2 Timeline

2.1 2000

On September 28, 2000, the Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount (called Har HaBayt in Hebrew, Al-Haram As-Sharif in Arabic) in the Old City of Jerusalem, the holiest site for Judaism, the third holiest site in Islam, and a place of special significance to Christianity.

Palestinians claim East Jerusalem, which Israel unilaterally annexed in 1980, as their capital. Palestinians, the UN and many countries consider East Jerusalem to be part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank or at least disputed, and treat Tel Aviv as the Israeli capital. Israel considers the whole of Jerusalem to be the Israeli capital, and part of Israel.

Sharon's impending visit was officially announced in advance, and prior to it some moderates on both sides protested, because of his controversial political stance and his massive armed bodyguard — over 1,000 strong. He was warned that this could lead to riots but Sharon declared that he went to the site with a message of peace. On the site, he publically proclaimed the area as eternal Israeli territory, reiterating Israel's official policy, according to the Jerusalem Law passed by the Knesset in 1980.

The day after Sharon's visit, large riots broke out around Old Jerusalem; during the riots, several Palestinians were shot dead. One of the deaths, of a 12-year-old boy, Muhammad al-Durrah, was captured on videotape and broadcast around the world. Images of the boy and his father caught in the crossfire, attempting to hide behind a concrete water barrel caused much outrage throughout the world.

On October 12, two Israeli reservists who entered Ramallah were arrested by the PA police. Because the soldiers were dressed in civilian clothes and one was reportedly wearing a Palestinian headdress, they were suspected of belonging to an undercover Israeli assassination squad. An agitated Palestinian mob stormed the police station, beat the soldiers to death, and threw their mutilated bodies into the street. The killings were captured on video and broadcast on TV, outraging Israeli public opinion. [1] [2] [3] [4] In response Israel launched a series of retaliatory air strikes against the Palestinian Authority.

2.2 2001

Ariel Sharon campaigned in the Likud ticket against Labor Party's Ehud Barak and Sharon was elected Israeli prime minister in February, 2001.

On May 7, 2001, the IDF naval commandos captured the vessel Santorini, which sailed in international waters towards Palestinian Authority-controlled Gaza. The ship was laden with weaponry. The Israeli investigation that followed alleged 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 million. The crew were 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 them.

2.3 2002

In January 2002 the IDF Shayetet-13 naval commando captured the Karine A, a large boat carrying weapons from Iran presumably intended to be used by Palestine militants against Israel. It was discovered that top officials in the Palestinian Authority were involved in the smuggling. Israel claims that Yasser Arafat also was involved, a claim accepted by the Bush Administration.

A spate of suicide bombings launched against Israel elicited a military response. A suicide bombing dubbed the Passover Massacre (30 Israeli civilians were killed at Park hotel, Netanya) climaxed a bloody month of April 2002 (more than 130 Israelis, mostly civilians, killed in attacks). Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield. The operation led to the apprehension of many members of militant groups, as well as their weaponry and equipment.

The UN estimated that 497 Palestinians were killed and 1,447 wounded during the IDF reoccupation of Palestinian areas between March 1 through May 7 and in the immediate aftermath. An estimated 70-80 Palestinians, including approximately 50 civilians, were killed in Nablus. Four IDF soldiers were killed there. [5]

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 that surfaced during the IDF's operations in the camp. These allegations were completely disproven, but it remains a sore point.

See main article: The battle in Jenin 2002 for more information about this topic.

In late April 2 to May 10, a stand-off developed between Fatah militants, who sought refuge at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and the IDF. Despite the Code of Conduct demanding respect for holy site s, IDF snipers killed 7 people inside the church and wounded more than 40 people, the vast majority unarmed civilians. 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.

2.4 2003

Following an Israeli intelligence report claiming to prove that Arafat paid $20,000 to Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the USA demanded democratic reforms in the Palestinian Authority, as well the appointment of a prime minister independent of Arafat. Following U.S. pressure, Arafat appointed on March 13, 2003 the moderate Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) as Palestinian prime minister.

Following the appointment of Abu Mazen, the U.S. administration promoted the Road Map for Peace — the Quartet's plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by disbanding militant organizations, ending the Israeli occupation and establishing a democratic and peaceful Palestinian state. The first phase of the plan demanded that the PA suppress terrorist attacks and confiscate illegal weapons. Unable or unwilling to confront militant organizations and risk civil war, Abu Mazen tried to reach a temporary cease-fire agreement with the militant factions and asked them to halt attacks on Israeli civilians.

On May 20, 2003, Israeli naval commandos intercepted another vessel, 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 Hizbollah member.

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. The following month was relatively quiet on the Israeli side although several suicide bombings were committed against Israeli civilians. However, little changed in the everyday lives of Palestinians. Few roadblocks were removed (159 were left in the West Bank alone), and the IDF continued its policy of "targeted killings" (assassinations) in addition to crowd dispersal and demolitions.

One of the more provocative raids was when tanks and APCs invaded a refugee camp outside Nablus, killing four people, two of whom militants. According to Palestinian witnesses, a squad of Israeli police disguised as Palestinian labourers opened fire on Abbedullah Qawasameh as he left a Hebron mosque [6]. YAMAM, the Israeli counter-terrorism police unit which performed the operation, claimed that Qawasemah opened fire on them as they attempted to arrest him.

On August 19, Hamas coordinated a suicide bombing attack on a crowded bus in Jerusalem killing 23 Israelis, including 7 children. Hamas claimed it was a retaliation for the killing of 5 Palestinians (including Hamas leader Abbedullah Qawasameh) earlier in the week. U.S. and Israeli media outlets frequently refer to bus bombings shattering the quiet and bringing an end to the ceasefire but given the higher number of Palestinian deaths at the hands of Israeli forces, Palestinians perceive that these reports reflect a lack of concern for their peace and quiet.

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 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 bulldozers, in what was described by locals as a scene that rivaled a natural disaster. The Israeli civil administration explained that the shops were demolished because they were built without a permit. Palestinians consider Israeli military curfews and property destruction to constitute collective punishment against innocent Palestinians. [7]

Unable to rule effectively under Arafat, Abu Mazen 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 nevessary 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.

Following an October 4 suicide bombing in Maxim restaurant, Haifa, which claimed the lives of 21 Israelis, Israel claimed that Syria and Iran sponsor Islamic Jihad and Hizbullah and were responsible for the terrorist attack. Days after the Maxim massacre, IAF warplanes bombed an alleged terrorist training base at Ein-Saheb, Syria.

2.5 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 have been found and destroyed. [8] Recent 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. Palestinians claim that many houses were destroyed to create a large buffer zone in the city, displacing several hundred people. The entire southern side of the city was completely destroyed, making it very unlikely that an entire portion of a city has been seized by "terrorists" to use as a base for gunfire (as can be seen in satellite photos [9]).

Some residents acknowledge the smuggling tunnels as main factor in the unrest and destruction in Rafah, according to the Israeli newspaper Maariv:

"The Palestinian population around Philadelphi is fed up by the goings-on. Recently, one tunnel was revealed when local residents approached IDF soldiers and told them where it was. In another case, after the IDF soldiers and bulldozers destroyed a tunnel, leaving ruins behind them, some local residents shot the tunnel's owner to death." [10], [11].

Some accounts reflect a more common sentiment. [12] [13] [14].

"Mine is the last home in the street now and it's everything we have.", said Abu Alouf, a resident who has watched her neighbors' houses destroyed one by one. "I have begged them not to destroy it. They know there are no tunnels here but I don't think it is about that at all. Do they really believe that every house in my street had a tunnel under the border?"

"It's not a matter of tunnels or terrorists," said Yusuf Ashair, a man made homeless in Block J. "They want us out of here, they want us to flee. They don't care if it's a school or a house they destroy. They know that if they destroy it all, people will leave."

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

Following the declaration of the disengagement plan by Ariel Sharon and as a response to suicide 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, after several failed attempts by Hamas to avenge Yassin's death, his successor, Abed al-Aziz Rantissi was killed by IDF helicopter gunship strike.

The fighting in Gaza Strip escalated severely in May 2004 after several failed attempts to attack Israeli checkpoints such as Erez crossing and Karni crossing . However, on May 11 and May 12, Palestinian militants destroyed two IDF M-113 APCs, killing 13 soldiers and mutilating their bodies. 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 neigbourhood in Gaza and in south-west Rafah.

Subsquently, on May 18 the IDF launched Operation Rainbow with a stated aim of striking the terror infrastructure of Rafah, destroy smuggling tunnels, and stopping a shipment of SA-7 missiles and improved anti-tank weapons. The operation ended after the IDF killed 40 alleged Palestinian militants and 12 civilians and demolished about 45-56 structures. The great destruction and killing of 10 peaceful protestors led to a worldwide outcry against the operation. See further discussion in Operation Rainbow.

On September 29, after a Qassam rocket hit the 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 October 16 after Israeli forces killed an estimated 104-133 Palestinians, including 62-87 militants and 18-31 children. According to Palestinian medics, Israeli forces killed at least 62 militants and 42 other Palestinians believed to be civilians. [15]. According to a count performed by Haaretz, 87 combatants and 42 non-combatants were killed. Palestinian refugee camps were heavily damaged by the Israeli assault. The IDF announched that at least 12 Qassam launchings had been thwarted and many terrorists hit during the operation. Three Israelis also were killed (1 civilian).

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. See Death of Yasser Arafat for more information.

3 Tactics

The tactics of the two sides in the conflict are largely based upon their resources and goals. Despite the claims of both sides to the contrary, polling consistently shows that a majority of both Palestinians and Israelis agree on the same basic goals: a two state solution, established on the 1967 borders, with at least most of the settlements withdrawn, and a right for Palestinian refugees to return to the new Palestinian state.

3.1 Palestinians

On the Palestinian side, a variety of groups are involved in violence such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. They have waged a high-intensity campaign of guerrilla warfare and terrorism against Israel. Military equipment is mostly imported light arms and homemade weapons, such as hand grenades and explosive belts, assault rifles, and the Qassam rocket. They also have increased use of remote-controlled landmines, a tactic which has become increasingly popular among the poorly armed groups. Car bombs were often used against "lightly hardened" targets such as Israeli armored jeeps and checkpoints.

Palestinian " suicide belt", a vest loaded with explosives, captured by the Israeli police.

The tactic which the Palestinians have become most famous for is the suicide bombing. Conducted as a single or double bombing, suicide bombings are generally conducted against "soft" targets (civilians) or "lightly hardened" targets (such as checkpoints) to try to raise the cost of the war to Israelis and demoralize the Israeli society. Most suicide bombing attacks are targeted against civilians, and conducted on crowded places in Israeli cities, such as public transportation (buses), restaurants and markets.

Contrary to popular belief, most suicide bombers are not religious radicals, nor are they from the most destitute sections of the population - they generally are relatively well off and well educated, and view their action as a sacrifice intended to remedy an injustice. The suicide bombings are not an act of desparation but rather a considered deliberate act characterized as martyrdom. It is this last tactic which has earned them the most international scorn. On March 14, a 10 year old boy was caught carrying a bomb through a checkpoint, and followed ten days later, a mentally deficient 16 year old had been paid to be a suicide bomber. Unlike most suicide bombings, the use of children in the conflict not only earned condemnation from the United States and from human rights groups such as Amnesty International, but also from many Palestinians and much of the Middle East press [16]. The youngest Palestinian suicide bomber was 16 year old Issa Bdeir, a high school student from the village of Al Doha, who shocked his friends and family when he blew himself up in a park in Rishon LeZion, killing a teenage boy and an elderly man.

Palestinian militants have been accused of using ambulances of both the UNRWA and the Red Crescent to transport armed men, suicide bombers, weapons and explosives.[17]

On March 27, 2002, Israel seized an explosive belt from a Red Cresecent ambulance. The vest was detonated in front of TV cameras by an EOD robot.

In May 2004, Israel Defence minister Shaul Mofaz claimed that UNRWA ambulances were used to take the bodies of dead Israeli soldiers in order to prevent the Israel Defense Forces from recovering their dead. [18] Reuters has provided video of healthy armed men entering ambulance with UN markings for transport. UNRWA initially denied that its ambulances carry militants but later reported that the driver was forced to comply with threats from armed men. UNRWA still denies that their ambulances carried body parts of dead Israeli soldiers.

In August 2004, Israel claimed that an advanced explosives-detection device employed by the IDF at the Hawara checkpoint near Nablus discovered a Palestinian ambulance had transported explosive material. [19]

3.2 Israel

On the Israeli side, the advantages of a strong economy and significant financial aid from the United States, in addition to a centralized command, have led to tactics well-suited to the enclosed, urban environment they are frequently fighting in. The Israeli Defense Forces stress the use of equipment that minimizes risk to their soldiers, using such heavily armored equipment as the Merkava tank and various military aircraft including F-16s, drone aircraft and helicopter gunships. Sniper towers are used extensively in the Gaza Strip, and are being increasingly employed in the West Bank. Heavy armored bulldozers, such as the Caterpillar D9, are routinely employed to detonate booby traps and IEDs, and clear houses along the border with Egypt used to fire at Israeli troops, in "buffer zones", and during military operations in the West Bank. Israel has also established the policy of destroying the home of the family of a suicide bomber.

Due to the large number of Palestinians who live in a single home, the large number of homes destroyed, and collateral damage from home demolitions, they have become an increasingly controversial tactic. Families have provided timely information to Israeli forces regarding suicide bombing activities in order to prevent the demolition of their houses, although families who do this risk being executed or otherwise punished for collaboration, either by the Palestinian Authority or extra-judicially by Palestinian militants.

thumb IDF Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer.

With complete ground and air superiority, mass detentions are regularly conducted; at any given time, there are about 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, about half of them held with charges. Various international aid groups, such as Amnesty International, have documented many incidents of the use of torture [20]; Israel denies the routine use of torture. Checkpoints, designed to weed out militants and limit the ability to move weapons around, divide most Palestinian cities and interconnections between cities. Transit across checkpoints generally takes 2-8 hours, depending on the current security situation in Israel. Palestinian metalworking shops and other business facilities suspected by Israel of being used to manufacture weapons are regularly destroyed by airstrikes. The tactic of military "curfew" - long-term lockdown of civilian areas - has been used routinely. Nablus was kept under curfew for over 100 consecutive days, with generally under two hours per day allowed for people to get food or conduct other business.

Although these tactics also have been condemned internationally, Israel insists they are vital to thwart "terrorist attacks" and ensure the security of the Jewish state. Some cite figures, such as those published in Haaretz newsaper, to prove the effectivness of these methods ( Graph 1: Thwarted attacks (yellow) vs successful attacks (red) - Graph 2: Suicide bombing within the "green line" per quarter ).

Israel also pursues a policy of "targeted killings", i.e. the assassination of prominent militant leaders, to single out as a target those involved in perpetrating attacks against Israelis, and to intimidate others from doing the same. This tactic has been condemned by some as unlawful summary execution, while others (such as the United States) see them as a legitimate measure of self defense against "terrorism". Many criticize the "target killing"s for placing civilians at risk, though its supporters believe it reduces civilian casualties on both sides. However, the practice of militant leaders to hide among civilians in densly populated areas, and the usage of helicopter gunships' missiles, is sometimes leading to civilian casualties. Unconfirmed reports claim Israel developed a new missile, designed to reduce civilian casualties and focus the impact only on the target.

4 The West Bank separation barrier

See Israeli West Bank barrier

5 International Involvement

The international community has long taken an involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and this involvement has only increased during the Al-Aqsa Intifada. Israel annually receives 1.2 billion dollars in economic aid and 1.8 billion dollars in military aid from the United States, excluding loan guarantees. Much of this is as a result of the Camp David Accords and the associated peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. The Palestinian Authority generally receives about 100 million dollars in economic aid from the United States, and the Palestinian territories are major humanitarian aid recipients. The conflict has been widely reported in the international press, with a large degree of sympathy for the Palestinians in the Arab world and Europe, and sympathy for the Israelis in United States. As such, it seems only likely that a solution to the conflict will involve 3rd party mediation, either by the United States or the United Nations.

Additionally, private groups have started becoming increasingly involved in the conflict, such as the International Solidarity Movement on the side of the Palestinians, and the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee on the side of the Israelis.

6 Economic and human costs

Some Israelis claim that the Palestinian Authority throughout the intifada has sought to place unarmed men, women, children and the elderly in the line of fire between Israeli forces and armed Palestinians, and that television, radio, sermons, and calls from mosque loudspeaker systems are used for this purpose. (See Engineering civilian casualties in External Links). Palestinians heavily dispute this claim.

In the Palestinian attacks, about 1001 Israelis were killed (up to September 2004 and 6,700 were wounded (source: Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs). The Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group reports everyday disagreements and clashes between the various political factions, families and cities that a complete picture of Palestinian society is painted. These divisions have during the course of the al Aqsa Intifada also led to an increasingly violent ‘Intrafada’. In the 10 year period from 1993 to 2003, 16% of Palestinian civilian deaths were caused by Palestinian groups or individuals[21]. Erika Waak reports in The Humanist Of the total number of Palestinian civilians killed during this period by both Israeli and Palestinian security forces, 16 percent were the victims of Palestinian security forces.[22] Freedom House's annual survey of political rights and civil liberties, Freedom in the World 2001-2002, reports Civil liberties declined due to: shooting deaths of Palestinian civilians by Palestinian security personnel; the summary trial and executions of alleged collaborators by the Palestinian Authority (PA); extra-judicial killings of suspected collaborators my militias; and the apparent official encouragement of Palestinian youth to confront Israeli soldiers, thus placing them directly in harm's way.[23] The Israeli commerce has experienced much hardship, in particular because of the sharp drop in tourism. A representative of Israel's Chamber of Commerce has estimated the economical damage caused by the crisis as "150 to 200 billion Shekels", or 35 to 45 US $ billion - compared to a GDP of 122 billion dollars (2002).

Following statistics of the Palestine Red Crescent Society 2,417 Palestinians were killed and 22,233 were wounded from September 29, 2000, to August 1, 2003. 16 square kilometers of land in the Gaza Strip, most of it agricultural, was razed by Israeli military forces and more than 601 houses were completely destroyed. The UNSCO (Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator in the Occupied Territories) estimates the damage done to the Palestinian economy at over 1.1 billion dollars in the first quarter of 2002, compared to an annual GDP of 4.5 billion dollars. 42% of Gazans are dependent on food aid, and 18% of Gaza children exhibit chronic malnutrition. 85% of Gazans and 58% of Palestinians in the west bank lived below the poverty line.

A study (see below) by the Institute on Combatting Terrorism indicates that nearly 55% of the Palestinians killed were combatants; moreover, the non-combatant Palestinian casualties are mostly male in combatant ages. According to their data, more than 300 Palestinian were killed by action of their own side. Palestinians dispute this, as the report treats most people that were killed as combatants, often much to the dispute of locals and international aid workers. Additionally, to reach these numbers, "combatant age" was defined to include ages 15 and up. Finally, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, this contradicts a calculation, claimed to be conducted by the Shin Bet which determined that of the 2,341 Palestinians killed up to August 2003, only 551 were combatants - about 23%. [24]. However, the assertion of these numbers to the Shin Bet is highly disputed.

On August 24, 2004, Haaretz reporter Zeev Schiff published the casualty figures, based on Shin Bet data. Here is a numerical summary of the figures presented in the article:

• About 1001 Israelis were killed by Palestinian attacks in the al-Aqsa Intifada. Most of them (more than 75%) are civilians.
• Palestinians sources claim that 2,736 Palestinians were killed in the intifada.
• The Shin Bet knows of 2,124 Palestinians killed, and it has their names.
• Out of the 2,124 dead, 1414 were combatants (armed men and\or "terrorists"), this is about two thirds (66%). The number of casualties of each organization:
  • 466 Hamas members were killed.
  • 408 Fatah's Tanzim and al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades were killed.
  • 205 Palestinian Islamic Jihad were killed.
  • 334 of Arafat's guard Force 17 , the Palestinian police and the General Intelligence were killed.

[25]

On September 8, Maariv published that according to IDF casualties figures about 989 Israelis were killed and 6,700 were injured. Of the 989 killed, 694 were civilians and 295 were security personnel. [26]

7 Effects on Oslo Accords

Since the start of the Al-Aqsa Intifada and its emphasis on suicide bombers deliberately targeting civilians riding public transportation ( buses), the Oslo Accords are viewed with increasing disfavor by the Israeli public. In May 2000 , seven years after the Oslo Accords and five months before the start of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, a survey by the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research at the University of Tel Aviv found that: 39% of all Israelis support the Accords and that 32% believe that the Accords will result on peace in the next few years. [27]. By constrast, the May 2004 survey found that 26% of all Israelis support the Accords and 18% believe that the Accords will result on peace in the next few years; decreases of 13% and 16% respectively. Furthermore, the May 2004 survey found that 80% of all Israelis hold that the Israel Defense Forces have succeeded in dealing with the Al-Aqsa Intifada militarily. [28]

8 See also

• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
• Violence against Israel in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004,
• List of massacres committed during the Al-Aqsa Intifada
• Accusations against Israel of war crimes during the Al-Aqsa Intifada

9 External links

9.1 Non-characterized

• Death of an Intifada
• "Days of Rage" - BBC News
• "Sharons Visit" - BBC News
• "Arafat warns of new intifada if peace process collapses" - BBC News Summary from February 1998
• All indexed Human Rights Watch articles concerning Israel and Palestine
• All child casualties in the Al-Aqsa Intifada (both sides)
• Analysis of U.S. media coverage of the middle east - Provided by FAIR.
• Palestinian Military Performance and the 2000 Intifada Middle East Review of International Affairs
• Has Israel beaten the suicide bombers? The Telegraph.

• Institute on Combatting Terrorism - The 'al-Aqsa Intifada' - An Engineered Tragedy
• Analysis: Palestinian suicide attacks - BBC Report

9.2 Pro-Israeli

• Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism since September 2000
• The al-Aksa Intifada
• The Palestinian Uprisings
• Israel War against Terror
• Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (Center for Special Studies - Intelligence Heritage Association)
• Who shot Mohammed al-Dura?
• Engineering civilian casualties (registration required) (reprint free access)

9.2.1 Claims of Palestinian hatred education and child suicide bombers

• Media Watch International: The Use and Abuse of Palestinian Children by the PA
• The Use of Palestinian Children in the Al-Aqsa Intifada by Justus Reid Weiner (1 November 2000)
• Child Abuse in the Palestinian Authority By Justus Weiner (October 2, 2002)
• PA Indoctrination of Children to Seek Heroic Death for Allah
• Palestinian Child Abuse
• Palestinian children in combat support roles. Behavior mirrors teachings in PA schoolbooks and popular culture by Itamar Marcus & Barbara Crook (October 17, 2004)

9.3 Pro-Palestinian

• Map of one possible route for the separation barrier
• If Americans Knew
• Palestinian Center For Human Rights
• Victims of Israeli Violence and Terror since September 2000
• Debunking 6 Common Israeli Myths
• The Palestinian Red Crescent Society - Includes weekly reports of injuries, deaths, military detention of ambulances, and many other statistics.
• Graph of attacks on ambulances (per week)
• Palestine Remembered

Israeli-Palestinian conflict National liberation movements

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