Just as the PLO turned to pragmatism, however, a new organization,
Hamas, headed in the opposite direction,
articulating a vision of an Islamic state in all of historical
Palestine.
Hamas rejected the Oslo Accords and, in a move to scuttle peace talks, initiated a series of suicide attacks against Israeli targets.
Meanwhile, Israel continued to build settlements in the occupied territories, and
the Palestinians imported arms and built up their security forces, in violation of the terms of the Oslo Accords. As a result, talks broke down in 2000 in a wave of frustration and mutual recrimination. Shortly afterward, Likud’s prime ministerial candidate,
Ariel Sharon, visited the Temple Mount in
Jerusalem as an assertion of Israel’s
sovereignty over
Al-Aqṣā Mosque,
Islam’s third holiest site. Rioting broke out, Israeli police responded with lethal force, and unrest quickly spread throughout the occupied territories. The second intifada had begun.