1990-2000 1990 Yasser Arafat addressed the UN Security Council In Geneva demanding UN emergency force to provide international protection for the Palestinian people to safeguard their lives, properties and holy places. 1991 The first comprehensive peace talks between Israel and delegations representing the Palestinians and neighboring Arab states 1993 Israel deported 415 Palestinian men to a buffer zone in southern Lebanon. The deported Palestinians were said by Israeli authorities to be active members of the militant Islamic resistance movement Hamas. 1993 Aftersecret negotiations, PM Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed an historic peace agreement. Israel agreed to allow for Palestinian self-rule, first in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho, and later in other areas of the West Bank. Feb 1994 An American-born Jewish settler in Hebron, Baruch Goldstein, opened fire in al-Haran al-ebrahime crowded mosque, killing 29 Muslims and wounding 150 more. May 1994 In Cairo - Egypt, Yasser Arafat, and Yitzhak Rabin, signed the final version of the Declaration of Principles. Within 24 hours of the signing, Israeli military forces were scheduled to leave the Gaza Strip and Jericho. July 1994 Yasser Arafat returned to Palestine. Oct 1994 The Nobel Committee in Oslo, Norway, announced that the peace prize was being awarded to Israel's Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and to Yasser Arafat. Jan. 1995 Martyr bombs kills 19 in Israel. April 1995 Six killed in Gaza Martyr bombing. July 1995 Martyr bomb in Tel Avivi. Aug. 1995 Martyr bomber kills five in Jerusalem. Sept. 1995 Israeli and PLO officials meeting in Taba, Egypt, finalized agreement on the second stage of eventual Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian lands. Special arrangements were agreed upon for Hebron, where Israeli soldiers will remain to protect the 450 Jewish settlers living there. Nov. 1995 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated in Tel Aviv by a right-wing extremist. Jan. 1996 PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat elected Presendant of the Palestinian National Authority. June 1996 Right-wing Likud Party leader, Benjamin Netanyahu become the new Prime Minister of Israel. June 1996 Arab summit discuss the new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's peace plans. Dec. 1996 Israeli authorities release plans to expand the Jewish settlements in Arab east Jerusalem, which causes outrage among Palestinians. Jan. 1997 Israel and the Palestinian Authority reached an agreement for an Israeli redeployment from the West Bank city of Hebron. Oct. 1997 Sheik Ahmed Yassin (61-year-old) founder of the militant Islamic group Hamas was released from Israeli prison, as part of a prisoner swap touched off by a failed Israeli assassination attempt in Amman, the capital of Jordan. Oct. 1998 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat signed at peace-for-land agreement at the conclusion of negotiations in the U.S. the agreement calls for Israel to relinquish control of portions of the West Bank in return for active measures to be taken by Palestinians against terrorism. Nov.1998 Palestinian President Yasser Arafat inaugurated Gaza International Airport. Dec. 1998 President Clinton stood witness as hundreds of Palestinian leaders renounced a call for the destruction of Israel. Clinton urged "legitimate rights for Palestinians, real security for Israel." May 1999 Winning a crushing victory over hard-line Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak promised to forge a secure peace with the Palestinians, pull troops out of Lebanon in a year and heal the deep divisions among Israelis. Sep. 1999 An agreement has been reached with Israel concerning the release of Palestinian prisoners. Such release was a major point of contention in negotiations concerning the implementation of the Wye River peace accord. Oct.1999 Israel and the Palestinians agreed to establish the first open land link between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip so-called "safe passage". Mar.2000 Kissing Palestinian earth and warmly welcomed byYasser Arafat, Pope John Paul II made a prayerful pilgrimage to the town of Jesus' birth. -------------------------------------------------------------- 2000 - Al-Aqsa Intifada fire 11.07.2000 - Camp David 2000 Summit The Middle East Peace Summit at Camp David of July 2000 took place between United States President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. It was an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to negotiate a "final status settlement" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. President Clinton announced his invitation to Barak and Arafat on July 5, 2000, to come to Camp David to continue their negotiations on the Middle East peace process. Building on the positive steps towards peace of the earlier 1978 Camp David Accords where President Jimmy Carter was able to broker a peace agreement between Egypt, represented by President Anwar Sadat, and Israel represented by Prime Minister Menachem Begin. The Oslo Accords of 1993 between the later assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian Liberation Organisation Chairman Yasser Arafat had provided that agreement should be reached on all outstanding issues between the Palestinians and Israeli sides - the so-called final status settlement - within five years of the implementation of Palestinian autonomy. However, the interim process put in place under Oslo had not fulfilled Palestinian expectations. On July 11, the Camp David 2000 Summit convened. The summit ended on July 25, without an agreement being reached. 28.09.2000 - Al-Aqsa Intifada On September 28, 2000 the Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon, with a Likud party delegation, and surrounded by hundreds of Israeli riot police, visited the mosque compound of the Al-Haram Al-Sharif (Temple Mount) in the Old City of Jerusalem. The mosque compound is the first Qibla of Muslims and the third holiest site in Islam. It also contains the area for the most holy site in Judaism. The pretext for Sharon's visit of the mosque compound was to check complaints by Israeli archeologists that Muslim religious authorities had vandalized archeological remains beneath the surface of the mount during the conversion of the presumed Solomon's Stables area into a mosque. A group of Palestinian dignitaries came to protest the visit, as did three Arab Knesset Members. With the dignitaries watching from a safe distance.Palestinians saw Sharon's visit as an assault on the Al-Aqsa Mosque. For this reason, the whole conflict is known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada. On September 29, 2000, the day after Sharon's visit, following Friday prayers, large uprising broke out around Old Jerusalem during which several Palestinian demonstrators were shot dead. Already in the same day, the September 29, 2000, demonstrations broke out in the West Bank. In the days that followed, demonstrations erupted all over the West Bank and Gaza. -------------------------------------------------------------- 2001 - First year of Intifada 21.01.2001 - Taba Summit The Taba summit also known as the permanent status talks at Taba between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, held from January 21 to January 27, 2001 at Taba in the Sinai peninsula, were peace talks aimed at reaching the "final status" negotiations to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The summit came closer to reaching a final settlement than any previous or subsequent peace talks yet ultimately failed to achieve its goals The summit took place against the backdrop of the failed Camp David 2000 Summit between Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak and the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, and a Palestinian Intifada that commenced against Israel. The Palestinians asserted that the visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque by the Likud leader Ariel Sharon sparked the Al-Aqsa Intifada in September of 2000. For US President Bill Clinton, the peace diplomacy culminating at the Taba Summit was a final attempt to win an important political victory before he was to leave office and with expected changes of policy expected with the inauguration of President George W. Bush on January 20, 2001. 06.02.2001 - Ariel Sharoh PM On February 6, 2001, Ariel Sharon was elected as the new prime minister of Israel, and he refused to meet in person with the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. 27.08.2001 - The assassination of Abu Ali Mustafa Abu Ali Mustafa, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is assassinated by an Israeli missile shot by an Apache helicopter through his office window in Ramallah. Abu Ali Mustafa was born in 1938, in the northern West Bank town of Arraba, the son of a farmer. In September 1999 he returned to the West Bank under a deal struck between Yasser Arafat and Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Barak. In July 2000 he was elected as the new general secretary of the PFLP after Habash retired. He was killed in a targeted assassination by two rockets fired from an Israeli helicopter as he sat at his desk in Ramallah on August 27, 2001. Over 50,000 mourners attended his funeral. At the time, he was the most senior Palestinian political leader to have been killed by Israel. The PFLP subsequently renamed their armed wing in the Occupied Palestinian Territories the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades. He was succeeded as Secretary General by Ahmad Saadat. ----------------------------------------------------------- 2002 - The daily Intifada March 2002 - Saudi Peace Initiative Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia proposed a Saudi peace initiative in March 2002 that formally changed the Arab world’s position on Israel. The proposal, endorsed by the Arab League, asked Israel to withdraw to the 1949 borders and establish an independent and sovereign state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital. It stipulated that displaced refugees should either be allowed to return to their homes or be compensated for their loss of property. In return, the Arab states would consider the Arab-Israeli conflict over, sign comprehensive peace treaties with Israel, and normalize relations. The proposal was received with skepticism by Israel and had little practical effect. ---------------------------------------------- 13.03.2002 - U.N. Resolution 1397 The U.S. pushes through the passage of U.N. Resolution 1397 by the Security Council, demanding an "immediate cessation of all acts of violence" and "affirming a vision of a region where two states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side within secure and recognized borders". 14.03.2002 - Ramallah under attack Israeli forces continue the raid on Ramallah and other West Bank towns. A helicopter attack near Tulkarm kills Mutasen Hammad and two bystanders. A bomb in Gaza City destroys an Israeli tank which was escorting settlers, killing 3 soldiers and wounding 2. A taxi in Tulkarm explodes, killing 4 Palestinians. Palestinians execute two accused collaborators in Bethlehem, planning to hang one of the corpses near the Church of the Nativity until Palestinian police stop them. 29.03.2002 - Palestinian cities under attack Israeli forces begin Operation Defensive Shield, Israel's largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War. Within twenty-four hours, the Israel Defense Forces had issued emergency call-up notices for 30,000 reserve soldiers, the largest such call-up since the 1982 Lebanon War. The stated goals of the operation as claimed by Israelgovernment (as conveyed to the Israeli Knesset by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on April 8, 2002) were to "enter cities and villages which have become havens for terrorists; to catch and arrest terrorists and, primarily, their dispatchers and those who finance and support them; to confiscate weapons intended to be used against Israeli citizens; to expose and destroy terrorist facilities and explosives, laboratories, weapons production factories and secret installations. The orders are clear: target and paralyze anyone who takes up weapons and tries to oppose our troops, resists them or endanger them - and to avoid harming the civilian population." By April 3, the IDF was conducting major military operations in all Palestinian cities with the exception of Hebron and Jericho. The major points of conflict were, Bethlehem, Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah. During the operation, strict curfews were placed on at least six major Palestinian cities, resulting in complaints by human rights groups that essential medical attention was being denied to sick and elderly Palestinians, as well as complaints that Israel was practicing collective punishment, which is prohibited under the Fourth Geneva Convention. In some cities, there were scheduled breaks in the curfews. In others, curfews continued uninterrupted for a week or more. Throughout the two weeks of fighting in Jenin and for a few days afterward, the city and its refugee camp were under curfew. The city of Bethlehem and its environs remained under curfew for five weeks, though there were periodic breaks, until an impasse involving Palestinian gunmen who had held hostage the clergy in the Church of the Nativity was resolved. Most of the armed Palestinians in the Church of the Nativity agreed to go to the Gaza Strip. The rest were exiled to Cyprus. Notable events were the battle of Jenin and the siege of Yasser Arafat's compound. 02.04.2002 - Church of the Nativity siege Israeli troops occupy Bethlehem. Dozens of armed Palestinian gunmen, occupy the Church of the Nativity and hold the church and its clergy. 200 Palestinians, including 50 armed militants, broke into it for 39 days. They were seeking refuge from an Israeli Defense Force incursion into Bethlehem. Israeli army snipers killed seven armed militants and wounded more than 40 people during the siege. A fire was started inside the church. Following extensive negotiations, the Israeli army lifted the siege on condition that 13 of the Palestinian militants be deported to Cyprus and another 26 transferred to the Gaza Strip. 12.04.2002 - Jenine refugee camp massacre The Battle of Jenin took place in April 2002 in Jenin's Palestinian refugee camp as part of Operation Defensive Shield, a large-scale military operation conducted by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), the largest conducted in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War. The battle attracted widespread international attention because journalists, particularly in the UK, reported that a massacre of Palestinians had taken place during the fighting, and that hundreds, or even thousands, of bodies had been secretly buried in mass graves by the IDF. The United Nations (UN) report said that the number of Palestinians killed was at least 52, 22 of whom were civilians, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). 23 Israeli soldiers were killed. A section of the camp was destroyed during the fighting. June 2002 - Israeli apartheid separation wall Israel begins construction of the West Bank Wall. The Israeli West Bank barrier is a physical barrier being constructed by Israel consisting of a network of fences with vehicle-barrier trenches surrounded by an on average 60 meters wide exclusion area (90%) and up to 8 meters high concrete walls (10%). It is located within the West Bank. The barrier is a very controversial project. Opponents claim the barrier (i) is an illegal attempt to annex Palestinian land under the guise of security (ii) violates international law (iii) has the intent or effect to pre-empt final status negotiations and (iv) severely restricts Palestinians who live nearby, particularly their ability to travel freely within the West Bank and to access work in Israel, thereby undermining their economy. 22.07.2002 - The assassination of Salah Shahade IDF assissinated a top Hamas leader Salah Shahade, 14 others were also killed in the missile strike on the appartment building, including 9 children. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2003 - One more Intifada year Mahmoud Abbas appointed Prime Minister. ------------------ 30.04.2003 - Road Map for peace The details of the Road map for peace are released. The "road map" for peace is a plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict proposed by a "quartet" of international entities: the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations. The principles of the plan were first outlined by U.S. President George W. Bush in a speech on June 24, 2002, in which he called for an independent Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace. In exchange for statehood, the road map requires the Palestinian Authority to make democratic reforms and abandon the use of terrorism. Israel, for its part, must support and accept the emergence of a reformed Palestinian government and end settlement activity of the Gaza Strip and West Bank as the Palestinian threat is removed. The road map comprises three goal-driven phases with the ultimate goal of ending the conflict as early as 2005. However, as a performance-based plan, progress will require and depend upon the good faith efforts of the parties, and their compliance with each of the obligations quartet put the plan together, with amendments following consultations with Israelis and Palestinians: Phase I (as early as May 2003): End to Palestinian violence; Palestinian political reform; Israeli withdrawal and freeze on settlement expansion; Palestinian elections. Phase II (as early as June-Dec 2003): International Conference to support Palestinian economic recovery and launch a process, leading to establishment of an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders; revival of multilateral engagement on issues including regional water resources, environment, economic development, refugees, and arms control issues; Arab states restore pre-intifada links to Israel (trade offices, etc.). ------------------------------------------------- 02.06.2003 - Eqypt summit A two-day summit is held in Egypt. Arab leaders announce their support for the road map and promised to work on cutting off funding to terrorist groups. 21 August 2003 - The assassination of Ismail Abu Shanab Five Israeli missiles incinerated Ismail Abu Shanab in Gaza City on 21 August 2003, killing one of the most powerful voices for peace in Hamas and destroying the ceasefire. Israeli helicopters struck the car carrying the third most senior Hamas leader. The missiles also buried a seven-week ceasefire already strained by Israeli killings of Islamic militants and retaliatory bombings, and threw the US-led road map to peace deeper into crisis. Hamas declared an immediate end to the truce and vowed a bloody revenge for the death of Abu Shanab, who was married with 11 children. ---------------------------------------- 06.09.2003 - Abbas resigns as PM Mahmoud Abbas resigns from the post of Prime Minister. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2004 - Lossing leaders Summary of the most importent events of the year 21:3.2004 - The assassination of Shaik Ahmed Yassin Ahmad Yassin was assassinated in an Israeli helicopter missile strike on 21 March 2004. Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles at Hamas' spiritual leader, Shaikh Ahmed Yassin, as he left a mosque after performing the Monday dawn prayers, killing the Hamas leader and six other worshippers. A reporter who rushed to the scene after hearing three loud explosions found the blown-up remains of Yassin's blood-soaked wheel-chair. Witnesses at the mosque said Yassin's body had been evacuated to Al-Shifa Hospital. ------------------------------- 17.04.2004 - The assassination of Abdul Azziz al-Rantisi Rantisi was assassinated in an Israeli helicopter missile strike, as he returned from a visit to his family on 17 April 2004. Hundreds of thousands of citizens, including prominent political figures, participated in the funeral procession of Hamas leader, Dr. Abdel Aziz Al Rantisi, and two of his bodyguards. The body of the Hamas leader, who was extra-judicially executed yesterday night, was taken to the Al Omari Grand Mosque in the heart of Gaza City, where his body would be prayed on and sent to his final resting place. During the procession, which started from the leader's home at the Al Sheikh Redwan suburb, citizens chanted slogans demanding revenge to Al Rantisi's killing and condemning the continuous Israeli military aggressions against the Palestinian people, as billowing banners of the different factions appeared throughout the procession. The funeral procession witnessed also a massive attendance of representatives of national and Islamic factions, who expressed the unity of the Palestinian stance in the face of the Israeli conspiracies, asserting that the resistance would continue despite the Israeli strikes. -------------------------------------- 06.06.2004 - Marwan Al-Barghouthi jailed for life On 06 Jun 2004, An Israeli court Sunday jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Al-Barghouthi for life for resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestine but he said his people's statehood quest would not be broken. Al-Barghouthi, who denied involvement in actual resistance to the Israeli occupation of his country, received another 20 years for attempted murder and a further 20 for activity in a resistance group that Israelis and their supporters call "terrorist" group - 165 years in total - in a high-profile case that Palestinians denounced as a show trial. The articulate Palestinian lawmaker, Marwan Al-Barghouthi, did not recognize the jurisdiction of the Israeli occupation court. ---------------------------------- 15.08.2004 - Palestinian prisoners hunger strike Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails of Sabe', Nafha, Hadarim and Shatta started an open-ended hunger strike on Sunday 15 August 2004. They are to be joined by prisoners of the rest of Israeli jails on Wednesday 18 August 2004. On 22 August 2004 Among the unwavering attempts by the Israeli prisoners’ service to break the open hunger strike the Palestinian prisoners are embarking on for the eight day in row, the Al Ramlah and Hasharoon female prisons were brutally attacked by the Israeli jailers and as the personal belongings of the detainees were seized in the notorious Israeli desert jail of Nafha. The prisoners further threatened that they would even refrain from taking medicines in the case the Israeli prisons authority went ahead with the atrocious and racist measures against the striking prisoners. On 26 August 2004 As the Palestinian political prisoners' open-ended hunger strike entered the 12th day, the Israeli occupation Prison Service used coercive measures by against the hunger-strikers, including threats, psychological and physical pressures. On 29 August 2004 Aisha Al-Zaban, 55, died after suffering a severe heart attack a two days ago in Nablus City. Family members said that Aisha was participating in sit-ins organized by families of prisoners at the tent pitched for that purpose in downtown Nablus. Aisha is a mother of two; Ammar, who is serving 26 life sentences in Israeli jails, and Bashar, who was killed in 1994. On 02 September 2004 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli occupation jails have effectively ended an 18-day-old hunger strike after most of their demands for better conditions were met. ------------------------------------------------- 16.10.2004 - North Gaza Strip under attack Israel officially ended a 17-day military operation, named Operation Days of Penitence, in the northern Gaza Strip. Operation Days of Penitence conducted between September 30, 2004 and October 15, 2004. The operation, focused on the town of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia and Jabalia refugee camp, which were used as launching sites of Qassam rockets on the Israeli town of Sderot and Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip. The operation resulted in the deaths of between 104 and 133 Palestinians (42 civilians), and 5 people on the Israeli side (2 soldiers and 3 civillians). During this attack the Israeli military killed between 104 and 133 Palestinians, including 62-87 militants and 18-31 civilians; demolished 77 houses and damaged hundreds more; damaged public facilities, including schools, kindergartens and mosques, and destroyed farmland. The attack resulted in a proposed resolution of the U.N. Security Council condemning the Israeli action, calling for Israeli withdrawal and respect for human rights of Palestinians. The resolution was vetoed by the United States on October 5 who criticized it from ignoring terrorism against Israelis. Over the weekend of October 17, the Israeli military announced that its troops withdrew from the Jabalia refugee camp and other populated areas and redeployed to positions nearby and proclaimed the attack a success, with a warning that the troops would return if the rocket attacks resume. --------------------------------------------- 11.11.2004 - Yasser Arafat Died Yasser Arafat dies at the age of 75 in a hospital near Paris, after undergoing urgent medical treatment since October 29, 2004. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2005 - New leadership Summary of the most importent events of the year 08.02.2005 - Sharm el-Shaik summit On February 02, 2005, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has accepted an invitation to a summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Egypt next week. At the summit on February 08, 2005, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday proclaimed a formal end to fighting with Israel after more than four years of bloodshed. -------------------------------------- 12.09.2005 - Gaza disengagement plan completed Completion of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan. Israel removes all Jewish settlements, many Bedouin communities, and military equipment from the Gaza Strip. Although there is no permanent Israeli presence or jurisdiction in Gaza anymore, Israel retains control of certain elements (such as airspace, borders and ports), leading to a ongoing dispute as to whether or not Gaza is "occupied" or not. --------------------------------------------------------- 2006 - Hamas in the government Summary of the most importent events of the year 25.01.2006 - Hamas won the Legislative election Hamas wins by landslide the majority of seats after the Palestinian legislative election, 2006. Israel, the United States, European Union, and several European and Western countries cut off their aid to the Palestinians; as they view the Islamist political party who rejects Israel's right to exist as a terrorist organization. ------------------------------------------------------- 09.06.2006 - The killing of 7 family members on Gaza beach Following the Gaza beach blast, in which seven members of one family and one other Palestinian were killed on a Gaza beach, the armed wing of Hamas calls off its 16-month-old truce. Israel claims it was shelling 250m away from the family's location; Palestinians claimed that the explosion was Israeli responsibility. ------------------------------------------------ .06.2006 - 2006 Israel-Gaza confilicat After crossing the border from the Gaza Strip into Israel, Palestinian militants attack an Israeli army post. The militants kidnapped Gilad Shalit, killed two IDF soldiers and wounded four others. Israel launches Operation Summer Rains. Israel mobilized thousands of troops in order to suppress Qassam rocket fire against its civilian population and to secure the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit. It is estimated that between 7,000 and 9,000 heavy Israeli artillery shells have been fired into Gaza since September 2005, killing 80 Palestinians in 6 months. The Palestinians say the assault is aimed at toppling the democratically elected Hamas-led government and at destabilizing the Palestinian National Authority, citing the targeting of civilian infrastructure such as a power station and the captures of government and parliament members. ----------------------------------------------------- 12.07.2006 - Lebanon war 2006 Hezbollah infiltrates Israel in a cross-border raid, kidnaps two soldiers and kills three others. Israel attempts to rescue the kidnapped, and five more soldiers are killed. Israel's military responds, and the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict begins. ----------------------------------------------------------- 01.11.2006 - 09.11.2006 Beit Hanoun Massacre 01.11.2006 The town of Beit Hanoun has been under the very tight control of a large force of tanks and troops who have ordered the tens of thousands of local people to stay off the streets for all but very brief periods. The Israelis destroyed Beit Hanoun, they destroyed the infrastructure, cut the water pipes and the telephone lines. Hundreds of men have been rounded up and questioned, and some have been taken away to Israel. The entire town of Beit Hanoun remains under Israeli control and troops have ordered residents to stay indoors. 03.11.2006 Two women have been killed as Israeli troops opened fire on a crowd of women gathered to help besieged gunmen flee a mosque in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. In the dramatic mosque rescue, Hamas radio issued an appeal to local women when a tense stand-off developed between Israeli forces surrounding the Mosque and up to 15 militants who had taken refuge inside. The Israeli occupation forces were firing heavily at women with their machine guns. The women entered the mosque and indeed we got all the resistance men out. 07.11.2006 Israel's army says it has pulled out of the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, after a six-day operation targeting rocket-firing militants. Witnesses confirmed Israeli troops had left. The army says it has taken up positions in surrounding areas. Some 60 Palestinians, majority of civilians, were killed. 08.11.2006 At least 18 Palestinians have been killed and 40 wounded by Israeli tank fire in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. Palestinian officials said a barrage of tank shells hit civilian homes, and women and children were among the dead. Palestinian hospital officials said 13 of the dead belonged to the same family, and two of them were women and six were children. TV footage from Beit Hanoun showed the victims being taken to hospital in their sleeping clothes, some with terrible injuries. Sources counted about eight impacts. They confirmed that the shells appear to have landed roughly in a straight line, starting in the fields at the end of the street and hitting houses on either side of it. 09.11.2006 Tens of thousands of Gazans were set to march at mass funerals for 18 people killed by Israeli shelling, an event Palestinians said would be marked in history as a "Black Day" of massacre. The bodies of the dead were expected to be picked up from hospital morgues at mid-morning for a traditional march through the streets and then to mosques. Militants frequently accompany corteges, firing weapons into the air. 11.11.2006 The United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning an Israeli attack in Gaza that killed 18 Palestinian civilians and urging a quick withdrawal of Israeli forces from the area. Nine of the council's 15 members voted for the measure, while four abstained: Britain, Denmark, Japan and Slovakia. FINISH
Please name one well-recognized, internationally-renowned historian that calls them "martyr bombers". Would have been an interesting account of the region's history if it didn't completely gloss over arab invasions, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and oppression, but it's pretty clear now you never intended for this to be an objective history lesson in the first place.
Seems a better starting point would have been just before WWI, rather than 1990, a whole lot of relevant missing history with a starting point of 1990. The other point is that Israel has gone the route of trading land for Peace, the only problem is that the Arabs won't settle for Peace unless Israel gives up all the land.
But that didn't seem to have anything to do with the point of this thread. The point of this thread seems to be a justification of the Arabs of Palestine aka Palestinains, throwing the Jews out of Israel.
Still not reading any reliable news sources are you. Israel's Withdrawal from Gaza : NPR August 24, 2005 The historic Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip has ended, but new challenges have just begun for the Palestinians who will now settle ... http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4797062 - Seems that Israel with drew from the Gaza Strip and completed that on August 24, 2005. But what did it get them?, barrage after barrage of rockets and mortars, and attacks and kidnapping of Israel patrols and soldiers. Just maybe, just maybe, if the the Arabs in Gaza had not shot up Israel, after the with drawl, Israel just might have been more amenable to further with drawls? Do you think? ps: if you don't think the Jews haven't given up Land for Peace, just look up what they were suppose to have under the The Balfour Declaration, and original Palestinian Mandate.
