2002 in Israel

The Second Intifada, also called the al-Aqsa Intifada, began in September 2000 and involved unrest in the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria — and Gaza, together with suicide bombings against Israelis.[1] By early 2002, the confrontation had become exceptionally intense: the first quarter saw 173 Israelis killed in attacks and 372 Palestinians killed, with 28 suicide bombings carried out and 11 thwarted.[9] March and April brought a peak in violence, with increasingly frequent Palestinian suicide bombings alongside Israeli incursions into Palestinian towns and villages.[10]

Ariel Sharon governed through a national unity coalition that included Labor and comprised 26 ministers from eight parties.[7] Its eventual divisions involved not only security policy but also settlement expenditure and the allocation of resources to social programs during the recession.[7] Military-service arrangements for Haredi yeshiva students and recognition of non-Orthodox conversions also became important domestic questions during the year.[6][11]

The economic difficulties combined the effects of the conflict with an international slowdown and the collapse of the technology boom.[2] Deteriorating security affected tourism, exports to the Palestinian Authority, investment, and government defense spending.[2] The broader 2001–2003 downturn was described in an academic economic overview as Israel’s most serious recession since its establishment.[12]

Israeli naval commandos departed Eilat on January 2 to intercept the Karine-A, a Gaza-bound vessel monitored since December and carrying Iranian weapons concealed beneath civilian goods.[13] Before dawn on January 3, they boarded the ship without firing and seized 50 tons of weapons, including long-range Katyusha rockets.[13] The interception took place in the Red Sea, roughly 350 miles south of Israel, and the ship reached Eilat on January 4.[14] During the episode, Sharon told American envoy Anthony Zinni: “not to worry about the Karine A. We have it and it is on its way to Eilat.”[14]

The cargo included rockets, mortar bombs, explosives, and ammunition, and the shipment was linked to a reported $15 million Palestinian Authority purchase.[15] The captain said he was a Palestinian Authority employee and had received instructions from Palestinian officials.[15] The United States initially declined to accuse Yasser Arafat of involvement, prompting Israel to share intelligence with American officials.[14]

In February, the Supreme Court ruled that the Interior Ministry had to register as Jewish 24 people who had undergone Reform or Conservative conversions in Israel.[11] The decision concerned the nationality designation on identity cards and did not confer rights to Jewish marriage or burial.[11] Some Knesset members subsequently proposed legislation to circumvent the ruling or eliminate the nationality designation from identity cards.[11]

Terrorist attacks intensified in March.[9] A report published March 5 described a shooting at a Tel Aviv restaurant the previous night that killed three people and a responding policeman and wounded about 35; Fatah claimed responsibility.[16] The same report described a suicide bombing on a bus arriving at Afula’s central bus station from Nazareth, with eight injured and one person killed, apparently the bomber.[16] On March 9, a Hamas bombing at Jerusalem’s Moment Café killed 11 people and injured 54.[4] An Islamic Jihad bombing of an Egged bus at Musmus junction on March 20 killed seven and injured 30.[4]

Diplomatic initiatives proceeded amid the violence.[17][18] On March 12, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1397 by 14 votes to none, with one abstention.[17] It affirmed a vision of Israel and Palestine living side by side within secure and recognized borders, demanded an immediate halt to violence, and called for cooperation on the Tenet work plan and Mitchell Report recommendations to resume negotiations.[17]

On March 27, a Hamas suicide bomber detonated an explosive belt in the Park Hotel dining room in Netanya during a Passover seder attended by 250 guests.[4] The Foreign Ministry timeline records 30 people killed and 140 injured.[4] The bomber and his driver had first sought a crowded target in Herzliya and Tel Aviv before reaching Netanya, rather than selecting the hotel in advance.[19] The attack became the immediate catalyst for Operation Defensive Shield.[10]

At the Arab League summit in Beirut on March 28, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah presented the plan known as the Arab Peace Initiative.[18] Its terms included Israeli withdrawal to pre-1967 lines, including southern Lebanon and the Golan Heights; a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital; a resolution of the refugee question under UN General Assembly Resolution 194; and peace and normal relations between Israel and Arab states.[18] It also specified that Palestinians would not be resettled in other Arab countries.[18]

The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs describes the final initiative as differing from Abdullah’s February proposal, including in its language on relations and refugees.[20] Its account records Foreign Minister Shimon Peres welcoming the Saudi step while arguing that it could not succeed while terrorism continued and objecting to aspects of the summit’s language.[20] It also records President Moshe Katsav inviting Abdullah to Jerusalem and Abdullah ruling out a visit.[20]

On March 29, the Israeli Cabinet approved a wide-ranging operational plan against Palestinian terror infrastructure and authorized reserve mobilization.[21] Approximately 30,000 reservists were called up.[21] The mobilization was Israel’s largest since the 1982 Lebanon war, and the initial planning allowed four weeks for the main objective and four more for follow-up operations.[22] Five IDF divisions deployed in different areas of the Palestinian Authority.[23]

The campaign began in Ramallah, where Israeli forces surrounded Arafat’s Muqata’a headquarters and confined him to the compound.[21] Forces entered Tulkarm and Qalqilya on April 1, Bethlehem on April 2, and Jenin and Nablus on April 3.[10] By April 3, the army had entered six of the West Bank’s largest cities and surrounding communities.[10] The campaign returned Israeli forces to major cities previously under Palestinian civil and security control and resulted in numerous deaths and captures of suspected terrorists.[24] Marwan Barghouti was arrested on April 15, and Israeli forces seized computers and hundreds of Palestinian documents during the campaign.[21]

Jenin became the site of particularly intense fighting after Israeli forces entered the city and adjacent refugee camp on April 3.[10] Fighting lasted about ten days, with phases on April 3–9 and April 10–11; 13 Israeli soldiers died in a single engagement on April 9.[10] A reservist force had been struck by explosives while conducting a security canvass.[25] Much of the camp’s physical destruction occurred during the second phase of the fighting.[10]

The Jenin camp’s hospital had confirmed 52 Palestinian deaths by the end of May, and the UN account recorded 23 Israeli soldiers killed in the fighting.[10] Approximately 150 buildings were destroyed and 450 families made homeless.[10] The camp’s curfew was lifted on April 18.[10] Electricity, cut on the first day, was not restored until April 21, while humanitarian agencies were not permitted to enter the camp until April 15.[10]

Nablus sustained extensive damage, including in its historic old city.[10] Estimates placed Palestinian deaths there at 70–80, including approximately 50 civilians, while four Israeli soldiers were killed.[10] Reconstruction costs for Nablus were estimated at about $114 million.[10]

In Bethlehem, Israeli entry on April 2 was followed by a 37-day standoff at the Church of the Nativity.[10] Israel said Palestinian militants had taken over the church, while the Palestinian Authority said that people including women and children had sought refuge there.[10] Negotiations over those inside continued after the announced end of the main operation, and Israeli forces withdrew from Bethlehem on May 10.[10]

The operation also involved extensive detention and movement restrictions.[8] Approximately 7,000 Palestinians were detained, of whom 5,600 were released after days or weeks without legal action.[8] An order permitted detention for 18 days without access to a lawyer or a court appearance, and approximately 800,000 Palestinians were prevented from leaving their homes for two weeks.[8]

Curfews and closures restricted international personnel and, at times, medical workers, humanitarian staff, human-rights monitors, and journalists.[10] In some places, people experienced shortages of food and medical care and interruptions to utilities.[10] Israel maintained that its policy allowed humanitarian passage and said ambulances had been used to carry combatants and weapons.[10]

For the broader Israeli reoccupation of Area A between March 1 and May 7, a UN agencies’ assessment counted 497 Palestinians killed and approximately 1,447 wounded.[10] Round-the-clock curfews affected about one million people, more than 630,000 of whom were considered vulnerable to food insecurity.[10] The assessment recorded damage to more than 2,800 refugee housing units, 878 homes demolished or destroyed, and $361 million in reconstruction costs for Palestinian Authority civilian infrastructure.[10]

A June 5 attack at Megiddo Junction killed at least 17 people and wounded dozens, many seriously.[26] The Tel Aviv 25 index was down 1.1% that morning at the time of the initial report.[26] On June 18, a Hamas bombing of a Jerusalem bus killed 19 and injured 74.[4] The following day, a bombing at French Hill attributed to the Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades killed seven and injured 30.[4] A Border Guard policeman was injured while trying to stop the attacker at the soldiers’ hitchhiking point.[27]

On July 16, roadside bombs and gunfire struck an armored bus near Emmanuel, with gunmen firing at passengers attempting to leave.[28] The Foreign Ministry timeline records nine killed and 20 injured and identifies Hamas as the apparent perpetrator, although four organizations claimed responsibility.[4] On July 31, a Hamas-planted bomb exploded in a cafeteria at Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus.[4][29] A terrorism overview records nine people killed, including five United States citizens, and 87 wounded.[29]

An Islamic Jihad car bombing beside a bus near Hadera on October 21 killed 14 and injured 50.[4] On November 10, an attack attributed to the Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades killed five people at Kibbutz Metzer, including two children and their mother.[4] Two gunmen attacked near a Likud polling station in Beit She’an on November 28 while party members voted in the leadership primary, killing four Israelis and injuring 25, including 13 seriously; both attackers were killed.[30]

The security barrier developed as a central response to terrorist infiltration.[5] In April, Sharon’s Security Cabinet decided to establish a permanent obstacle in the seam zone and immediate temporary obstacles east of Umm al-Fahm, around Tulkarm, and in Jerusalem.[5] The government approved implementation of the first sections on June 23.[5] The cabinet described the project as a security measure to reduce terrorist infiltration rather than the establishment of a political border.[31]

On August 14, the Security Cabinet approved the proposed first-phase route, described as approximately 118 kilometers: 96 kilometers between Sallem and Elkana and 22.4 kilometers in two sections around Jerusalem.[5] A contemporary description of the seam zone envisaged a strip up to four or five kilometers wide rather than simply a continuous line, with sections near settlements and around Jerusalem.[32] Planning incorporated civilian and political considerations alongside security requirements.[5]

Implementation also drew administrative criticism.[33] A July report quoted the state comptroller’s finding that there was no complete unified plan, necessary components lacked allocated resources, and implementation was only partial.[33] The project involved multiple agencies and required coordinated planning and oversight.[33]

Israel experienced a second consecutive year of economic contraction.[2] The Finance Ministry’s annual report recorded GDP falling 1.0%, GDP per capita 3.1%, industrial output 2.6%, private consumption 0.9%, and fixed-asset investment 8.8%.[2] A later statistical publication estimated the GDP decline at 0.8% and the per-capita decline at 2.8%, with GDP of NIS 491.3 billion and GDP per capita of NIS 74,774 in current prices.[34]

The shekel lost about 18% of its value between the start of the year and July amid increased demand for foreign currency.[12] Consumer prices rose 6.3% in the first half of 2002, exceeding the 2–3% inflation target range.[35] In June, the Bank of Israel raised its policy rate by 4.5 percentage points to 9.1% to curb depreciation and inflation; it reduced the rate by 20 basis points in December.[35] High-tech export recovery began only in the fourth quarter.[12]

An economic review recorded unemployment at 10.1%, with approximately one-third of unemployed people out of work long term.[35] The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs argued that longer-standing macroeconomic policy problems compounded the conflict and global technology downturn.[36] Its November article reported first-quarter unemployment of 10.6% and a 5.3% real decline in average wages between September 2000 and August 2002.[36]

Fiscal pressures provoked repeated political confrontations.[37] In May, the Knesset rejected Finance Minister Silvan Shalom’s emergency economic plan at first reading by 47 votes to 46.[37] Sharon dismissed five Shas ministers and four deputy ministers from Shas and United Torah Judaism who had voted against the government; the religious parties opposed proposed child-allowance cuts.[37] The government introduced an emergency plan in June involving tax increases and spending reductions after falling revenues and an unexpectedly large deficit.[2]

The deficit target was adjusted twice during the year, rising from 1.75% to 3.9% of GDP.[35] The Finance Ministry recorded an actual deficit of 3.8% and year-end government debt of NIS 502 billion, approximately 103% of GDP compared with 96% at the beginning of the year.[2] The proposed 2003 austerity budget envisaged nearly $2 billion in reductions, including defense, welfare, education, and housing cuts.[38] Its welfare provisions were estimated to remove 10,000 people from the 156,000 then receiving welfare and reduce benefits for almost 100,000 more.[38]

On July 15, the Knesset amended Basic Law: The State Economy to require at least 50 members’ support for a private member’s proposal lacking government support if it would cost at least NIS 5 million annually.[39] The legislature also adopted measures concerning subcontracted workers, social-security allowances, and the internal intelligence service.[39]

On July 23, the Knesset approved the Tal Law by 51 votes to 41.[6] It addressed Haredi yeshiva students’ military-service exemptions, allowing deferment until age 22 and then a choice involving vocational training followed by 16 months of military service or a year of civilian national service.[6] It also called for expanded Orthodox IDF units and initially had a five-year duration.[6] The surrounding debate concerned equity in military service, employment, welfare costs, and the place of yeshiva study.[38]

Labor withdrew from Sharon’s national unity government on October 30.[40] Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer had demanded that approximately $150 million intended for settlement expansion be redirected to social spending; Sharon refused, and Labor’s departure left the coalition with 55 members.[7] The disagreement centered on settlement expenditure and the budget rather than primarily on the peace process.[7][41]

Sharon attempted to assemble a replacement coalition of right-wing parties but met little success.[7] On November 5, he asked President Katsav to dissolve the Knesset and call elections within 90 days.[7] The Knesset set January 28, 2003, as election day on November 11.[40]

Security operations continued beyond Defensive Shield’s main campaign.[9] Between April and June, 130 Israelis, including soldiers killed during the operation, and 371 Palestinians were killed; 17 suicide bombings were carried out and 21 thwarted.[9] The subsequent security-control phase, codenamed Determined Path, ran from June 2002 to May 2003 and focused chiefly on preventing terrorism, especially suicide bombings.[9]

American policy also developed during the year.[42] The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs describes President George W. Bush’s June 24 speech as conditioning support for Palestinian statehood on democratic reform, new leadership, and a sustained fight against terrorism.[42] Its account also records calls for Israel to respond to new Palestinian institutions and leaders and withdraw toward positions held before September 28, 2000, as security improved.[42] The speech became a basis for subsequent American work with the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations on the Road Map, published in 2003.[42]

The annual count of 53 suicide bombings included 36 in the first half of 2002, followed by a significant decline; the comparable count fell to 26 in 2003.[3] Arrests, deaths of operatives, disruption of terrorist infrastructure, and improved intelligence opportunities likely contributed, although the effects of Defensive Shield cannot readily be isolated from other developments.[3] Another retrospective series recorded 452 Israelis killed in terrorist attacks in 2002, compared with 214 in 2003 and 100 through October 1, 2004.[43]

Other statistical series employed different categories: one counted 60 successful suicide bombings in 2002, while a human-rights report recorded nearly 226 attacks of various kinds and more than 469 Israelis killed and over 2,498 injured across Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.[8][43] The latter report separately recorded at least 990 Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces in the West Bank and Gaza.[8] These totals concern different categories and geographic scopes rather than a single interchangeable measure.[8][43]

Defensive Shield was followed by continued Israeli operational control rather than a political process or a transfer of control to alternative Palestinian leadership.[9] Its immediate military effect therefore formed part of a longer security campaign.[9] By the end of 2003, the Second Intifada had killed 900 Israelis and injured more than 7,000; attacks continued into 2004 and 2005, although casualties declined.[1]

Jenin generated major disputes over civilian deaths and military conduct.[10] The evidence available to the UN report did not substantiate an early Palestinian Authority claim that about 500 people had been killed in the camp.[10] Among the 52 confirmed Palestinian deaths, Israeli officials estimated 14 civilians, while Human Rights Watch documented 22.[10] Allegations included unlawful killings, human shields, disproportionate force, and denial of medical access; Israel maintained that its troops sought to avoid civilian harm while confronting armed resistance operating among civilians.[10] Humanitarian personnel said access delays endangered wounded and ill people, while Israel cited security concerns including booby-trap clearance.[10]

The barrier’s route and effects likewise prompted significant controversy.[32] Construction involved property confiscation, displacement of Christian and Muslim residents, and restrictions on access to places of worship.[44] Confiscation orders around Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem issued in February drew objections from Muslims and Christians over access and harm to landowners.[44] In 2004, the International Court of Justice ruled that the barrier violated international law, while Israeli judicial review subsequently required changes to portions of its route.[45] Israel’s High Court upheld the security rationale but found that one challenged section imposed disproportionate harm on Palestinian petitioners.[46]

Accounts differ over Karine-A responsibility and cargo estimates.[14][15] Reports also give different Park Hotel casualty totals.[4][8] CIE dates Defensive Shield’s end to April 17, while the UN report gives April 21.[21][10] The Ministry of Defense chronology extends it to May 10.[1] These differences reflect different treatment of withdrawals, continuing sieges, and later operations.[10]