Ariel Sharon’s 2000 visit linked to start of Second Intifada — Jerusalem Post
In Israel, on September 28, 2000, then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon entered the Temple Mount and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, accompanied by 2,000 Israel Defense Forces personnel and special forces units. The Jerusalem Post links this visit to the start of the Palestinian uprising known as the Second Intifada.
Casualties during the uprising
According to the publication, during the events of 2000–2004, more than 1,000 Israelis and between 2,000 and 5,000 Palestinians were killed. More than 50,000 others were injured. The attacks included suicide bombings, shootings, stabbings, and vehicle-ramming attacks.
The publication notes that the absence of a security barrier separating the West Bank from the rest of Israel was linked to the large number of suicide attacks. According to The Jerusalem Post, this prompted the construction of the barrier and checkpoints for Palestinians. According to Israel Defense Forces estimates, the barrier was one of the key factors in reducing attacks on civilians: suicide attacks virtually ceased, while stabbings and shootings outside the West Bank also decreased.
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Official end in 2005
The Jerusalem Post identifies February 2005 as the official end of the Second Intifada. At that time, Ariel Sharon, who became prime minister in March 2001, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas agreed at a summit in Sharm el-Sheikh to end all acts of violence.
Deadliest attacks
Among the deadliest attacks of that period, the publication mentions the bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria in central Jerusalem on August 9, 2001. Fifteen people were killed, most of them children, and more than 100 were injured. Ahlam Tamimi, whom an Israeli court sentenced to 16 life terms in 2003, was released in 2011 as part of the deal to secure the release of Israeli serviceman Gilad Shalit from Hamas captivity.
The article also names the bombing at the Park Hotel in Netanya on March 27, 2002, when 30 people were killed and more than 140 were injured, and the attack on the Dolphinarium disco in Tel Aviv on June 1, 2001, which claimed 21 lives. Among attacks in Haifa, it mentions the bombing at the Matza restaurant, where 15 people were killed, and the bombing of bus No. 37, which killed 17 people.
