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Twenty-Year Scars of the Second Intifada

(Foundation for Defense of Democracies) Shany Mor - 20 years ago, on the first night of Passover 2002, the most infamous suicide bombing in Israel took place. That night, and the weeks that followed, marked a dramatic turning point in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians which still dictates the contours of the conflict today. Options for a political settlement that might have existed before, disappeared into a new reality. In March 2002 alone, more than 100 Israelis were killed in suicide bombings; hundreds more were injured. Sitting at a cafe, riding a bus, walking through an outdoor market became imbued with a feeling of danger. When Israel responded, protests against Israel erupted in all the major Western capitals, though there were few, if any, protests against the Palestinian suicide bombings. The European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution calling for sanctions against Israel. International media coverage of the operation was overwhelmingly negative. The 1993 Oslo Accords were pitched to Israelis with a promise that they would improve security. And if that first promise remained unfulfilled - even after Israel recognized the PLO and carried out the withdrawals from Gaza and the West Bank as called for in the Agreements - then the whole world would see who the bad guys really were and stand by Israel. Neither promise was realized and this left deep scars on the Israeli psyche. An enormous skepticism emerged about peace with the Palestinians. Moreover, the broad center of Israeli politics no longer is moved by expectations of global support. The writer, an Adjunct Fellow at FDD, is a former Director for Foreign Policy at Israel's National Security Council.
2022-07-07 00:00:00
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