ABSTRACT
During the 1980s and through the 1990s, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seemed to be approaching peace, instead, went into sharp reverse. Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and January 2006 Palestinian elections brought victory for the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas. A wave of Palestinian terrorist attacks profoundly shook Israeli trust in Yasser Arafat’s intentions and abilities. The Israeli and United States governments hailed this action as an important step toward peace. The Israelis approved the plan despite reservations, which Israeli foreign minister Shlomo Ben Ami called “minor and dealing mainly with security arrangements." On Jerusalem, Israel proposed a special regime for the whole city, but the Palestinians again demanded control over all East Jerusalem. The most detailed evidence of Arafat’s direct involvement in terrorist attacks came from documents taken by Israel during its March 2002 siege of his Ramallah office compound. Palestinian Authority leaders, including Arafat, claimed that Israel had massacred many Palestinians.
