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After years of quiet, Israeli-Palestinian conflict exploded. Why now?

By Patrick Kingsley
New York Times·
13 mins to read

A little-noticed police action in Jerusalem last month was one of several incidents that led to the current crisis.

Twenty-seven days before the first rocket was fired from Gaza this week, a squad of Israeli police officers entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, brushed the Palestinian attendants aside and strode across its vast limestone courtyard. Then they cut the cables to the loudspeakers that broadcast prayers to the faithful from four medieval minarets.

It was the night of April 13,

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