Five misassumptions about the second intifada
Five assumptions that shaped the Israeli and Palestinian narratives at the time of the second intifada, have been proven wrong by history, but continue to guide the two people's public opinion.
This week marks thirteen years since the eruption of the Second Intifada, which is often attributed to Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount as leader of the Opposition. Riots broke out, leaving four Palestinians dead and hundreds more wounded. The rest is history.
More than 4,000 Palestinians were killed during the course of the Second Intifada. Another 1,100 Israelis died in terrorist attacks. The wounded on both sides numbered in the tens of thousands. If there had been the slightest bit of trust between Israelis and the Palestinian before the embarrassing Camp David debacle, if there had been the slightest hint of hope for coexistence and a resolution to the conflict, it was eliminated in one fell swoop in late September 2000.
Dozens of books were written about these events in the ensuing years, and hundreds of studies were conducted. These raised an endless amount of assumptions as to the cause of the second Intifada, the people responsible for it, and the forces behind it, inciting it over the years.
Obviously, each side prefers to adopt those claims that absolve it of responsibility and present it as a victim. Most of the narratives that were adopted and developed led leaders on both sides to make decisions that proved to be mistaken in so many of the studies. The fact is that instead of stopping the terrible bloodshed, they only made it worse.
