The New York Times‘ Isabel Kershner says today’s stabbing of Israelis by a Palestinian in Jerusalem “broke a period of relative calm.” Can we retire that phrase permanently? Have Palestinians ever experienced a period of relative calm? We can point two two Palestinians killed in Rahat, and I’m sure countless other examples of attacks on Palestinians during this particular period of “relative calm.” And how about the Palestinians calmly freezing to death in the Gaza prison?

From “Palestinian Man Stabs Israelis on Bus in Tel Aviv, Police Say”

JERUSALEM — A Palestinian man stabbed and wounded up to a dozen Israelis on Wednesday as he rampaged through a bus in central Tel Aviv during the morning rush, the police said. He then fled on foot, but was shot and wounded by security forces.

At least three of the victims were reportedly hospitalized in serious condition. The assailant, a man in his early 20s from the West Bank city of Tulkarm, was arrested, the police said.

The episode broke a period of relative calm that followed a spate of attacks against Israelis in October and November in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and the West Bank that were carried out by Palestinians armed with knives, cleavers and guns, or using vehicles as weapons.