ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the deteriorated conditions in an effort to explain the political explosion that the Al-Aqsa, or Second, Intifada of 2000 was a response to. As the frequency of closure declined during 1998–1999, the Palestinian economy and society began to recover from the deterioration of the first five years of the Oslo process, only to be brought to the point of collapse by the total closures imposed during the Second Intifada. On December 30, 2000, the Palestinian Authority published and distributed its response to the proposal presented orally by Clinton during the Washington talks held earlier that month, after the Camp David summit. A June 24, 2002, speech by George W. Bush marked a departure from the Clinton era's policy in that it effectively endorsed Sharon's abrogation of the Oslo process. A speech by Colin Powell at the University of Louisville on November 11, 2001, was a missed opportunity to move toward a negotiated settlement.
