Will Palestine look any better in 2016? Are there any sources of optimism and hope amid these bleak facts and the current events unfolding? Yes, I argue, despite all the odds.

After seven decades of largely violent conflict, the Palestinian people must now come to the conclusion, if they have not already, that violence against the Israelis is counterproductive and only plays into the hands of the extreme right and weakens moderate Israelis.

On December 9, 1987, the deaths of four Palestinian refugees plunged the nation of Israel into four years of strikes, boycotts, beatings, shootings, and gassings as Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem rebelled against their Israeli occupiers.

Our trip to Israel and Jordan had been in the works for a year. Who knew back when we planned it that we'd arrive in the middle of an escalation of violent confrontations between Palestinians and Israelis that many feared would turn into a third intifada?

The spate of knifings of Israelis, especially in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and parts of Israel, has inevitably led to a question of whether a third intifada is imminent. Perhaps surprisingly another intifada is unlikely when we look at the regional actors, their views and capabilities.