On April 25, a serious incident occurred in a village near the de facto Palestinian Authority capital of Ramallah, where local Christians were attacked by Muslim militants. Residents of the Christian village later pleaded with the Palestinian Authority to better protect them from gunmen ostensibly under the PA’s direct control.

The Jerusalem Post and other local news sites reported that the attack took place in a Christian village called Jifna, north of Ramallah. The violence erupted following a confrontation between a Christian woman and the son of a prominent official from the ruling faction, Fatah. According to the Christian woman, the Fatah official’s son had assaulted her and her children as they drove through the village. She promptly filed a complaint with Palestinian Authority Police. 

Of course, the Palestinian Authority is dominated by Fatah and its leader, Mahmoud Abbas, so the Christian woman’s appeal to the authorities had the opposite of the desired effect. The next day, Fatah gunmen, some of whom might even be PA police officers, showed up in...