XI. The Al-Aqsa Intifada and the End of an Era in Palestinian Politics
28 September 2000 to 25 January 2006
With the collapse of Israeli–Palestinian negotiations, a second intifada finally erupts in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Palestinian militants resort to military operations and suicide bombings, and Israel responds with harsh repression, invasion of most of the West Bank, and construction of a separation wall. International pressures for reform mount on Yasir Arafat who dies in 2004 under ambiguous circumstances and is succeeded by Mahmoud Abbas. Israel withdraws its Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip and redeploys its army around the Strip; both measures give Israel an improved capacity to escalate and besiege.