Giovani palestinesi al funerale di un bambino di 13 anni ucciso negli scontri a Betlemme. Foto di Harriet Salem/VICE News
Another year, another stretch of devastating violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories — with more than 100 people killed in just the last three months.In March the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, secured a fourth term in office with a dramatic rightward swing in the final days of election campaigning. The resulting government, formed in coalition with the Zionist Jewish Home party and ultra-Orthodox parties, was Israel's most right-wing ever.With little hope for renewed peace talks, Palestinian frustrations rose. In July, after a period of relative quiet, the conflict was again thrust to the fore after an arson attack on a family home in West Bank killed three members of a Palestinian family including an 18-month old baby. The word "revenge" was scrawled in Hebrew on the wall alongside a Star of David, denoting it as a "price tag attack" — attacks against Palestinians carried out by Jewish extremists in revenge for actions taken by the Israeli government against settlers.Related: In Photos: The Anatomy of an Israeli Settler Price Tag Attack in the West BankThe arson, combined with tensions over a sacred religious site known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and Jews as Temple Mount, quickly spilled over into widespread violence. In October Palestinian gunmen killed an Israeli couple in front of their children in the West Bank. The shooting was the first in three months of near daily attacks by Palestinians and counter-attacks by Israeli forces, in a surge in bloodshed that the United Nations said was "dangerous in the extreme."By the year's end at least 21 Israelis and 141 Palestinians had been killed, according to Israeli and Palestinian government figures. Two thirds of the dead Palestinians were shot by Israeli security forces while committing attacks, the rest were killed during protests. With neither Palestinian nor Israeli leaders able to control the violence, 2016 could well be equally bloody.A Palestinian youth prepares to throw a rock in a slingshot during clashes with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. (Photo by Abed Al Hashlamoun/EPA)Right: An Israeli soldier stands amid a litter of rocks during clashes with Palestinian protesters in West Bank. Left: A Palestinian youth poses with his face covered by a Keffiyeh during clashes in Ramallah. (Photos by Harriet Salem/VICE News)Follow Harriet Salem on Twitter: @HarrietSalemRelated: In Photos: Riding Along With Medics on the Frontline of Clashes in the West Bank
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