July 6, 2022 | State of Tel Aviv

War Has Consequences: 20-Year Scars of The Second Intifada

July 6, 2022 | State of Tel Aviv

War Has Consequences: 20-Year Scars of The Second Intifada

Excerpt

For most Jews, Passover means a festive meal, a Seder (or two) with family and close friends, eating matzah and retelling the story of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery into freedom.

For many Israeli Jews, however, reflections on the holiday this year turned to memories considerably more recent, and less hopeful.

It was twenty years ago, on the first night of Passover 2002, that 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. The reverberations of that time still dictate the contours of the conflict today.

The months leading up to Passover 2002 were the bloodiest Israelis had experienced on the home front since the 1948 war. A quirk in the domestic political situation also gave the government a lot of breathing room to pursue its strategic patience. The right-wing Ariel Sharon had been directly elected as PM in a stunning landslide in 2001 (63-37%), but without a new parliament being elected. It was the only such election held in Israel’s history under an electoral law that has since been cancelled.

Shany Mor is an Adjunct Fellow at FDD, a Fellow at the Institute for Liberty & Responsibility at Reichman University and a former Director for Foreign Policy on Israel’s National Security Council. Follow him on Twitter at @ShMMor. FDD is a nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

Issues:

Israel Palestinian Politics