Colonel Danny Tirza, a retired IDF commander, walks along a road overlooking the fence between Jerusalem and Bethlehem and reminisces about once having to build a wall along the road because of Hamas snipers in the valley firing into Israeli apartments. He tells of the urgency he felt, believing that deaths because of inadequate security were his responsibility. The way you view Israeli security measures is often based on your narrative rather than on the facts, he explains, as with recent the unrest.

Over the last few weeks Israel and the West Bank have been caught in a cycle of violence that started on July 14, when three gunmen cut down two Israeli border security officers with weapons smuggled onto the Temple Mount before they were killed by responding security forces.