Hi, all. What next producer, Madeleine Dusharm here? Just a heads up, you'll hear sounds of

gunshots later in this episode.

So, Eir, if you had to describe the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians right now,

I'm kind of curious the language you would use. Like, what word would you use?

I would say, perilous, precipitous.

I've heard the word spiraling used. Yeah. Is that a word you'd use? I would use that word.

Yeah, Eir Rosenberg writes about politics and religion over the Atlantic. I called him

up to help me make sense of weeks of headlines from the Middle East.

What we reported today was the deadliest day in the occupied West Bank in two decades.

Raids on Palestinian settlements have been ramping up. Attacks on Jews have been two.

A gunman killed seven people gathering at a synagogue in Jerusalem last month.

Israeli police are calling this a terrorist attack. The gunman in today's attack was shot and

killed by police. You just have this constant thrombing that's going on and it keeps getting

louder.

There's not a good place to start this latest chapter of ongoing violence and retribution.

But to Eir, this moment is undoubtedly worse because the way leadership is changing,

both in Israel and the West Bank. He says a right-ward lurch in Israel is leaving Palestinians

feeling like they don't have much to lose.

The reason why people perceive a spiral, the CIA director has warned that he sees signs of increased

violence on the horizon, is because political developments in both Palestinian politics and Israeli

politics that seem to be empowering more, it's an extremist voices, voices that are more

absolutist, voices that don't perceive any area for compromise.

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