ALAKSA INTIFADA

WidespreadPalestiniananti-Israel violence and terrorism that began in late September 2000 and continued sporadically, resulting in thousands of deaths on both sides. The reference to Al-Aksa was appropriated by the Palestinians and their international supporters to imply that the violence was provoked by a brief visit to the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem's old city— the site of theAl-Aksa Mosqueand the Dome of the Rock—by thenLikudleaderAriel Sharonon 28 September 2000. This alleged causal connection, however, was explicitly repudiated in the report prepared by the international committee headed by former U.S. senator George Mitchell. TheMitchell Committee Report(issued on 21 May 2001) also repudiated the image of the post-September 2000 violence and terror as a spontaneous, grassroots popular Palestinian expression of frustration with the continuing Israeli occupation and the lack of diplomatic progress, as had been the case with the originalintifadathat began in December 1987. The evidence, supported by the public acknowledgment of key Palestinian actors, includingFatah-TanzimleaderMarwan Barghoutiand formerPalestinian Authoritycommunications minister Imad Falouji, overwhelmingly demonstrated that the Al-Aksa intifada was a premeditated reaction by the Palestinian leadership to the failure of talks atCamp David, Maryland, in July 2000 involvingYasser Arafat, Israel's prime ministerEhud Barak, and U.S.presidentWilliam J. (Bill)Clinton. Arafat's strategic goal was to use the threat of daily violence and terrorism against Israeli civilians to pressure them to demand that their government make territorial concessions to the Palestinians — concessions beyond the offer made at Camp David by Barak—and at no political cost to the Palestinians (in terms of Arafat's having to sign an "end of conflict" agreement with the Israelis).

Also distinguishing the Al-Aksa intifada from the first intifada was the widespread use ofsuicide bombersas an increasingly popular weapon of terror against Israeli civilian targets by such Islamic militant groups asHamasandPalestinian Islamic Jihad, as well as by radical elements of Arafat's ostensibly secular Fatah, such as theAl-Aksa Martyrs Brigades.

Arafat's death on 11 November 2004 and the succession ofMah-moud Abbas(Abu Mazen), who from the outset had distinguished himself among Palestinian leaders by consistently criticizing what he termed the "militarization" of the Palestinian struggle against Israel, changed the terms of reference of the Al-Aksa intifada. This fact was reflected in the cease-fire understandings agreed to by Abbas and Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon atSharm el-Sheikh,Egypt, on 8 February 2005. Nevertheless, sporadic Palestinian violence and terror associated with the Al-Aksa intifada continued.

See alsoArab-Israeli Conflict.