It is very difficult to interpret the relationship between discontent and political violence. We know that riots periodically appear, but often when we least expect them and sometimes never when we think they are most likely. A group at MIT has developed a computer model that predicts political violence (successfully in the case of the Arab Spring), and the model suggests that riots will return to world affairs in 2013.
Violence has broken out in the West Bank, mainly against leaders of Fatah, the governing party in the West Bank. I must admit, this outbreak caught me by surprise. There is no reliable news about what goes on in the Occupied Territories, and I didn’t see any reports in any of the mainstream media. But the violence was provoked by rising prices and discontent with corruption. The spark that lit the fire were self-immolations–the same spark that ignited the Arab Spring in Tunisia. In retrospect, I should not have been surprised. We will have to see how this part of the story unfolds.
World Politics News 
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