.