ABSTRACT
With Arafat’s death in 2004, it was the beginning of the end for the Intifada. Israel had inflicted a crushing defeat on the armed Palestinian resistance and laid siege to most of the urban centres in the West Bank. The former Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, took over as leader of the PLO and disavowed further acts of terrorism and the cession of armed resistance to Israel. Abbas, whose political approach had always been considered more compatible than Arafat’s with both American and Israeli interests, was extended international support as a response to these statements.
