Small shards of broken glass glinted in between paving stones in central Ramallah, one of the few physical signs of a clash the previous night between protesters and the security forces of the ruling Palestinian Authority.
Mohammed Tarifi sat with a friend on the corner of a deserted street that would normally throng with crowds stopping at its popular cafes, ice-cream vendors and juice shops. The two stared up at an enormous billboard for Sprite, a giant can of the soft drink rotating slowly in a sign of how Ramallah has grown in recent years and managed some limited prosperity as the economic and political centre of the West Bank.
