Editing Second Intifada (section)

==Background==
{{See also|Palestinian political violence|Israeli-occupied territories}}

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

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

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

===Camp David Summit===
From 11 to 25 July 2000, the [[2000 Camp David Summit|Middle East Peace Summit at Camp David]] was held 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]]. The talks ultimately failed with each side blaming the other. There were five principal obstacles to agreement: borders and territorial contiguity, [[Positions on Jerusalem|Jerusalem]] and the [[Temple Mount]], Palestinian refugees and their [[Palestinian right of return|right of return]], Israeli security concerns and Israeli settlements. Disappointment at the situation over the summer led to a significant fracturing of the PLO as many Fatah factions abandoned it to join Hamas and Islamic Jihad.<ref name="Rosen" />

On 13 September 2000, Yasser Arafat and the [[Palestinian Legislative Council]] postponed the planned unilateral declaration of an independent Palestinian state.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0009/10/sm.07.html |title=Palestinian Parliament Expected to Not Declare an Independent Palestinian State |date=10 September 2000 |publisher=CNN |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191541/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0009/10/sm.07.html }}</ref>

===Israeli settlements===
While Peres had limited settlement construction at the request of US Secretary of State, [[Madeleine Albright]],<ref name="Schmemann">{{cite news |author=Schmemann |first=Serge |author-link=Serge Schmemann |date=5 December 1997 |title=In West Bank, 'Time' for Settlements Is Clearly Not 'Out' |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02E3D9133DF936A35751C1A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print |url-status=live |access-date=18 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326135407/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/05/world/in-west-bank-time-for-settlements-is-clearly-not-out.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print |archive-date=26 March 2022}}</ref> Netanyahu continued construction within existing Israeli settlements<ref name=FMEP>{{Cite journal|title=Extraordinary Increase in Settlement Construction as Diplomacy Falters |journal=Settlement Report |publisher=Foundation for Middle East Peace |volume=8 |issue=2 |date=March–April 1998 |url=http://www.fmep.org/reports/archive/vol.-8/no.-2/extraordinary-increase-in-settlement-construction-as-diplomacy-falters |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130414194355/http://www.fmep.org/reports/archive/vol.-8/no.-2/extraordinary-increase-in-settlement-construction-as-diplomacy-falters |archive-date=2013-04-14 }}</ref> and put forward plans for the construction of a new neighbourhood, [[Har Homa]], in [[East Jerusalem]]. However, he fell far short of the Shamir government's 1991–92 level and refrained from building new settlements, although the Oslo agreements stipulated no such ban.<ref name=Schmemann/> Construction of housing units before Oslo, 1991–92: 13,960; after Oslo, 1994–95: 3,840; 1996–1997: 3,570.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fmep.org/settlement_info/settlement-info-and-tables/stats-data/housing-starts-in-israel-the-west-bank-and-gaza-strip-settlements-1990-2003 |title=Housing Starts in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip Settlements*, 1990–2003 |publisher=Foundation for Middle East Peace |access-date=13 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081118071542/http://fmep.org/settlement_info/settlement-info-and-tables/stats-data/housing-starts-in-israel-the-west-bank-and-gaza-strip-settlements-1990-2003 |archive-date=18 November 2008}}</ref>

With the aim of marginalising the settlers' more militant wing, Barak courted moderate settler opinion, securing agreement for the dismantlement of 12 new outposts that had been constructed since the [[Wye River Agreement]] of November 1998,<ref name=Youngs>{{cite web |title=The Middle East Crisis: Camp David, the 'Al-Aqsa Intifada' and the Prospects for the Peace Process|author=Tim Youngs, International Affairs and Defence Section |publisher=[[House of Commons Library]] |date=24 January 2001|access-date=18 December 2007 |url=http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2001/rp01-009.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227143042/http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2001/rp01-009.pdf |archive-date=27 February 2008}}</ref> but the continued expansion of existing settlements with plans for 3,000 new houses in the [[West Bank]] drew strong condemnation from the Palestinian leadership. Though construction within existing settlements was permitted under the Oslo agreements, Palestinian supporters contend that any continued construction was contrary to its spirit,<ref name="Schmemann" /> prejudiced the outcome of final status negotiations, and undermined Palestinian confidence in Barak's desire for peace.<ref name=Youngs />