“wave of Palestinian terror starting to resemble a religious war”, Amos Harel in Haaretz has blamed both sides, the Israeli government for contributing “to the emphasis on the religious component of the conflict by demonstrating helplessness in the face of recent efforts by right-wing [Jewish] activists to change the status quo regarding Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount”. On the Palestinian side, he added: “Defending al-Aqsa Mosque [on the holy site] provides an appropriate excuse for the recent terror perpetrators.”