Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon (Likud - Yisrael Beiteinu) called the wave of attacks in the past month an "escalation" rather then a full blown intifada. He said that regardless, Israel was prepared for any scenario. He praised Tuesday's successful operation in eliminating a terrorist who shot at Israel Defense Force soldiers from a cave in Bili'in. Ya'alon made the comments during a visit to the Hevron area on Tuesday.
The word "intifada" in Arabic means uprising or rebellion. Many media sources consider the first intifada to be the wave of terrorist attacks from 1987 - 1991 and the second intifada to be approximately from 2000 - 2003 although dates vary.