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Al-Aqsa Intifada (Sep. 2000 - 2005)  

"Intifada" is an Arabic word for "uprising".

The Intifada never ended officially. However, the relative success of the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit, the truce agreed on by President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian militant organizations, and the relatively low levels of violence during 2005, were considered by many to mark its effective end, commonly attributed to the change in Palestinian government following the death of Yasser Arafat and the Israeli unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

The death toll both military and civilians of the entire conflict in 2000-2006 is estimated to be 3,651 Palestinians and 1007 Israelis although this number is criticized by some sources for not differentiating between combatants and civilians. During the conflict from September 2000 to January 2004, 36.2% of Palestinians killed were non-combatants caught in crossfire.

 Prior events  

By signing the Oslo Accords, the Palestine Liberation Organization committed to curbing violence in exchange for phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from parts of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and Palestinian self-government within those areas through the creation of the Palestinian National Authority. However, both sides ended up deeply disappointed in the results of the Oslo Accords.

In the immediate five years following the Oslo signing, 405 Palestinians were killed. In addition, due to forced enclose of Palestinian areas by Israeli security fences, many Palestinians lost their jobs in Israeli cities, causing the unemployment rate to spike by 50% and cause the standard of living to drop by 30%

In 1995, Shimon Peres took the place of Yitzhak Rabin, assassinated by Yigal Amir, a Jewish extremist opposed to the Oslo peace agreement. In the 1996 elections, Israelis elected the Likud candidate, Benjamin Netanyahu, who promised to restore safety for Israelis by conditioning every step in the peace process on Israel's assessment of the Palestinian Authority's fulfillment of its obligations in curbing violence as outlined in the Oslo agreement. Netanyahu continued the policy of construction within and expansion of existing Israeli settlements, in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Though construction within the settlements was not explicitly prohibited in the Oslo agreement, many Palestinians believed that the continuing construction was contrary to the spirit of the Oslo agreement.

Sharon visits Al-Haram Al-Sharif mosque (Temple Mount)

On September 28, 2000 the Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon, with a Likud party delegation, and surrounded by hundreds of Israeli riot police, visited the mosque compound of the Al-Haram Al-Sharif (Temple Mount) in the Old City of Jerusalem. The mosque compound is the first Qibla of Muslims and the third holiest site in Islam. It also contains the area for the most holy site in Judaism. The pretext for Sharon's visit of the mosque compound was to check complaints by Israeli archeologists that Muslim religious authorities had vandalized archeological remains beneath the surface of the mount during the conversion of the presumed Solomon's Stables area into a mosque.

Sharon's impending visit was officially announced and approved in advance with many Palestinian officials including Arafat himself, though prior to it some people on both sides protested, because of his controversial political stance. His visit was condemned by the Palestinians as a provocation and an incursion, as were his armed bodyguards that arrived on the scene with him in claims that Palestinian protesters threatened his life. Sharon knew that the visit would trigger violence, and that the purpose of his visit was political.

When Sharon expressed interest in visiting the Al-Haram Al-Sharif mosque (Temple Mount), Barak ordered GSS chief Ami Ayalon to approach Jibril Rajoub with a special request to facilitate a smooth and friendly visit. Rajoub promised it would be smooth as long as Sharon would refrain from entering any of the mosques or praying publicly. Barak approached Arafat and once again got assurances that Sharon's visit would be smooth as long as he did not attempt to enter the Holy Mosques. A group of Palestinian dignitaries came to protest the visit, as did three Arab Knesset Members. With the dignitaries watching from a safe distance.Palestinians saw Sharon's visit as an assault on the Al-Aqsa Mosque. For this reason, the whole conflict is known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada. On September 29, 2000, the day after Sharon's visit, following Friday prayers, large uprising broke out around Old Jerusalem during which several Palestinian demonstrators were shot dead. Already in the same day, the September 29, 2000, demonstrations broke out in the West Bank. In the days that followed, demonstrations erupted all over the West Bank and Gaza.

 

 

 

 

2000

 

The riots started that October, when Israeli Arabs (citizens of Israel), blocked main roads, started banks and stores on fire and assaulted Jewish citizens. An Israeli civilian from Rishon LeZion, Jan Bechor was killed when an Arab youth threw a stone at his car which crashed near Jisr Az-Zarqa. The Israeli Police reacted by sending crowd-control units to squash the uprising of civilian Israeli-Arabs. Policemen opened fire with live ammunition, snipers were deployed. This resulted in the deaths of 12 Israeli-Arabs and 1 Palestinian. Following these events the crowds dispersed in fear of death and Israeli authorities spread in the town.

In response to the Arab Israeli uprising, thousands of Jewish Israelis participated in violent acts in Nazareth and Tel Aviv, some throwing stones at Arabs, destroying Arab property and chanting "Death to Arabs" with other racist slogans.Two Arabs were killed in the violence.

On September 30, 2000, a French Television prodcast a video shows Israeli soldiers opened fire for more then 45 minutes at an 12 Years old boy (Mohammed al-Durah) and his father who was trying to shield his son from the Israeli soldiers bullets , both has been directly shoted , the son died in the spot and the father critically wounded. An ambulance driver (Bassam el-Balbesi) was also killed while trying to rescue them, and a second ambulance driver was wounded.

On October 12, two Israeli reservists who entered Ramallah were arrested by the PA police. An agitated Palestinian mob stormed the police station, beat the soldiers to death, and threw their mutilated bodies into the street. In response, Israel launched a series of retaliatory air strikes against the Palestinian Authority. The violence quickly escalated and in the first six days of the Intifada, 61 Palestinians were killed and 2,657 were injured by the Israeli army and police.

 

 

2001

Ariel Sharon, at the time from the Likud party, ran against Ehud Barak from the Labour party. Sharon was elected Israeli Prime Minister in February in the 2001 special election to the Prime Ministership.

On June 1, 2001, a Hamas suicide bomber detonated himself in the Tel Aviv coastline Dolphinarium dancing club. Twenty-one Israelis, most of them high school students, were killed.

2002

The UN estimated that 497 Palestinians were killed and 1,447 wounded during the IDF reoccupation of Palestinian areas between 1 March through 7 May and in the immediate aftermath. An estimated 70-80 Palestinians, including approximately 50 civilians, were killed in Nablus. Four IDF soldiers were killed there.

Especially fierce battles took place at the Jenin refugee camp, 32 Palestinian militants, 22 Palestinian civilians, and 23 Israeli soldiers were killed in the fighting. The battle remains a flashpoint for both sides, due to allegations of a massacre of thousands of Palestinians that surfaced during the IDF's operations in the camp.

In late April 2 to May 10, a stand-off developed between armed Fatah militants and the IDF at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Despite the code of conduct demanding respect for holy sites, IDF snipers killed 7 people inside the church and wounded more than 40 people. The stand-off was resolved by the deportation of 13 Palestinian militants to Europe and the IDF ended its 38 day siege of the church.

On 13 March 2003, following U.S. pressure, Arafat appointed the moderate Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian prime minister. Following the appointment of Abbas, the U.S. administration promoted the Road map for peace — the Quartet's plan to end the Israeli- Palestinian conflict by disbanding militant organizations, halting settlement activity and establishing a democratic and peaceful Palestinian state. The first phase of the plan demanded that the PA suppress guerrilla attacks and confiscate illegal weapons. Unable to confront militant organizations and risk civil war, Abbas tried to reach a temporary cease-fire agreement with the militant factions and asked them to halt attacks on Israeli civilians.

In June 2003, a so-called Hudna (truce) was unilaterally declared by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which declared a ceasefire and halt to all attacks against Israel for a period of 45 days.

One of the more provocative raids occurred when tanks invaded a refugee camp outside Nablus, killing four people, two of whom were militants. Nearby Palestinians claimed a squad of Israeli police opened fire on Abbedullah Qawasameh as he left a Hebron mosque.

On August 19, Hamas coordinated a attack on a bus in Jerusalem killing 23 Israeli civilians, including 7 children. Hamas claimed it was a retaliation for the killing of five Palestinians (including Hamas leader Abbedullah Qawasameh) earlier in the week.

Following the Hamas bus attack, Israeli Defence Forces were ordered to kill or capture all Hamas leaders in Hebron and the Gaza Strip. Strict curfews were enforced in Nablus, Jenin, and Tulkarem; the Nablus lockdown lasted for over 100 days.

Unable to rule effectively under Arafat, Abbas resigned in September 2003. Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala) was appointed to replace him.

The Israeli government gave up hope for negotiated settlement to the conflict and pursued a unilateral policy of physically separating Israel from Palestinian communities by beginning construction on the Israeli West Bank barrier. Israel claims the barrier is necessary to prevent Palestinian attackers from entering Israeli cities. Palestinians claim the barrier separates Palestinian communities from each other and that the construction plan is a defacto annexation of Palestinian territory.

2004

In response to a repeated shelling of Israeli communities with Qassam rockets and mortar shells from Gaza, the IDF operated mainly in Rafah — to search and destroy smuggling tunnels used by militants to obtain weapons, ammunition, fugitives, cigarettes, car parts, electrical goods, foreign currency, gold, drugs, and cloth from Egypt. Between September 2000 and May 2004, ninety tunnels connecting Egypt and the Gaza Strip were found and destroyed. Raids in Rafah left many families homeless. According to Human Rights Watch, over 1,500 houses were destroyed to create a large buffer zone in the city, many "in the absence of military necessity", displacing around sixteen thousand people.

On 2 February 2004, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced his plan to transfer all the Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip. Following the declaration of the disengagement plan by Ariel Sharon and as a response to an attacks on Erez crossing and Ashdod seaport (10 people were killed), the IDF launched a series of armored raids on the Gaza Strip (mainly Rafah and refugee camps around Gaza), killing about 70 Hamas militants.

On March 22, 2004, an Israeli helicopter gunship killed Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and on April 17, his successor, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi was also killed by IDF helicopter gunship strike.

The fighting in Gaza Strip escalated severely in May 2004. However, on May 11 and May 12, Palestinian militants destroyed two IDF M-113 Tanks, killing 13 soldiers. The IDF launched two raids to recover the bodies in which about 20-40 Palestinians were killed and great damage was caused to structures in the Zaitoun neighbourhood in Gaza and in south-west Rafah.

On May 18 the IDF launched Operation Rainbow in Rafah to destroying smuggling tunnels. The operation ended after the IDF killed 40 Palestinian militants and 12 civilians and demolished about 45-56 structures. The great destruction led to a worldwide outcry against the operation.

On September 29, after a Qassam rocket hit the Israeli town of Sderot and killed two Israelis, the IDF launched Operation Days of Penitence in the north of the Gaza Strip. The operation's stated aim was to remove the threat of Qassam rockets from Sderot and kill the Hamas militants launching them. The operation ended on October 16, leaving widespread destruction and more than 100 Palestinians dead, at least 20 of whom were under the age of 16. Thirteen-year-old Iman Darweesh Al Hams was killed by the IDF, some reports claimed a commander had deliberately fired his automatic weapon at her dead body. According to Palestinian medics, Israeli forces killed at least 62 militants and 42 other Palestinians believed to be civilians. Palestinian refugee camps were heavily damaged by the Israeli assault. The IDF announced that at least 12 Qassam launchings had been thwarted

On October 21, the Israeli Air Force killed Adnan al-Ghoul, a senior Hamas bombmaker and the inventor of the Qassam rocket.

On November 11, Yasser Arafat died in Paris.

Escalation in Gaza began amid the visit of Mahmoud Abbas to Syria in order to achieve a Hudna between Palestinian factions and convince Hamas leadership to halt attacks against Israelis. Hamas vowed to continue the armed struggle, while numerous Qassam rockets hit open fields near Nahal Oz and an anti-tank missile hit Kfar Darom.

On December 9 five weapon smugglers were killed and two were arrested in the border between Rafah and Egypt. Later that day, Jamal Abu Samhadana and two of his bodyguards were injured by a missile strike. In the first Israeli airstrike against militants in weeks, an unmanned Israeli drone plane launched one missile at Abu Samahdna's car as it traveled between Rafah and Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. It was the fourth attempt on Samhadana's life by Israel. Samhadana is one of two leaders of the Popular Resistance Committees and one of the main forces behind the smuggling tunnels.

On December 10, in response to Hamas firing mortar rounds into the Neveh Dekalim settlement in the Gaza Strip and wounding four Israelis, Israeli soldiers fired at the Khan Younis refugee camp killing a 7-year-old girl.

The largest attack since the death of Yasser Arafat claimed the lives of five Israeli soldiers on December 12, wounding ten others. Approximately 1.5 tons of explosives were detonated in a tunnel under an Israeli military-controlled border crossing on the Egyptian border with Gaza near Rafah, collapsing several structures and damaging others. The explosion destroyed part of the outpost and killed three soldiers. Two Palestinian militants then penetrated the outpost and killed two other Israeli soldiers with gunfire. It is believed that Hamas and a new Fatah faction, the "Fatah Hawks," conducted the highly organized and coordinated attack.

2005

Palestinian presidential elections were held on January 9, and Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) was elected as the president of the PA.

Following international pressure and Israeli threat of wide military operation in the Gaza Strip, Abbas ordered Palestinian police to deploy in the Northern Gaza to prevent Qassam and mortar shelling over Israeli settlement. Although attacks on Israeli did not stop completely, they decreased sharply.

On February 8, 2005, at the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit of 2005, Sharon and Abbas declared a mutual truce between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority. They shook hands at a four-way summit which also included Jordan and Egypt at Sharm al-Sheikh. However, Hamas and Islamic Jihad said the truce is not binding for their members.

On February 9-February, a barrage of 25-50 Qassam rockets and mortar shells hit Neve Dekalim settlement, and another barrage hit at noon. Hamas said it was in retaliation for an attack in which one Palestinian was killed near an Israeli settlement. As a response to the mortar attack, Abbas ordered the Palestinian security forces to stop such attacks in the future. He also fired senior commanders in the Palestinian security apparatus.

On February 13, 2005, Abbas entered into talks with the leaders of the Islamic Jihad and the Hamas, for them to rally behind him and respect the truce.

In the middle of June, Palestinian factions intensified bombardment over the city of Sderot with Qassam rockets. Palestinian attacks 2 Israelis were killed.

On July 14, Hamas started to shell Israeli settlements inside and outside the Gaza Strip with dozens of Qassam rockets, killing an Israeli woman. On July 15 Israel resumed its "targeted killing" policy, killing 7 Hamas militants and bombing about 4 Hamas facilities.

2006

On January 25, 2006, the Palestinian held general elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council. The Islamist group Hamas won with an unexpected majority of 74 seats, compared to 45 seats for Fatah and 13 for other parties and independents.

On February 4 Israel launched a series of targeted killings against Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades Qassam-launchers squads, killing 9 Palestinians. The air strikes came after Qassam rockets hit southern Ashkelon and Kibbutz Carmia.

On June 8, Jamal Abu Samhadana, the leader of the Popular Resistance Committees was assassinated along with three Palestinians in an Israeli air strike.

On June 9, seven members of the Ghalia family were killed on a Gaza beach. Nevertheless, in response, Hamas declared an end to its commitment to a ceasfire declared in 2005 and announced the resumption of attacks on Israelis. Palestinians blame an Israeli artillery shelling of nearby locations in the northern Gaza Strip for the deaths, while an Israeli military inquiry cleared itself from the charges.

On June 25 a military outpost was attacked by Palestinian militants and a gunbattle followed that left 2 Israeli soldiers and 3 Palestinian militants dead. Corporal Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier, was captured and Israel warned of an imminent military response if the soldier was not returned unharmed.

In the early hours of June 28 Israeli tanks and troops entered the Gaza strip just hours after the air force had taken out two main bridges and the only powerstation in the Gaza strip, effectively shutting down electricity and water.