Editing Second Intifada (section)

==Timeline==
{{Timeline of Palestinian Intifadas}}

===2000===
[[File:West Bank July 2008 CIA remote-sensing map 3000px.jpg|thumb|right|300px|[[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] [[Remote sensing|remote-sensing]] map of areas governed by the Palestinian Authority, July 2008.]]
The [[2000 Camp David Summit|Middle East Peace Summit at Camp David]], from 11 to 25 July 2000, took place between the United States [[President of the United States of America|President]] [[Bill Clinton]], Israeli Prime Minister [[Ehud Barak]], and [[Palestinian Authority]] Chairman [[Yasser Arafat]]. It failed with the latter two blaming each other for the failure of the talks.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Israel/The-second-intifada |title=The second intifada |access-date=3 December 2023 |archive-date=12 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512210653/https://www.britannica.com/place/Israel/The-second-intifada |url-status=live }}</ref> There were four principal obstacles to agreement: territory, [[Positions on Jerusalem|Jerusalem]] and the [[Temple Mount]], Palestinian refugees and the [[Palestinian right of return|right of return]], and Israeli security concerns.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.vox.com/2018/11/20/18080066/israel-palestine-intifadas-first-second |title=What were the intifadas? |date=20 November 2018 |access-date=3 December 2023 |archive-date=10 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240110215245/https://www.vox.com/2018/11/20/18080066/israel-palestine-intifadas-first-second |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Ariel Sharon visits the Temple Mount====
On 28 September, Israeli opposition leader [[Ariel Sharon]] and a [[Likud]] party delegation guarded by hundreds of Israeli riot police visited the [[Temple Mount]], which is widely considered the [[Holiest sites in Islam (Sunni)|third holiest site in Islam]].<ref name="nytimes_outbreak">{{cite news |title=Palestinians And Israelis in a Clash at Holy Site|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9502E4DA1E3AF93BA1575AC0A9669C8B63 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=28 September 2000}}</ref> Israel has claimed sovereignty over the Mount and the rest of East Jerusalem [[Jerusalem Law|since 1980]], and the compound is the [[Jerusalem in Judaism|holiest site in Judaism]].

The Israeli Interior Minister [[Shlomo Ben-Ami]], who permitted Sharon's visit, later claimed that he had telephoned the Palestinian Authority's security chief [[Jibril Rajoub]] before the visit and gotten his reassurances that as long as Sharon didn't enter the mosques his visit wouldn't cause any problems. Rajoub vociferously denied having given any such reassurances.{{sfn|Bregman|2005|p=160}}

Shortly after Sharon left the site, angry demonstrations by Palestinian Jerusalemites outside erupted into rioting. The person in charge of the [[waqf]] at the time, Abu Qteish, was later indicted by Israel for using a loud-speaker to call on Palestinians to defend Al-Aqsa, which action Israeli authorities claimed was responsible for the subsequent stone-throwing in the direction of the Wailing Wall.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Hillel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KRKsAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA73 |title=The Rise and Fall of Arab Jerusalem: Palestinian Politics and the City Since 1967 |date= March 2013|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-85266-4 |language=en}}</ref> Israeli police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, while protesters [[Palestinian stone-throwing|hurled stones]] and other projectiles, injuring 25 policemen, of whom one was seriously injured and had to be taken to hospital. At least three Palestinians were wounded by rubber bullets.<ref name=bbc2000sept28>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/28/newsid_3687000/3687762.stm |work=BBC News |title=On This Day: 'Provocative' mosque visit sparks riots |date=28 September 2000 |access-date=2014-09-01 |quote=Palestinians and Israeli police have clashed in the worst violence for several years at Jerusalem's holiest site, the compound around Al-Aqsa mosque. The violence began after a highly controversial tour of the mosque compound early this morning by hardline Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon. ... Soon after Mr Sharon left the site, the angry demonstrations outside erupted into violence. Israeli police fired tear gas and rubber-coated metal bullets, while protesters hurled stones and other missiles. Police said 25 of their men were hurt by missiles thrown by Palestinians, but only one was taken to hospital. Israel Radio reported at least three Palestinians were wounded by rubber bullets. ... Following Friday [September 29, 2000] prayers the next day, violence again broke out throughout Jerusalem and the West Bank. |archive-date=29 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190129133239/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/28/newsid_3687000/3687762.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

The stated purpose for Sharon's visit of the compound was to assert the right of all Israelis to visit the Temple Mount;<ref>{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9803E4DB1F3DF936A35753C1A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all|title=Unapologetic, Sharon Rejects Blame for Igniting Violence |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=5 October 2000|first=Joel|last=Greenberg|access-date=23 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Israeli's Tour of Holy Site Ignites Riot; Palestinians Angered By Test of Sovereignty in Jerusalem's Old City |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |author=Lee Hockstader |date=29 September 2000 |page=A22 |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-534994.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904080029/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-534994.html |archive-date=4 September 2015 |access-date=28 September 2014}}</ref> however, according to Likud spokesman [[Ofir Akunis]], the actual purpose was to "show that under a Likud government [the Temple Mount] will remain under Israeli sovereignty."<ref>{{cite news |title=Palestinians say opposition tour of holy site could cause bloodshed |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/09/27/israel.palestinians.ap/index.html |publisher=CNN |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=27 September 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041210211004/http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/09/27/israel.palestinians.ap/index.html |archive-date=10 December 2004}}</ref> Ehud Barak in the Camp David negotiations had insisted that East Jerusalem, where the Haram was located, would remain under complete Israeli sovereignty.<ref name="Singh">Rashmi Singh, [https://books.google.com/books?id=AQ_TOiLtdtAC&pg=PA38 ''Hamas and Suicide Terrorism: Multi-causal and Multi-level Approaches''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818222348/https://books.google.com/books?id=AQ_TOiLtdtAC&pg=PA38 |date=18 August 2020 }} Routledge, 2013 p.38</ref> In response to accusations by Ariel Sharon of government readiness to concede the site to the Palestinians, the Israeli government gave Sharon permission to visit the area. When alerted of his intentions, senior Palestinian figures, such as [[Yasser Arafat]], [[Saeb Erekat]], and [[Faisal Husseini]], all asked Sharon to call off his visit.<ref name="klein_jerusalemproblem_p98">{{cite book |author=Menachem Klein |title=The Jerusalem Problem: The Struggle for Permanent Status |publisher=[[University Press of Florida]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8130-2673-2 |page=98}}</ref>

Ten days earlier the Palestinians had observed their annual memorial day for the [[Sabra and Shatila massacre]], where thousands of [[Islam in Lebanon|Lebanese]] and [[Islam in Palestine|Palestinian Muslims]] were massacred by [[Lebanese Forces (militia)|Lebanese Forces]] supported by the Israeli military.<ref name="klein_jerusalemproblem_p98" /> The Israeli [[Kahan Commission]] had concluded that [[Ariel Sharon]], who was the Israeli Defense Minister during the Sabra and Shatila massacre, was found to bear personal responsibility<ref>{{cite book|last=Schiff|first=Ze'ev|author-link=Ze'ev Schiff|author2=Ehud Ya'ari|title=Israel's Lebanon War|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|year=1984|page=[https://archive.org/details/israelslebanonwa0000schi/page/284 284]|isbn=978-0-671-47991-6|url=https://archive.org/details/israelslebanonwa0000schi/page/284}}</ref> "for ignoring the danger of bloodshed and revenge" and "not taking appropriate measures to prevent bloodshed." Sharon's negligence in protecting the civilian population of Beirut, which had come under Israeli control, amounted to a ''non-fulfillment of a duty with which the Defence Minister was charged'', and it was recommended that Sharon be dismissed as Defence Minister. Sharon initially refused to resign, but after the death of an Israeli after a peace march, Sharon did resign as Defense minister, but remained in the Israeli cabinet.

The Palestinians condemned Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount as a provocation and an incursion, as were his armed bodyguards that arrived on the scene with him. Critics claim that Sharon knew that the visit could trigger violence, and that the purpose of his visit was political. According to one observer, Sharon, in walking on the Temple Mount, was "skating on the thinnest ice in the Arab-Israeli conflict."{{sfn|Shindler|2013|p=283}}

According to ''The New York Times'', many in the Arab world, including Egyptians, Palestinians, Lebanese and Jordanians, point to Sharon's visit as the beginning of the Second Intifada and derailment of the peace process.<ref>{{cite news |last=MacFarquhar |first=Neil |author-link=Neil MacFarquhar |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/05/international/middleeast/05cnd-arab.html |title=Few Kind Words for Sharon in the Arab World |date=5 January 2006 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-date=16 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216143022/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/05/international/middleeast/05cnd-arab.html |url-status=live }}</ref> According to Juliana Ochs, Sharon's visit 'symbolically instigated' the second intifada.<ref>{{cite book |author=Juliana Ochs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBSe-JgwPqoC&pg=PA6 |title=Security and Suspicion: An Ethnography of Everyday Life in Israel |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]] |year=2011 |series=The Ethnography of Political Violence |isbn=978-0-8122-4291-1 |page=6 |access-date=12 December 2015 |archive-date=2 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102113652/https://books.google.com/books?id=mBSe-JgwPqoC&pg=PA6 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Marwan Barghouti]] said that although Sharon's provocative actions were a rallying point for Palestinians, the Second Intifada would have erupted even had he not visited the Temple Mount.<ref>{{cite book |last=Goldberg |first=Jeffrey |title=Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror |location=New York |publisher=[[Vintage Books]] |date=2008 |page=258}}</ref>

====Post-visit Palestinian riots====
On 29 September 2000, the day after Sharon's visit, following Friday prayers, large riots broke out around the [[Old City of Jerusalem]]. Israeli police fired at Palestinians at the Temple Mount throwing stones over the [[Western Wall]] at Jewish worshippers. After the chief of Jerusalem's police force was knocked unconscious by a stone, they switched to live ammunition and killed four Palestinian youths.{{sfn|Shindler|2013|p=283}}<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sontag |first1=Deborah |title=Battle at Jerusalem Holy Site Leaves 4 Dead and 200 Hurt |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/30/world/battle-at-jerusalem-holy-site-leaves-4-dead-and-200-hurt.html |access-date=14 November 2014 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=30 September 2000 |archive-date=29 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129070952/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/30/world/battle-at-jerusalem-holy-site-leaves-4-dead-and-200-hurt.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Dellios |first1=Hugh |title=4 Dead, Scores Wounded in Jerusalem Clashes |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2000/09/30/4-dead-scores-wounded-in-jerusalem-clashes/ |access-date=14 November 2014 |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=30 September 2000 |location=Jerusalem |quote=police clashed with stone-throwing Palestinians, killing four and wounding scores |archive-date=28 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141128195316/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2000-09-30/news/0009300071_1_palestinian-police-officer-jerusalem-clashes-temple-mount |url-status=live}}</ref> Up to 200 Palestinians and police were injured.<ref name=cnn20000929>{{cite news |title=CNN's Jerrold Kessel on continuing violence in the Mideast |url=http://edition.cnn.com/chat/transcripts/2000/9/29/kessel/ |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=29 September 2000 |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-date=19 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130919100942/http://edition.cnn.com/chat/transcripts/2000/9/29/kessel/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> Another three Palestinians were killed in the Old City and on the [[Mount of Olives]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Menachem Klein |title=The Jerusalem Problem: The Struggle for Permanent Status |publisher=[[University Press of Florida]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8130-2673-2 |pages=97–98}}</ref> By the end of the day, seven Palestinians had been killed and 300 had been wounded;<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite book |author=Menachem Klein |title=The Jerusalem Problem: The Struggle for Permanent Status |publisher=[[University Press of Florida]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8130-2673-2 |page=97}}</ref> 70 Israeli policemen were also injured in the clashes.<ref name="klein_jerusalemproblem_p98" /><ref>{{cite web |date=19 October 2000 |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/041/2000/en/ |title=Israel and the Occupied Territories: Excessive use of lethal force |publisher=[[Amnesty International]] |access-date=19 November 2018 |archive-date=22 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122054850/https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/041/2000/en/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

In the days that followed, demonstrations erupted all over the [[West Bank]] and [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]]. Israeli police responded with live fire and rubber-coated bullets. In the first five days, at least 47 Palestinians were killed, and 1,885 were wounded.<ref name="autogenerated2" /> In Paris, as [[Jacques Chirac]] attempted to mediate between the parties, he protested to Barak that the ratio of Palestinians and Israelis killed and wounded on one day were such that he could not convince anyone the Palestinians were the aggressors. He also told Barak that "continu(ing) to fire from helicopters on people throwing rocks" and refusing an international inquiry was tantamount to rejecting Arafat's offer to participate in trilateral negotiations.<ref>{{cite book |author=Gilead Sher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EdgAWFiDryMC&pg=PA162 |title=The Israeli–Palestinian Peace Negotiations, 1999–2001: Within Reach |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7146-8542-7 |pages=161–162 |author-link=Gilead Sher |access-date=12 December 2015 |archive-date=2 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102113652/https://books.google.com/books?id=EdgAWFiDryMC&pg=PA162 |url-status=live }}: "Your account of events does not match the impression of any country in the world," he said. "At Camp David, Israel did in fact make a significant step towards peace, but Sharon's visit was the detonator, and everything has exploded. This morning, sixty-four Palestinians are dead, nine Israeli-Arabs were also killed, and you're pressing on. You cannot, Mr Prime Minister, explain this ratio in the number of [killed and] wounded. You cannot make anyone believe that the Palestinians are the aggressors....When I was a company commander in Algeria, I also thought I was right. I fought the guerillas. Later I realized I was wrong. It is the honour of the strong, to reach out and not to shoot. Today you must reach out your hand. If you continue to fire from helicopters on people throwing rocks, and you continue to refuse an international inquiry, you are turning down a gesture from Arafat. You have no idea how hard I pushed Arafat to agree to a trilateral meeting. ...'</ref> During the first few days of riots, the IDF fired approximately 1.3&nbsp;million bullets.<ref>Earlier estimates gave a million bullets and projectiles shot by Israeli forces in the first few days, 700,000 in the West Bank and 300,000 in the Gaza Strip. See Ben Kaspit, "Jewish New Year 2002—the Second Anniversary of the Intifada," ''[[Maariv]]'' 6 September 2002 (Heb), in Cheryl Rubenberg, ''The Palestinians: In Search of a Just Peace'', [[Lynne Rienner Publishers]], 2003 p. 324, p. 361 n. 5. The figure was revealed by [[Amos Malka]], then-director of Military Intelligence. [[Moshe Ya'alon]], who later became the Israeli Chief of Staff, denied the 1.3&nbsp;million figure, claiming that the number reflected the demand of the command units for supplemental ammunition. {{cite news |last=Pedatzur |first=Reuven |date=4 December 2008 |title=Deflater of defeatist discourse |url=http://www.haaretz.com/deflater-of-defeatist-discourse-1.258857 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219170311/http://www.haaretz.com/deflater-of-defeatist-discourse-1.258857 |archive-date=19 December 2014 |access-date=28 September 2014 |work=[[Haaretz]]}}</ref>

According to [[Amnesty International]] the early Palestinian casualties were those taking part in demonstrations or bystanders. Amnesty further states that approximately 80% of the Palestinians killed during the first month were in demonstrations where Israeli security services lives were not in danger.<ref name="Amnesty International">{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE15/083/2001/en |title=Israel and the Occupied Territories: Broken Lives – A Year of Intifada |date=13 November 2001 |publisher=[[Amnesty International]] |access-date=4 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329030342/http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE15/083/2001/en |archive-date=29 March 2014}}</ref>

On 30 September 2000, the death of [[Muhammad al-Durrah incident|Muhammad al-Durrah]], a Palestinian boy shot dead while sheltering behind his father in an alley in the Gaza Strip, was caught on video. Initially the boy's death and his father's wounding was attributed to Israeli soldiers. The scene assumed iconic status, as it was shown around the world and repeatedly broadcast on Arab television. The Israeli army initially assumed responsibility for the killing and apologised, and only retracted 2 months later, when an internal investigation cast doubt on the original version, and controversy subsequently raged as to whether indeed the IDF had fired the shots or Palestinian factions were responsible for the fatal gunshots.<ref>Nitzan Ben-Shaul, [https://books.google.com/books?id=QFBiclfUJ04C&pg=PA118 ''A Violent World: TV News Images of Middle Eastern Terror and War''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819201558/https://books.google.com/books?id=QFBiclfUJ04C&pg=PA118 |date=19 August 2020 }} [[Rowman & Littlefield]], 6 March 2007 pp.118–120.</ref>

====October 2000 events====
[[File:Andartnazareth.jpg|thumb|Monument to Israeli Arab casualties in October 2000 riots, Nazareth]]
{{Main|October 2000 events}}
The "October 2000 events" refers to several days of disturbances and clashes within Israel, mostly between [[Arab citizens of Israel|Arab citizens]] and the [[Israel police]], as well as large-scale rioting by both Arabs and Jews. Twelve Arab citizens of Israel and a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip were killed by Israeli police, while an Israeli Jew was killed when his car was hit by a rock on the [[Highway 2 (Israel)|Tel-Aviv-Haifa freeway]].<!-- both sentences supported by Catigani --> During the first month of the Intifada, 141 Palestinians were killed and 5,984 were wounded, while 12 Israelis were killed and 65 wounded.<ref name="Catignani">{{cite book |last1=Catignani |first1=Sergio |year=2008 |chapter=The Al-Aqsa Intifada |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mfNBodDl0hgC&pg=PA105 |title=Israeli Counter-Insurgency and the Intifadas: Dilemmas of a Conventional Army |publisher=[[Routledge]] |pages=104–106 |isbn=978-1-134-07997-1 |access-date=3 October 2016 |archive-date=23 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223214612/https://books.google.com/books?id=mfNBodDl0hgC&pg=PA105 |url-status=live }}</ref>

A general strike and demonstrations across northern Israel began on 1 October and continued for several days. In some cases, the demonstrations escalated into clashes with the [[Israel police|Israeli police]] involving [[Palestinian stone throwing|rock-throwing]], [[Molotov cocktail|firebombing]], and live-fire. Policemen used tear-gas and opened fire with [[rubber bullet|rubber-coated bullets]] and later live ammunition in some instances, many times in contravention of police protocol governing riot-dispersion. This use of live ammunition was directly linked with many of the deaths by the [[Or Commission]].

On 8 October, thousands of Jewish Israelis participated in violent acts in Tel Aviv and elsewhere, some throwing stones at Arabs, destroying Arab property and chanting "Death to the Arabs."<ref>{{cite news |date=19 November 2001 |url=http://www.haaretz.com/the-or-inquiry-summary-of-events-1.291940 |title=The Or Inquiry – Summary of Events |newspaper=[[Haaretz]] |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-date=19 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150419015517/http://www.haaretz.com/the-or-inquiry-summary-of-events-1.291940 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Following the riots, a high degree of tension between Jewish and Arab citizens and distrust between the Arab citizens and police were widespread. An investigation committee, headed by Supreme Court Justice [[Theodor Or]], reviewed the violent riots and found that the police were poorly prepared to handle such riots and charged major officers with bad conduct. The [[Or Commission]] reprimanded Prime Minister [[Ehud Barak]] and recommended [[Shlomo Ben-Ami]], then the Internal Security Minister, not serve again as Minister of Public Security. The committee also blamed Arab leaders and Knesset members for contributing to inflaming the atmosphere and making the violence more severe.

====Ramallah lynching and Israeli response====
{{Main|2000 Ramallah lynching}}
On 12 October, PA police arrested two Israeli reservists who had accidentally entered [[Ramallah]], where in the preceding weeks a hundred Palestinians had been killed, nearly two dozen of them minors.<ref>Eve Spangler, [https://books.google.com/books?id=v2AICgAAQBAJ&pg=PA183 ''Understanding Israel/Palestine: Race, Nation, and Human Rights in the Conflict''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820002151/https://books.google.com/books?id=v2AICgAAQBAJ&pg=PA183 |date=20 August 2020 }} Springer, 2015 p.183</ref> Rumours quickly spread that Israeli undercover agents were in the building, and an angry crowd of more than 1,000 Palestinians gathered in front of the station calling for their death. Both soldiers were beaten, stabbed, and disembowelled, and one body was set on fire. An Italian television crew captured the killings on video and then broadcast the tape internationally.<ref name="BBClynch">{{cite news |last=Asser |first=Martin |date=13 October 2000 |title=Lynch mob's brutal attack |work=[[BBC News]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/969778.stm |url-status=live |access-date=3 September 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080129215716/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/969778.stm |archive-date=29 January 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Levy |first=Gideon |author-link=Gideon Levy |date=20 October 2000 |title=A conversation with Colonel Kamel al-Sheikh, Ramallah's chief of police, amid the ruins of his police station, where two Israeli soldiers were lynched by an angry mob last week |newspaper=[[Haaretz]] |url=http://home.mindspring.com/~fontenelles/Levy2.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010804004210/http://home.mindspring.com/~fontenelles/Levy2.htm |archive-date=4 August 2001}}</ref> A British journalist had his camera destroyed by rioters as he attempted to take a picture. The brutality of the killings shocked the Israeli public, who saw it as proof of a deep-seated Palestinian hatred of Israel and Jews.<ref>{{cite web |last=Feldman |first=Shai |url=http://www.tau.ac.il/jcss/sa/v3n3p7.html |title=The October Violence: An Interim Assessment |publisher=Jaffes Center for Strategic Studies |work=Strategic Assessment |volume=3 |number=3 |date=November 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010629075844/http://www.tau.ac.il/jcss/sa/v3n3p7.html |archive-date=29 June 2001 }}</ref> In response, Israel launched a series of retaliatory air-strikes against Palestinian Authority targets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The police station where the lynching had taken place was evacuated and destroyed in these operations.<ref name="revenge">{{cite news |title=A day of rage, revenge and bloodshed |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/1370229/A-day-of-rage%2C-revenge-and-bloodshed.html |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20171014065726/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/1370229/A-day-of-rage-revenge-and-bloodshed.html |archive-date=14 October 2017 |date=13 October 2000 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=28 September 2014 |first=Alan |last=Philps}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Israeli copters retaliate for soldiers' deaths |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/mideast.htm#readmore |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011123225843/http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/mideast.htm |archive-date=23 November 2001 |date=8 November 2000 |work=[[USA Today]] |access-date=2009-07-03 }}</ref> Israel later tracked down and arrested those responsible for killing the soldiers.

====November–December 2000====
Clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians increased sharply on 1 November, when three Israeli soldiers and six Palestinians were killed, and four IDF soldiers and 140 Palestinians were wounded. In subsequent days, casualties increased as the IDF attempted to restore order, with clashes occurring every day in November. A total of 122 Palestinians and 22 Israelis were killed. On 27 November, the first day of [[Ramadan]], Israel eased restrictions on the passage of goods and fuel through the [[Karni crossing]]. That same day, the Jerusalem settlement of [[Gilo]] came under Palestinian heavy machine gun fire from [[Beit Jala]]. Israel tightened restrictions a week later, and Palestinians continued to clash with the IDF and Israeli settlers, with a total of 51 Palestinians and 8 Israelis killed in December.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mideastweb.org/second_intifada_timeline.htm |title=Time Line of Second (Al-Aqsa) Intifada |publisher=MidEastWeb |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217164830/http://mideastweb.org/second_intifada_timeline.htm |archive-date=17 December 2008}}</ref> In a last attempt by the Clinton administration to achieve a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians, a summit was planned in Sharm el-Sheikh in December. However, Israeli Prime Minister Barak decided not to attend after the Palestinians delayed their acceptance of the [[Clinton Parameters]].<ref>CNN, 27 December 2000, [https://edition.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/12/27/mideast.06/ "Mideast summit in Egypt called off"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118095434/https://edition.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/12/27/mideast.06/ |date=18 November 2021 }}</ref>

===2001===
The [[Taba Summit]] between Israel and the [[Palestinian Authority]] was held from 21 to 27 January 2001, at [[Taba (Egypt)|Taba]] in the [[Sinai peninsula]]. Israeli prime minister [[Ehud Barak]] and Palestinian President [[Yasser Arafat]] came closer to reaching a final settlement than any previous or subsequent peace talks yet ultimately failed to achieve their goals.

On 17 January 2001, Israeli teenager [[Ofir Rahum]] was murdered after being lured into [[Ramallah]] by a 24-year-old Palestinian, Mona Jaud Awana, a member of Fatah's [[Tanzim]]. She had contacted Ofir on the internet and engaged in an online romance with him for several months. She eventually convinced him to drive to Ramallah to meet her, where he was instead ambushed by three Palestinian gunmen and shot over fifteen times.<ref name="Wired">{{cite news |url=https://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2001/01/41300 |title=Israel's 'First Internet Murder' |work=[[Wired (website)|Wired]] |date=19 January 2001 |last=Hershman |first=Tania |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071019223411/http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2001/01/41300 |archive-date=19 October 2007 }}</ref> Awana was later arrested in a massive military and police operation, and imprisoned for life. Five other Israelis were killed in January, along with eighteen Palestinians.

[[Ariel Sharon]], at the time from the [[Likud]] party, ran against [[Ehud Barak]] from the [[Labor (Israel)|Labor party]]. Sharon was elected Israeli Prime Minister 6 February 2001 in the [[2001 Israeli prime ministerial election|2001 special election to the Prime Ministership]]. Sharon refused to meet in person with Yasser Arafat.

Violence in March resulted in the deaths of 8 Israelis, mostly civilians, and 26 Palestinians. In [[Hebron]], a Palestinian sniper killed ten-month-old Israeli baby [[Shalhevet Pass]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9FTxoncXDwwC&q=Shalhevet+Pass&pg=PA443 |title=Protection of children during armed political conflict: a multidisciplinary perspective |editor=Charles W. Greenbaum |editor2=Philip E. Veerman |editor3=Naomi Bacon-Shnoor |publisher=Intersentia |year=2006 |isbn=978-90-5095-341-2 |access-date=8 November 2020 |archive-date=17 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417205259/https://books.google.com/books?id=9FTxoncXDwwC&q=Shalhevet+Pass&pg=PA443 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Gordis |first=Daniel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y7glZcS7mMgC&q=Shalhevet+Pass&pg=PA190 |title=Home to Stay: One American Family's Chronicle of Miracles and Struggles in Contemporary Israel |publisher=[[Random House]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-307-53090-5 |author-link=Daniel Gordis |access-date=21 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417205301/https://books.google.com/books?id=y7glZcS7mMgC&q=Shalhevet%2BPass&pg=PA190 |archive-date=17 April 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> The murder shocked the Israeli public. According to the Israel police investigation the sniper aimed deliberately at the baby.<ref name=education>{{cite web|url=http://www.education.gov.il/children/page_23.htm |title=Target: Israeli Children |publisher=[[Education Minister of Israel|Israel Ministry of Education]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023202452/http://www.education.gov.il/children/page_23.htm |archive-date=23 October 2013}}</ref>

On 30 April 2001, seven Palestinian militants were killed in an explosion, one of them a participant in Ofir Rahum's murder. The IDF refused to confirm or deny Palestinian accusations that it was responsible.

On 7 May 2001, IDF [[Shayetet 13|naval commandos]] captured the vessel ''[[Santorini affair|Santorini]]'', which was sailing in international waters towards Palestinian Authority-controlled Gaza. The ship was laden with weaponry. The Israeli investigation that followed said that the shipment had been purchased by [[Ahmed Jibril]]'s [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command]] (PFLP-GC). The ship's value and that of its cargo was estimated at $10&nbsp;million. The crew was reportedly planning to unload the cargo of weapons-filled barrels—carefully sealed and waterproofed along with their contents—at a prearranged location off the Gaza coast, where the Palestinian Authority would recover it.

On 8 May 2001, two Israeli teenagers, Yaakov "Koby" Mandell (13) and Yosef Ishran (14), were kidnapped while hiking near their village. Their bodies were discovered the next morning in a cave near where they lived.<ref name=Guardian>{{cite news |title=Two Israeli boys found bludgeoned to death |date=9 May 2001 |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/may/09/israel1 |access-date=18 June 2012 |archive-date=25 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825024550/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/may/09/israel1 |url-status=live }}</ref> ''USA Today'' reported that, according to the police, both boys had "been bound, stabbed and beaten to death with rocks." The newspaper continued, "The walls of the cave in the Judean Desert were covered with the boys' blood, reportedly smeared there by the killers."<ref name=USA>{{cite news |title=Two Israeli teenagers stoned to death |date=20 June 2001 |work=[[USA Today]] |author=Matthew Kalman |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/mideast/2001-05-09-slainteens.htm |access-date=18 June 2012 |author-link=Matthew Kalman |archive-date=20 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110420150223/http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/mideast/2001-05-09-slainteens.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

After a [[suicide bombing]] [[2001 HaSharon Mall suicide bombing|struck Netanya]] on 18 May 2001, Israel for the first time since 1967 used warplanes to attack Palestinian Authority targets in the West Bank and Gaza, killing 12 Palestinians. In the past, airstrikes had been carried out with helicopter gunships.<ref>{{cite news |date=20 May 2001 |title=Arabs seek to isolate Israel |work=[[BBC News]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1340003.stm |url-status=live |access-date=1 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012112751/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1340003.stm |archive-date=12 October 2017}}</ref>

[[File:Dolphinarium Massacre memorial in Tel Aviv.JPG|thumb|right|Dolphinarium Massacre memorial at the Tel Aviv Dolphinarium site with the names of the victims written in Russian]]
On 1 June 2001, an [[Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine|Islamic Jihad]] suicide bomber [[Dolphinarium massacre| detonated himself in the Tel Aviv coastline Dolphinarium]] dancing club. Twenty-one Israeli civilians, most of them high school students, were killed and 132 injured.<ref>{{cite web |author=Karmon |first=Ely |author-link=Ely Karmon |date=11 June 2001 |title=The Palestinian Authority-Hamas Collusion – From Operational Cooperation to Propaganda Hoax |url=http://www.ict.org.il/Article.aspx?ID=806 |website=[[International Institute for Counter-Terrorism]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904080030/http://www.ict.org.il/Article.aspx?ID=806 |archive-date=4 September 2015 |access-date=28 September 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-48416289.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023030542/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-48416289.html|archive-date=23 October 2012|title=No. 1 Hamas terrorist killed. Followers threaten revenge in Tel Aviv. |last=O'Sullivan|first=Arieh |author-link=Arieh O'Sullivan |date=25 November 2001 |newspaper=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |access-date=30 January 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/international/middleeast/29israel.html |title=In Hamas's Overt Hatred, Many Israelis See Hope |last=Fisher |first=Ian |author-link=Ian Fisher (journalist) |date=29 January 2006 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=30 January 2009 |archive-date=11 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111022312/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/international/middleeast/29israel.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ynet.co.il/home/0,7340,L-1258,00.html |work=[[Ynet]] |script-title=he:21 צעירות וצעירים נהרגו בפיגוע התופת בטיילת בתל אביב, לא הרחק מהדולפינריום. אלה תמונות ההרוגים בפיגוע הקשה ביותר בישראל מזה חמש שנים. ynet מביא את חלק מסיפוריהם. |language=he |trans-title=21 young people were killed in bomb attack in Tel Aviv promenade, near the Dolphinarium. These pictures of the dead worst attack in Israel for five years. Ynet brings some of their stories. |date=2 June 2001 |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-date=24 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170724182358/http://www.ynet.co.il/home/0,7340,L-1258,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The attack significantly hampered American attempts to negotiate a cease-fire.

The 12 June [[Murder of Georgios Tsibouktzakis]] by Palestinian snipers was later tied to [[Marwan Barghouti]].<ref name="EnevBarghouti">{{cite news|last1=Enev|first1=Peter Enev|title=Barghouti gets five life terms for attacks|newspaper=Toronto Star|date=7 June 2004|id={{ProQuest|438710369}}}}</ref>

A total of 469 Palestinians and 199 Israelis were killed in 2001. Amnesty International's report on the first year of the Intifada states:

<blockquote>The overwhelming majority of cases of unlawful killings and injuries in Israel and the Occupied Territories have been committed by the IDF using excessive force. In particular, the IDF have used US-supplied helicopters in punitive rocket attacks where there was no imminent danger to life. Israel has also used helicopter gunships to carry out extrajudicial executions and to fire at targets that resulted in the killing of civilians, including children. ... Hamas and Islamic Jihad have frequently placed bombs in public places, usually within Israel, in order to kill and maim large numbers of Israeli civilians in a random manner. Both organizations have fostered a cult of martyrdom and frequently use suicide bombers.<ref name="Amnesty International"/></blockquote>

Palestinian terrorists committed a number of suicide attacks later in 2001, among them the [[Sbarro restaurant massacre]], with 15 civilian casualties (including 7 children);<ref>{{cite news |author=Stanage |first=Niall |date=3 February 2002 |title=Death of innocents |newspaper=[[The Sunday Business Post]] |url=https://www.kerenmalki.org/Press/IrishSBP_Death_of_Innocents.htm |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006080000/http://www.kerenmalki.org/Press/IrishSBP_Death_of_Innocents.htm |archive-date=6 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Ben-Zur |first=Raanan |date=27 March 2006 |title=Sbarro terrorist 'not sorry' |work=[[Ynetnews]] |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3232591,00.html |url-status=live |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006220711/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3232591,00.html |archive-date=6 October 2014}}</ref> the [[Nahariya train station suicide bombing]] and the [[Pardes Hanna bus bombing]], both with 3 civilian casualties;<ref>{{cite news |author=Dudkevitch |first1=Margot |last2=O'Sullivan |first2=Arieh |author2-link=Arieh O'Sullivan |date=10 September 2001 |title=Five killed as terror hits nationwide. First Israeli Arab suicide bomber strikes at Nahariya train station |url=http://info.jpost.com/C002/Supplements/CasualtiesOfWar/2001_09_09.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021220085140/http://info.jpost.com/C002/Supplements/CasualtiesOfWar/2001_09_09.html |archive-date=20 December 2002 |newspaper=[[The Jerusalem Post]]}}</ref><ref name="Haaretz">{{cite news |author=Amos Harel |author2=Haim Shadmi |author3=David Ratner |author4=Yam Yehoshua |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/islamic-jihad-fatah-take-responsibility-for-bus-bombing-1.75877 |title=Islamic Jihad, Fatah take responsibility for bus bombing |work=[[Haaretz]] |date=28 November 2001 |access-date=18 June 2012 |archive-date=2 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102113653/http://www.haaretz.com/news/islamic-jihad-fatah-take-responsibility-for-bus-bombing-1.75877 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Blade">{{cite news |title=Suicide Bomber kills 3 Israelis ahead of Bush-Sharon meeting |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=75JKAAAAIBAJ&pg=6563,4859776 |location=Toledo |newspaper=[[The Blade (Toledo)|The Blade]] |agency=[[Knight Ridder]], [[Associated Press]] |date=30 November 2011 |page=A2 |access-date=18 June 2012 |archive-date=18 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118095434/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=75JKAAAAIBAJ&pg=6563,4859776 |url-status=live }}</ref> the Ben Yehuda Street bombing with 11 civilian deaths, many of them children;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2001/12/Suicide%20bombing%20at%20the%20Ben-Yehuda%20pedestrian%20mall |title=Suicide bombing at the Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall in Jerusalem |date=1 December 2001 |publisher=[[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel)|Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040618133459/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2001/12/Suicide%20bombing%20at%20the%20Ben-Yehuda%20pedestrian%20mall |archive-date=18 June 2004}}</ref> and the [[Haifa bus 16 suicide bombing]], with 15 civilian casualties.<ref name="B'Tselem">[http://old.btselem.org/statistics/english/casualties.asp?sD=29&sM=09&sY=2000&eD=26&eM=12&eY=2008&filterby=event&oferet_stat=before Statistics | B'Tselem] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729121304/http://old.btselem.org/statistics/english/casualties.asp?sD=29&sM=09&sY=2000&eD=26&eM=12&eY=2008&filterby=event&oferet_stat=before |date=29 July 2012 }}</ref>

===2002===
[[File:Karin A weapons.jpg|thumb|Military equipment confiscated from [[Karine A]]]]

In January 2002, the [[Israel Defense Forces|IDF]] [[Shayetet 13]] naval commandos captured the ''[[Karine A]]'', a freighter carrying weapons from [[Iran]] towards Israel, believed to be intended for Palestinian militant use against Israel. It was discovered that top officials in the [[Palestinian National Authority|Palestinian Authority]] were involved in the smuggling, with the Israelis pointing the finger towards [[Yasser Arafat]] as also being involved.

Palestinians launched a spate of suicide bombings and attacks against Israel, aimed mostly at civilians. On 3 March, a Palestinian sniper killed 10 Israeli soldiers and settlers and wounded 4 at a checkpoint near [[Ofra]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/Terrorism/Victims/Pages/Sgt-Maj-res-%20Yochai%20Porat.aspx |title=Sgt.-Maj.(res.) Yochai Porat |date=3 March 2002 |publisher=[[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel)|Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-date=30 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140830185356/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/Terrorism/Victims/Pages/Sgt-Maj-res-%20Yochai%20Porat.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> using an [[M1 Carbine]]. He was later arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. The rate of the attacks increased, and was at its highest in March 2002.<ref name=Fal09/>

In addition to numerous shooting and grenade attacks, the month saw 15 suicide bombings carried out in Israel — an average of one bombing every two days. The high rate of attacks caused widespread fear throughout Israel and serious disruption of daily life throughout the country. March 2002 became known in Israel as "Black March".<ref name=Fal09>{{cite book |editor=Ophir Falk |editor2=Henry Morgenstein |title=Suicide terror: understanding and confronting the threat |publisher=Wiley |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-470-08729-9}}</ref> On 12 March [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1397]] was passed, which reaffirmed a [[Two-state solution]] and laid the groundwork for a [[Road map for peace]].<ref name=Rub03/>

On 27 March, the wave of violence culminated with a suicide bombing during a [[Passover]] celebration at the Park Hotel in [[Netanya]] in which 30 people were killed. The attack became known as the [[Passover massacre]].<ref name="Bts ODS">{{cite web |url=http://www.btselem.org/download/200207_defensive_shield_eng.pdf |title=Operation Defensive Shield: Palestinian Testimonies, Soldiers' Testimonies |date=July 2007 |publisher=[[B'Tselem]] |access-date=7 April 2012 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304064004/http://www.btselem.org/download/200207_defensive_shield_eng.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In total, around 130 Israelis, mostly civilians, were killed in Palestinian attacks during March 2002.<ref name=Rub03/> On 28 March, Arab leaders, whose constituencies were exposed to detailed television coverage of the violence in the conflict, set out a comprehensive [[Arab Peace Initiative]] that was endorsed by Arafat, but virtually ignored by Israel.<ref name=Rub03>[[Barry Rubin]],Judith Colp Rubin, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KRjiBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT427 ''Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819140014/https://books.google.com/books?id=KRjiBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT427 |date=19 August 2020 }} Oxford University Press, 2003 p.427 n.14</ref>{{sfn|Mattar|2005|p=40}}<ref>Neil Caplan, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JyAgn_dD43cC&pg=PT167 ''The Israel–Palestine Conflict: Contested Histories,''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819133731/https://books.google.com/books?id=JyAgn_dD43cC&pg=PT167 |date=19 August 2020 }} John Wiley & Sons, 2011 p.167</ref><ref>Galia Golan, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-zqDBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA170 ''Israeli Peacemaking Since 1967: Factors Behind the Breakthroughs and Failures''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820043011/https://books.google.com/books?id=-zqDBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA170 |date=20 August 2020 }} Routledge, 2014 p.170.</ref>

On 29 March, Israel launched [[Operation Defensive Shield]], which lasted until 3 May. The IDF made sweeping incursions throughout the West Bank, and into numerous Palestinian cities. Arafat was put under siege in his [[Mukataa|Ramallah compound]].<ref>[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/arafat-siege-could-end-soon/ ''Arafat Siege Could End Soon''] . CBS, 29 April 2002</ref> The UN estimated that 497 Palestinians were killed and 1,447 wounded by the Israeli incursion from 1 March to 7 May.<ref name="UNPressRelease"/> A UN report cleared Israel of allegations of massacre, but criticized it for using excessive force on the civilian population. Israeli forces also arrested 4,258 Palestinians during the operation.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3685678,00.html |title=Operation Defensive Shield (2002) |work=[[Ynetnews]] |date=12 March 2009 |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-date=25 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140825062508/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3685678,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Israeli casualties during the operation totaled 30 dead and 127 wounded. The operation culminated with the recapturing of Palestinian Authority controlled areas.<ref name="UNPressRelease">{{cite press release |date=1 August 2002 |title=Report of Secretary-General on recent events in Jenin, other Palestinian cities |publisher=[[United Nations]] |url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2002/SG2077.doc.htm |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402093858/http://www.un.org/press/en/2002/SG2077.doc.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Battle of Jenin====
{{Main|Battle of Jenin (2002)}}
[[File:IDF-D9L003.jpg|thumb|[[IDF Caterpillar D9]]]]

Between 2 and 11 April, a siege and fierce fighting took place in the Palestinian refugee camp of the city of [[Jenin]]. The camp was targeted during Operation Defensive Shield after Israel determined that it had "served as a launch site for numerous terrorist attacks against both Israeli civilians and Israeli towns and villages in the area."<ref name="mfa1">{{cite web |title=Jenin's Terrorist Infrastructure |publisher=[[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel)|Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] |access-date=22 September 2008 |date=4 April 2002 |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2002/4/Jenin-s%20Terrorist%20Infrastructure%20-%204-Apr-2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090218182029/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2002/4/Jenin-s%20Terrorist%20Infrastructure%20-%204-Apr-2002 |archive-date=18 February 2009 }}</ref> The Jenin battle became a flashpoint for both sides, and saw fierce urban combat as Israeli infantry supported by armor and attack helicopters fought to clear the camp of Palestinian militants. The battle was eventually won by the IDF, after it employed a dozen [[IDF Caterpillar D9|Caterpillar D9]] [[armored bulldozer]]s to clear Palestinian [[booby trap]]s, detonate explosive charges, and raze buildings and gun-posts; the bulldozers proved impervious to attacks by Palestinian militants.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=Matt Rees |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1002406,00.html |title=Untangling Jenin's Tale |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=13 May 2002 |access-date=28 September 2014 |author-link=Matt Rees |archive-date=26 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026160651/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1002406,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

During Israeli military operations in the camp, Palestinian sources alleged that a massacre of hundreds of people had taken place. A senior Palestinian Authority official said in mid-April that some 500 had been killed.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2165272.stm |title=UN says no massacre in Jenin |date=1 August 2002 |work=BBC News |access-date=19 May 2012 |archive-date=5 December 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205040128/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2165272.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> During the fighting in Jenin, Israeli officials had also initially estimated hundreds of Palestinian deaths, but later said they expected the Palestinian toll to reach "45 to 55."<ref name="NYT UN">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/02/world/death-on-the-campus-jenin-un-report-rejects-claims-of-a-massacre-of-refugees.html |last=Bennet |first=James |author-link=James Bennet (journalist) |date=2 August 2002 |title=Death on the Campus: Jenin; U.N. Report Rejects Claims of a Massacre of Refugees |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=19 May 2012 |archive-date=11 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211044050/https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D04E6DD1E3BF931A3575BC0A9649C8B63 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the ensuing controversy, Israel blocked the United Nations from conducting the first-hand inquiry unanimously sought by the Security Council, but the UN nonetheless felt able to dismiss claims of a massacre in its report, which said there had been approximately 52 deaths, criticising both sides for placing Palestinian civilians at risk.<ref name="NYT UN"/><ref>{{cite news |title=U.N. report: No massacre in Jenin |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2002-08-01-unreport-jenin_x.htm |agency=[[Associated Press]] |work=[[USA Today]] |date=1 August 2002 |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-date=23 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623064530/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2002-08-01-unreport-jenin_x.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Based on their own investigations, [[Amnesty International]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/149/2002/en/ |title=Shielded from Scrutiny: IDF violations in Jenin and Nablus |date=November 2002 |publisher=[[Amnesty International]] |page=2 |access-date=19 May 2012 |quote=Amnesty International's extensive research ... led it to conclude that ... some of the actions amounted to ... war crimes. |archive-date=22 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122054904/https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/149/2002/en/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Human Rights Watch]]<ref name="HRW May">{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/israel3/israel0502.pdf |title=Jenin: IDF Military Operations |date=May 2002 |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]] |access-date=19 May 2012 |page=3 |quote=Human Rights Watch's research demonstrates that, during their incursion into the Jenin refugee camp, Israeli forces committed serious violations of international humanitarian law, some amounting ''prima facie'' to war crimes. |archive-date=11 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011222710/http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/israel3/israel0502.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> charged that some IDF personnel in Jenin had committed [[war crimes]] but also confirmed that no massacre had been committed by the IDF. Both human rights organizations called for official inquiries; the IDF disputed the charges.

After the battle, most sources, including the IDF and [[Palestinian Authority]], placed the Palestinian death toll at 52–56;<ref name=martinWT>{{cite news |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20020501-5587072.htm |title=Jenin 'massacre' reduced to death toll of 56 |author=Paul Martin |newspaper=[[The Washington Times]] |date=1 May 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030415055238/http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20020501-5587072.htm |archive-date=15 April 2003}}</ref> [[Human Rights Watch]] documented 52 Palestinian deaths and claimed that it included at least 27 militants and 22 civilians, and an additional 3 Palestinians whose status as militants or civilians could not be ascertained,<ref name="hrwreport">{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/node/79081/section/3 |title=Jenin |website=[[Human Rights Watch]] |date=2 May 2002 |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-date=26 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140926080324/http://www.hrw.org/node/79081/section/3 |url-status=live }}</ref> while the IDF said that 48 militants and 5 civilians had been killed.<ref name="harel257-258">{{cite book |last1=Harel |first1=Amos |last2=Issacharoff |first2=Avi |date=2004 |script-title=he:המלחמה השביעית : איך ניצחנו ולמה הפסדנו במלחמה עם הפלסטינים |trans-title=The Seventh War: How We Won and Why We Lost in the War with the Palestinians |title=Ha-Milḥamah ha-shevi'it: ekh nitsaḥnu ṿe-lamah hifsadnu ba-milḥamah 'im ha-Palesṭinim |publisher=Yediot Aharonot |location=Tel-Aviv |isbn=978-965-511-767-7 |language=he |pages=257–258}}</ref> According to Human Rights Watch, 140 buildings had been destroyed.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Audeh |first=Ida |year=2002 |title=Narratives of Siege: Eye-Witness Testimonies from Jenin, Bethlehem, and Nablus |url=http://www.palestine-studies.org/journals.aspx?id=4341&jid=1&href=abstract |journal=[[Journal of Palestine Studies]] |volume=31 |issue=4 |page=13 |access-date=7 April 2012 |doi=10.1525/jps.2002.31.4.13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101228205343/http://palestine-studies.org/journals.aspx?id=4341&jid=1&href=abstract |archive-date=28 December 2010  |issn=0377-919X }}</ref> The IDF reported that 23 Israeli soldiers had been killed and 75 wounded during the battle.<ref name="HRW May"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Report of the Secretary-General prepared pursuant to General Assembly resolution ES-10/10 |access-date=29 March 2006 |publisher=[[United Nations]] |url=https://www.un.org/peace/jenin/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020806175121/http://www.un.org/peace/jenin/ |archive-date=6 August 2002}}</ref>

====Siege in Bethlehem====
{{Main|Siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem}}
From 2 April to 10 May, a stand-off developed at the [[Church of the Nativity]] in [[Bethlehem]]. IDF soldiers surrounded the church while Palestinian civilians, militants, and priests were inside. During the siege, IDF snipers killed 8 militants inside the church and wounded more than 40 people. The stand-off was resolved by the deportation to Europe of 13 Palestinian militants whom the IDF had identified as terrorists, and the IDF ended its 38-day stand-off with the militants inside the church.

===2003===
[[File:Autobus v Haifě.jpg|thumb|The aftermath of a bus bombing in Haifa in 2003]]

Following an Israeli intelligence report stating that [[Yasir Arafat]] had paid $20,000 to [[al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades]], the United States demanded democratic reforms in the [[Palestinian National Authority|Palestinian Authority]], as well the appointment of a prime minister independent of Arafat. On 13 March 2003, following U.S. pressure, Arafat appointed [[Mahmoud Abbas]] as Palestinian prime minister.

Following the appointment of Abbas, the U.S. administration promoted the [[Road map for peace]]—the [[Quartet on the Middle East|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 Palestinian Authority suppress guerrilla and terrorist attacks and confiscate illegal weapons. Unable or unwilling 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.

On 20 May, Israeli naval commandos intercepted another vessel, the ''[[Abu Hasan (boat)|Abu Hassan]]'', on course to the [[Gaza Strip]] from [[Lebanon]]. It was loaded with rockets, weapons, and ammunition. Eight crew members on board were arrested including a senior [[Hezbollah]] member.

On 29 June 2003, a [[Hudna|temporary armistice]] was unilaterally declared by [[Fatah]], [[Hamas]] and [[Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement|Islamic Jihad]], which declared a ceasefire and halt to all attacks against Israel for a period of three months.<ref>{{cite news |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3030480.stm |title=Texts: Palestinian truces |date=29 June 2003 |access-date=28 September 2004 |archive-date=5 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140105052121/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3030480.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Violence decreased somewhat in the following month, but suicide bombings against Israeli civilians continued as well as Israeli operations against militants.

Four Palestinians, three of them militants, were killed in gun battles during an IDF raid of [[Askar (Palestine)|Askar]] near [[Nablus]] involving tanks and [[armoured personnel carrier]]s (APCs); an Israeli soldier was killed by one of the militants. Nearby Palestinians claimed a squad of Israeli police disguised as Palestinian labourers opened fire on [[Members of Hamas called Qawasameh|Abbedullah Qawasameh]] as he left a Hebron mosque.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/06/23/wmid23.xml |date=23 June 2003 |title=Israel defends Hamas death |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |author=Alan Philps |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040604160641/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2003%2F06%2F23%2Fwmid23.xml |archive-date= 4 June 2004 }}</ref> [[YAMAM]], the Israeli counter-terrorism police unit that performed the operation, said Qawasemah opened fire on them as they attempted to arrest him.

On 19 August, Hamas coordinated a [[suicide attack]] on a [[Jerusalem bus 2 massacre|crowded 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 [[Members of Hamas called Qawasameh|Abbedullah Qawasameh]]) earlier in the week. U.S. and Israeli media outlets frequently referred to the bus bombing as shattering the quiet and bringing an end to the ceasefire.

Following the Hamas bus attack, [[Israeli Defence Forces]] were ordered to kill or capture all Hamas leaders in [[Hebron]] and the [[Gaza Strip]]. The plotters of the bus suicide bombing were all captured or killed and [[Members of Hamas called Qawasameh|Hamas leadership in Hebron]] was badly damaged by the IDF. Strict curfews were enforced in Nablus, Jenin, and Tulkarem; the Nablus lockdown lasted for over 100 days. In [[Nazlet 'Issa]], over 60 shops were destroyed by Israeli civil administration [[bulldozer]]s. The Israeli civil administration explained that the shops were [[House demolition|demolished]] because they were built without a permit. Palestinians consider Israeli military curfews and property destruction to constitute [[collective punishment]] against innocent Palestinians.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2680777.stm|work=BBC News|title=Israelis flatten West Bank shops|date=21 January 2003|access-date=4 January 2010|archive-date=19 December 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061219020234/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2680777.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:IDF-Caterpillar-D9N-1133.jpg|thumb|Early Israeli construction of West Bank barrier, 2003]]
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 de facto annexation of Palestinian territory.

Following a 4 October [[Maxim restaurant suicide bombing|suicide bombing in Maxim restaurant]], [[Haifa]], which claimed the lives of 21 Israelis, Israel claimed that Syria and [[Iran]] sponsored the [[Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement|Islamic Jihad]] and [[Hezbollah]], and were responsible for the terrorist attack. The day after the Maxim massacre, [[Israeli Air Force|IAF]] warplanes [[Ain es Saheb airstrike|bombed an alleged former Palestinian training base]] at Ain Saheb, [[Syria]], which had been mostly abandoned since the 1980s. Munitions being stored on the site were destroyed, and a civilian guard was injured.

===2004===
In response to repeated shelling of Israeli communities with [[Qassam rocket]]s and mortar shells from Gaza, the [[Israel Defense Forces|IDF]] operated mainly in [[Rafah]] – to search and destroy [[Gaza Strip smuggling tunnels|smuggling tunnel]]s used by militants to obtain [[weapon]]s, [[ammunition]], fugitives, cigarettes, car parts, electrical goods, foreign currency, gold, [[recreational drug use|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. Israel's official stance is that their houses were captured by militants and were destroyed during battles with IDF forces. Many of these houses are abandoned due to Israeli incursions and later destroyed. 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/campaigns/gaza/|access-date=29 March 2006|title=Razing Rafah: Mass Home Demolitions in the Gaza Strip |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060324012233/http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/gaza/ |archive-date=24 March 2006}}</ref>

On 2 February 2004, Israeli Prime Minister [[Ariel Sharon]] announced his plan to transfer all the [[Israeli settlement|Jewish settlers]] from the [[Gaza Strip]]. The Israeli opposition dismissed his announcement as "media spin", but the [[Labor Party (Israel)|Israeli Labour Party]] said it would support such a move. Sharon's right-wing coalition partners [[National Religious Party]] and [[National Union (Israel)|National Union]] rejected the plan and vowed to quit the government if it were implemented. [[Yossi Beilin]], peace advocate and architect of the [[Oslo Accords]] and the [[Geneva Accord (2003)|Geneva Accord]], also rejected the proposed withdrawal plan. He claimed that withdrawing from the Gaza Strip without a peace agreement would reward [[terrorism|terror]].

Following the declaration of the [[Israel's unilateral disengagement plan|disengagement plan]] by Ariel Sharon and as a response to suicide attacks on [[Israeli Gaza Strip barrier|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 22 March 2004, an Israeli helicopter gunship [[Israeli targeted killings|killed]] Hamas leader Sheikh [[Ahmed Yassin]], along with his two bodyguards and nine bystanders. On 17 April, after several failed attempts by Hamas to commit suicide bombings and a successful one that killed an Israeli policeman, Yassin's successor, [[Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi]], was killed in an almost identical way, along with a bodyguard and his son Mohammed.

The fighting in Gaza Strip escalated severely in May 2004 after several failed attempts to attack [[Israel Defense Forces checkpoint|Israeli checkpoints]] such as [[Israeli Gaza Strip barrier|Erez crossing]] and [[Karni crossing]]. On 2 May, Palestinian militants attacked and [[Murder of Tali Hatuel and her four daughters|shot dead a pregnant woman and her four young daughters]].<ref name=bbc>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3679395.stm|title=Gunmen kill Jewish settler family|work=BBC News|access-date=28 September 2012|date=3 May 2004|archive-date=2 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402201703/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3679395.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=smh20040503>{{cite news |title=Pregnant mum and four children gunned down |url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/03/1083436518982.html |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=3 May 2004 |access-date=2014-09-01 |archive-date=12 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012063112/http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/03/1083436518982.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=ii20040503>{{cite news |last=Silverin |first=Eric |title=Pregnant mum and her four children killed in terror attack |url=http://www.independent.ie/world-news/pregnant-mum-and-her-four-children-killed-in-terror-attack-169946.html |newspaper=[[Irish Independent]] |date=3 May 2004 |access-date=2014-09-01 |archive-date=15 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200315191304/https://www.independent.ie/world-news/pregnant-mum-and-her-four-children-killed-in-terror-attack-25912634.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Amnesty International]] classified it as a [[crime against humanity]] and said it "reiterates its call on all Palestinian armed groups to put an immediate end to the deliberate targeting of Israeli civilians, in Israel and in the Occupied Territories".<ref name=ai-p>{{cite web |title=Israel/Occupied Territories: AI condemns murder of woman and her four daughters by Palestinian gunmen |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/049/2004/en/ |publisher=[[Amnesty International]] |date=4 May 2004 |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-date=22 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122054920/https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/049/2004/en/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Additionally, on 11 and 12 May, Palestinian militants destroyed two IDF [[M113 Armored Personnel Carrier|M-113]] [[Armoured personnel carrier|APCs]], killing 13 soldiers and mutilating their bodies. The IDF launched two raids to recover the bodies, killing 20–40 Palestinians and greatly damaging structures in the Zaitoun neighbourhood in Gaza and in south-west Rafah.
[[File:Flickr - Israel Defense Forces - 40 Kilogram Explosive Found At Bottom of Tunnel.jpg|thumb|150px|Israeli forces uncover a smuggling tunnel in Gaza, May 2004]]
Subsequently, on 18 May the IDF launched [[Operation Rainbow]] with a stated aim of striking the militant infrastructure of Rafah, destroying smuggling tunnels, and stopping a shipment of [[Strela 2|SA-7]] missiles and improved [[anti-tank]] weapons. A total of 41 Palestinian militants and 12 civilians were killed in the operation, and about 45–56 Palestinian structures were demolished. Israeli tanks shelled hundreds of Palestinian protesters approaching their positions, killing 10. The protesters had disregarded Israeli warnings to turn back. This incident led to a worldwide outcry against the operation.

On 29 September, after a [[Qassam rocket]] hit the Israeli town of [[Sderot]] and killed two Israeli children, 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 16 October, after having caused widespread destruction and the deaths of over 100 Palestinians, at least 20 of whom were under the age of sixteen.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/israel/Story/0,2763,1328916,00.html |title=Army pulls back from Gaza leaving 100 Palestinians dead |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=16 October 2004 |first=Chris |last=McGreal |author-link=Chris McGreal |access-date=23 May 2010 |archive-date=26 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326135412/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/oct/16/israel1 |url-status=live }}</ref> The IDF killed thirteen-year-old [[Iman Darweesh Al Hams]] as she strayed into a closed military area; the commander was accused of allegedly firing his automatic weapon at her dead body deliberately to verify the death. The act was investigated by the IDF, but the commander was cleared of all wrongdoing,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=10201|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041204171132/http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=10201|archive-date=4 December 2004|date=3 December 2004 |newspaper=[[The Jewish Week]] |title=Moral Quagmire}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Ben Lynfield |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1126/p07s01-wome.html |date=26 November 2004 |work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |title=Israeli army under fire after killing girl |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-date=13 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070513000508/http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1126/p07s01-wome.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and more recently, was fully vindicated when a Jerusalem district court found the claim to be libellous, ruled that NIS 300,000 be paid by the journalist and TV company responsible for the report, an additional NIS 80,000 to be paid in legal fees and required the journalist and television company to air a correction.<ref>{{cite news |author=Hila Raz |url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/business/does-it-pay-to-sue-for-libel-in-israel-1.261754 |date=20 January 2010 |newspaper=[[Haaretz]] |title=Does it pay to sue for libel in Israel? |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-date=9 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309072837/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/business/does-it-pay-to-sue-for-libel-in-israel-1.261754 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to Palestinian medics, Israeli forces killed at least 62 militants and 42 other Palestinians believed to be civilians.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6520016 |work=Reuters |title=Palestinians sift rubble after Israel's Gaza assault |date=16 October 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050628015144/http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews |archive-date=28 June 2005 }}</ref> According to a count performed by ''[[Haaretz]]'', 87 militants and 42 civilians were killed. Palestinian refugee camps were heavily damaged by the Israeli assault. The IDF announced that at least 12 Qassam launchings had been thwarted and many militants hit during the operation.

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

On 11 November, 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, sending numerous [[Qassam rocket]]s into open fields near [[Nahal Oz]], and hitting a [[kindergarten]] in [[Gush Katif|Kfar Darom]] with an anti-tank missile.

On 9 December five Palestinians 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 travelled 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. Samhadana is believed to be responsible for the [[Improvised explosive device|blast]] against an American diplomatic convoy in Gaza that killed three Americans.

On 10 December, in response to Hamas firing mortar rounds into the Neveh Dekalim settlement in the Gaza Strip and wounding four Israelis (including an 8-year-old boy), Israeli soldiers fired at the Khan Younis refugee camp (the origin of the mortars) killing a seven-year-old girl. An IDF source confirmed troops opened fire at Khan Younis, but said they aimed at Hamas mortar crews.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

The largest attack since the death of Yasser Arafat claimed the lives of five Israeli soldiers on 12 December, 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 organised and coordinated attack. A spokesman, "Abu Majad", claimed responsibility for the attack in the name of the [[Fatah Hawks]] claiming it was in retaliation for "the assassination" of Yasser Arafat, charging he was poisoned by Israel.

===2005===
[[2005 Palestinian presidential election|Palestinian presidential elections]] were held on 9 January, and [[Mahmoud Abbas]] (Abu Mazen) was elected as the president of the PA. His platform was of a peaceful negotiation with Israel and non-violence to achieve Palestinian objectives. Although Abbas called on militants to halt attacks against Israel, he promised them protection from Israeli incursions and did not advocate disarmament by force.

Violence continued in the Gaza Strip, and [[Ariel Sharon]] froze all diplomatic and security contacts with the [[Palestinian National Authority]]. Spokesman Assaf Shariv declared that "Israel informed international leaders today that there will be no meetings with Abbas until he makes a real effort to stop the terror." The freezing of contacts came less than one week after Mahmoud Abbas was elected, and the day before his inauguration. Palestinian negotiator [[Saeb Erekat]], confirming the news, declared "You cannot hold Mahmoud Abbas accountable when he hasn't even been inaugurated yet."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/14/gaza.bombing/ |date=14 January 2005 |title=Sharon suspends contacts with Palestinian Authority |publisher=CNN |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-date=5 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181005004326/http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/14/gaza.bombing/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4176141.stm|date=14 January 2005|title=Israel cuts Palestinian contacts|work=BBC News|access-date=4 January 2010|archive-date=16 March 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060316084259/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4176141.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Gaza Strip Access Restrictions.pdf|thumb|Gaza Strip, with borders and Israeli limited fishing zone]]
Following international pressure and Israeli threat of wide military operation in the [[Gaza Strip]], Abbas ordered [[Preventive Security Force|Palestinian police]] to deploy in the northern Gaza Strip to prevent [[Qassam rocket]] and mortar shelling over Israeli settlement. Although attacks on Israelis did not stop completely, they decreased sharply. On 8 February 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 that also included [[Jordan]] and [[Egypt]] at [[Sharm al-Sheikh]]. However, Hamas and [[Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement|Islamic Jihad]] said the truce is not binding for their members. Israel has not withdrawn its demand to dismantle terrorist infrastructure before moving ahead in the [[Road map for peace]].<ref>{{cite news|date=8 February 2005|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4245353.stm|title=Mid-East leaders announce truce|work=BBC News|access-date=4 January 2010|archive-date=14 June 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614175342/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4245353.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Many warned that truce is fragile, and progress must be done slowly while observing that the truce and quiet are kept. On 9–10 February night, a barrage of 25–50 [[Qassam rocket]]s and [[Mortar (weapon)|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.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4252445.stm|date=10 February 2005|title=Abbas orders security crackdown|work=BBC News|access-date=4 January 2010|archive-date=3 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003014501/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4252445.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> 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 10 February, [[Israeli security forces]] arrested Maharan Omar Shucat Abu Hamis, a Palestinian resident of [[Nablus]], who was about to launch a bus [[suicide attack]] in the [[French Hill (neighborhood)|French Hill]] in [[Jerusalem]].

On 13 February 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. Ismail Haniyah, a senior leader of the group Hamas said that "its position regarding calm will continue unchanged and Israel will bear responsibility for any new violation or aggression."

In the middle of June, Palestinian factions intensified bombardment over the city of [[Sderot]] with improvised [[Qassam rocket]]s. Palestinian attacks resulted in 2 Palestinians and 1 Chinese civilian killed by a Qassam, and 2 Israelis were killed. The wave of attacks lessened support for the [[Israel's unilateral disengagement plan|disengagement plan]] among the Israeli public. Attacks on Israel by the [[Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement|Islamic Jihad]] and the [[al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades]] increased in July, and on 12 July, a [[Suicide attack|suicide bombing]] hit the coastal city of [[Netanya]], killing 5 civilians. On 14 July, Hamas started to shell Israeli settlements inside and outside the [[Gaza Strip]] with dozens of Qassam rockets, killing an Israeli woman. On 15 July, Israel resumed its "targeted killing" policy, killing 7 Hamas militants and bombing about 4 Hamas facilities. The continuation of shelling rockets over Israeli settlements, and street battles between Hamas militants and Palestinian policemen, threatened to shatter the truce agreed in the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit of 2005. The Israeli Defence Force also started to build up armored forces around the Gaza Strip in response to the shelling.

===End of the Second Intifada===
The ending date of the Second Intifada is disputed, as there was no definite event that brought it to an end.<ref name=Schachter>{{cite journal |last=Schachter |first=Jonathan |year=2010 |title=The End of the Second Intifada? |journal=Strategic Assessment |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=63–69 |url=http://www.inss.org.il/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/systemfiles/(FILE)1289897140.pdf |access-date=10 August 2017 |archive-date=8 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408094351/https://www.inss.org.il/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/systemfiles/(FILE)1289897140.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> The general view is that it ended in 2005, while some sources include events and statistics extending as late as 2007.<ref name="Plaw2016" >Avery Plaw,[https://books.google.com/books?id=pIDeCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT112 Targeting Terrorists: A License to Kill?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331022531/https://books.google.com/books?id=pIDeCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT112 |date=31 March 2019 }}, [[Routledge]], 2016 {{ISBN|978-1-317-04671-4}} pp.63ff.</ref>

* Some commentators, such as Sever Plocker,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3558676,00.html |title=2nd Intifada Forgotten |author=Sever Plocker |work=[[Ynetnews]] |date=22 June 2008 |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819220413/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3558676,00.html |archive-date=19 August 2014}}</ref> consider the intifada to have ended in late 2004. With the sickness and then death of Yasser Arafat in November 2004, the Palestinians lost their internationally recognised leader of the previous three decades, after which the intifada lost momentum and led to internal fighting between Palestinian factions (most notably the [[Fatah–Hamas conflict]]), as well as conflict within Fatah itself.
* Israel's unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip, announced in June 2004 and completed in August 2005, is also cited as signalling the end of the intifada, for instance by Ramzy Baroud.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Ruth Tenne |url=http://www.isj.org.uk/index.php4?id=384&issue=116 |journal=[[International Socialism (magazine)|International Socialism]] |title=Rising of the oppressed: the second Intifada |date=Autumn 2007 |issue=116 |access-date=22 May 2009 |archive-date=8 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150108151127/http://www.isj.org.uk/index.php4?id=384&issue=116 |url-status=live}} Review of {{cite book |author=Ramzy Baroud |author2=Kathleen Christison |author3=Bill Christison |author4=Jennifer Loewenstein |title=The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle |publisher=[[Pluto Press]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7453-2547-7}}</ref>
* Some consider 8 February 2005 to be the official end of the Second Intifada, although sporadic violence still continued outside PA control or condonation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zionism-israel.com/his/Israel_timeline_1993_present.htm |title=Timeline (Chronology) of Israel and Zionism 1993–present day |publisher=ZioNation |access-date=13 November 2011 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181608/http://www.zionism-israel.com/his/Israel_timeline_1993_present.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Brad A. Greenberg |date=3 December 2008 |url=https://jewishjournal.com/community/67396/ |title=UC to Reopen Study in Israel |newspaper=[[The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles]] |access-date=13 November 2011 |archive-date=24 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324173006/https://jewishjournal.com/community/67396/ |url-status=live}}</ref> On that day, Abbas and Sharon met at the [[Sharm el-Sheikh Summit of 2005|Sharm el-Sheikh Summit]], where they vowed to end attacks on each other.<ref name=2005ceasefire>{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/02/08/mideast/ |title=Palestinian, Israeli leaders announce cease-fire |last1=Wedeman |first1=Ben |last2=Raz |first2=Guy |last3=Koppel |first3=Andrea |publisher=[[CNN]] |year=2005 |access-date=10 August 2017 |archive-date=12 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012113523/http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/02/08/mideast/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/1482803/Palestinian-ceasefire-ends-four-year-intifada.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/1482803/Palestinian-ceasefire-ends-four-year-intifada.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |title=Palestinian ceasefire ends four-year intifada |first=Inigo |last=Gilmore |date=4 February 2005 |access-date=23 May 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In addition, Sharon agreed to release 900 [[Palestinian prisoners in Israel|Palestinian prisoners]] and withdraw from West Bank towns. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) refused to be parties to the agreement, arguing the cease-fire was the position of the PA only.<ref name=2005ceasefire /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/sustaining-an-israeli-palestinian-ceasefire |title=Sustaining an Israeli-Palestinian Ceasefire|last=Levitt |first=Matthew |publisher=[[The Washington Institute for Near East Policy|The Washington Institute]] |year=2005 |access-date=10 August 2017 |archive-date=10 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810131341/http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/sustaining-an-israeli-palestinian-ceasefire |url-status=live}}</ref> Five days later Abbas reached agreement with the two dissenting organizations to commit to the truce with the proviso that Israeli violation would be met with retaliation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=24111 |title=Hamas, Jihad Commit to Truce Provided Israel Reciprocates [Mechanism to attack Israel if Israel acts] |publisher=Palestine Media Center – PMC [Official PA website] |date=13 February 2005 |access-date=10 August 2017 |archive-date=10 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810132311/http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=24111 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Schachter addressed the difficulties in deciding when the Second Intifada ended. He reasoned that suicide bombing was the best criterion, being arguably the most important element of the violence involved, and that according to this criterion the intifada ended during 2005.<ref name=Schachter />