Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

280 • INTIFADAMount, a place known to the Muslims as the Haram al Sharif andconsidered the third-holiest shrine in Islam. This second uprisingconvulsed those parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in whichIsraeli troops or settlements were still present but has also involvedsuicide bombings within Israel proper and also the firing of Qassamrockets from Palestinian-controlled areas into Israel proper. Theseverity of this violence included Israeli air strikes, using rocketsfired from helicopters, against al Fatah offices and led to a collapseof peace negotiations between the Palestinian Authority under YasirArafat and the Labor government of Israeli Prime Minister EhudBarak. In turn, this may have contributed to the 6 February 2001prime ministerial election victory of Likud candidate Ariel Sharon.A number of events, including attacks by Palestinians on Israelimilitary and civilian targets, as well as Israeli counterattacks and specialoperations, took place during the period 2000–2006, while severalpolitical changes occurred among both the Palestinians and the Israelis.On 7 May 2001 IDF naval specialists captured the ship Santorini,filled with arms worth $10 million supposedly bought for the PalestinianAuthority (PA) and destined for Gaza. A suicide bombing on 27March 2002, killing 30 Israeli civilians at a Passover meal at the ParkHotel in Netanya, led to IDF reoccupation of Palestinian territoriesduring Operation Defensive Shield from March through May 2002.Severe restrictions on Palestinian travel from the occupied territoriesinto Israel proper reduced the levels of civilian deaths due to suicideattacks. By June 2003 Hamas and Islamic Jihad of Palestine declareda temporary cease-fire of 45 days. Although violence decreased, suicidebombings against Israeli civilians and Israeli operations againstsuspected militants continued. On 2 February 2004 Prime MinisterSharon declared a plan to withdraw all Jewish settlers unilaterallyfrom the Gaza Strip, but Palestinian attacks on Israeli military targetsas well as Qassam rocket attacks from the Rafah area of Gaza againstthe neighboring Israeli town of Sderot actually increased throughoutthe remainder of 2004.Following the election of Mahmoud Abbas as president of the PalestinianAuthority on 9 January 2005, a mutual truce was negotiatedbetween the PA and Israel at the Sharm el Sheikh Summit betweenAbbas and Ariel Sharon on 8 February 2005. On 13 February 2005Abbas attempted to induce the leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad ofPalestine to abide by this truce.