Editing Second Intifada (section)

===Oslo Accords===
Under the [[Oslo Accords]], signed in 1993 and 1995, Israel committed to the phased withdrawal of its forces from parts of the [[Gaza Strip]] and [[West Bank]], and affirmed the Palestinian right to [[self-government]] within those areas through the creation of a [[Palestinian Authority]]. For their part, the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] formally recognised Israel and committed to adopting responsibility for internal security in population centres in the areas evacuated. Palestinian self-rule was to last for a five-year interim period during which a permanent agreement would be negotiated. However, the realities on the ground left both sides deeply disappointed with the Oslo process. Palestinian freedom of movement reportedly worsened from 1993 to 2000.<ref name=causes>{{cite journal|author=Jeremy Pressman|title=The Second Intifada: Background and Causes of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict|url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/jcs/article/view/220/378|journal=[[Journal of Conflict Studies]]|date=11 November 2023|volume=23|issue=2|access-date=23 October 2019|archive-date=4 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191004233916/https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/jcs/article/view/220/378|url-status=live}}</ref> Israelis and Palestinians have blamed each other for the failure of the Oslo peace process. In the five years immediately following the signing of the Oslo accords, 405 Palestinians <!-- (source: B'Tselem) --> and 256 Israelis were killed.

From 1996 Israel made extensive contingency plans and preparations, collectively code-named "Musical Charm", in the eventuality that peace talks might fail. In 1998, after concluding that the 5-year plan stipulated in the Oslo Talks would not be completed, the IDF implemented an Operation Field of Thorns plan to conquer towns in Area C, and some areas of Gaza, and military exercises at regimental level were carried out in April 2000 to that end. Palestinian preparations were defensive, and small-scale, more to reassure the local population than to cope with an eventual attack from Israel. The intensity of these operations led one Brigadier General, Zvi Fogel to wonder whether Israel's military preparations would not turn out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Frisch |first=Hillel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SLdwp_4BZhMC&pg=PA102 |title=The Palestinian Military: Between Militias and Armies |publisher=Routledge |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-134-15789-1 |page=102 |orig-date=2008 |access-date=3 October 2016 |archive-date=23 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223214619/https://books.google.com/books?id=SLdwp_4BZhMC&pg=PA102 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1995, [[Shimon Peres]] took the place of [[Yitzhak Rabin]], who had been [[Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin|assassinated]] by [[Yigal Amir]], a Jewish extremist opposed to the Oslo peace agreement. In the 1996 elections, Israelis elected a right-wing<ref name="Schmemann" /> coalition led by the [[Likud]] candidate, [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] who was followed in 1999 by the [[Labor Party (Israel)|Labor Party]] leader [[Ehud Barak]].