Israel/Palestine

To close this "Roadmap to Peace" chapter, the complete Guardian article on how the cease-fire was broken. The bare bones of it makes quite clear: peace had no chance.





How the truce was broken

Brian Whitaker, Friday August 22, 2003, The Guardian



June



27 Israel and Palestinians agree disengagement deal in Gaza



29 Israeli troops begin Gaza pullback. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Arafat's Fatah faction, including al-Aqsa Martyrs, declare truce



July



2 Israel withdraws from Bethlehem. US announces $30m (£18.8m) aid for West Bank and Gaza



3 Israeli troops shoot dead a militant and block traffic on Gaza's main road, angering Palestinians



5 The Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, meets the Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin for the first time



6 Israeli cabinet decides to release several hundred Palestinian prisoners



9 US approves giving $20m in aid directly to the Palestinian Authority in a move aimed at strengthening Abbas



20 Abbas meets Ariel Sharon



25 Abbas meets George Bush in Washington for the first time



27 Israel agrees to free 210 militants



28 Israeli troops fire teargas and rubber bullets to break up protests against the construction of a huge separation/security barrier in the West Bank



29 Sharon meets Bush in Washington



31 Israel announces plans for 22 new homes at a settlement in Gaza, in defiance of the US



August



2 Al-Aqsa Martyrs threaten to resume attacks after Yasser Arafat has 20 of them detained in Ramallah. Lebanon car bomb kills a Hizbullah member, Ali Hussein Saleh; Hizbullah accuses Israel of involvement



5 Abbas calls off meeting with Sharon, accusing him of dragging his feet



6 Israel releases 336 Palestinian prisoners as a gesture



8 Two Hamas militants and an Israeli soldier killed in Israeli raid on West Bank refugee camp. Two more Palestinians die later in protests



12 Two suicide bombers strike in Israel; one other person killed in each attack



14 Israeli troops kill Mohammed Seder, head of Islamic Jihad's armed wing in Hebron



17 Israelis and Palestinians fail to agree terms for the handover of four West Bank cities to Palestinian security control



19 Suicide bomber on a Jerusalem bus kills at least 20



21 Israel kills Ismail Abu Shanab of Hamas; Islamic Jihad official declares ceasefire over