Two active-duty IDF generals who are among the army’s top experts on Palestinian affairs spoke out publicly to state that Palestinian violence is driven to a considerable degree by anger at Israeli actions.

Former IDF chief Benny Gantz called Monday for renewed peace talks with the Palestinians, saying that even if negotiations were ultimately unsuccessful, it was important to try.

In recent days police have removed the checkpoints set up near some East Jerusalem neighborhoods following the wave of terrorist attacks in the capital, local Palestinians report.

Three wounded, including 80-year-old, by knife attack in Rishon LeZion; 71-year-old stabbed in Netanya.

A Palestinian teenager was shot and killed on Monday at the al-Jalama checkpoint north of Jenin after allegedly attempting to attack Israeli soldiers with a knife, Israel’s army said.

The Gilboa crossing point close to Jenin, in the West Bank, will be closed until further notice, the Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday. The crossing point is used daily by thousands of Palestinian workers permitted to work in Israel.

“Rejecting any claim that settlements play a part in the current violence, Netanyahu has adopted data showing he’s built less than his predecessors. But don’t believe the statistics,” write Peace Now’s Lara Friedman and Hagit Ofran.

The Jerusalem Municipality and the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday denied a report that the capital city’s planning committee ordered a unilateral freeze on construction in East Jerusalem.

“For the BDS campaign’s narrative of Israel as a radically essentialized evil to work, those most amenable to nuance and dialogue – like Israeli academics and my late friend Edward Said – must be the first to be boycotted,” writes Dan Rabinowitz.

At the top of Israelis’ list of foreign policy priorities are: addressing security threats (45%); promoting the ties with the US (31%); and promoting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process (31%).

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked’s transparency bill is actually aimed at delegitimizing left-wing NGOs and damaging their ability to operate, and helps her score points with her supporters as well.

On Monday, Peres said that Netanyahu’s peace overtures have never “escaped the domain of talking. “A politician and a government should be judged by one way only, on the record of what you do or did, not on what you say,” he said.

About a month ago, Israel announced it would allow the sale of scrap metal, furniture and textiles from Gaza inside Israel for the first time since 2007. For Gaza’s furniture manufacturers, what would seem like a welcome announcement smacked of absurdity. What furniture would they sell in Israel, given that Israel bans the raw material they need from entering – wood!

Over a year has passed since summer’s 2014’s campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and though Operation Protective Edge has drawn little harsh criticism in Israel, even the IDF chief of staff who orchestrated it has little to say to its credit.

“The Islamic State’s recent threats against Israel could be designed just to gain support among Palestinians,” writes Adnan Abu Amer.