July 11-25, 2000: Camp David Summit - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat meet at Camp David with U.S. President Bill Clinton to try to reach final status agreement. The summit fails largely due to Arafat’s refusal to make any concessions. [4]Oct. 27, 2001: First Rocket Fired from Gaza – Hamas fires the first Palestinian-made rocket, labeled Qassam 1, at Kibbutz Nir-Am in southwest Israel. [5]
In 2001, 249 rockets and mortar shells are fired by Palestinian terrorist groups (245 mortars and 4 rockets). [6]
Nov. 24, 2001: St. Sgt. Barak Madmon from Holon, 26, is killed by a mortar strike while on reserve duty in Kfar Darom.
In 2002, 292 rockets and mortar shells are fired by Palestinian terrorist groups (257 mortars and 35 rockets). [7]
Apr. 30, 2003: Roadmap for Peace Announced - Based upon the principles of the Oslo Accords, the road map calls for reciprocal steps by both sides towards fulfilling security and political obligations. [8]
In 2003, 420 rockets and mortar shells are fired by Palestinian terrorist groups (265 mortars and 155 rockets).[9]
June 28, 2004: Mordechai Yosephus, 49, is killed when a rocket fired by Hamas lands near a kindergarten in Sderot.
June 28, 2004: Afik Ohion Zehavi, 4, is killed when a rocket fired by Hamas lands near his nursery school in Sderot.
Sept. 24, 2004: Tiferet Tratner, 24, is killed in her home by a mortar attack on Neve Dekalim.
Sept. 29, 2004: Yuval Abeva, 2, is killed by a rocket fired by Hamas while playing outside with Dorit (Masarat) Benisian, 2, also killed in the attack. The toddlers were of Ethiopian origin. Twenty others were injured.
Oct. 28, 2004 - Sgt. Michael Chizik, 21, of Tiberias, is killed by a mortar attack on the Morag outpost in Gush Katif in Gaza.
In 2004, 1,157 rockets and mortar shells are fired by Palestinian terrorist groups (876 mortars and 281 rockets). [10]
Jan. 2, 2005 - Nissim Arbiv, 26, of Nissanit, is severely injured by a mortar shell in the Erez industrial zone in northern Gaza. He died from his injuries ten days later.
Jan. 15, 2005: Ayala Haya (Ella) Abukasis, 17, is seriously wounded and rendered brain damaged by the shrapnel from a Qassam rocket attack. Abukasis was hit while falling on her younger brother to protect him from the attack. After remaining on life support a week following the rocket attack, she died on Jan. 21, 2005.
June 7, 2005: Muslah Umran is killed while working in a greenhouse in Ganei Tal.
June 7, 2005: Muhammad Mahmoud Jaroum is killed while working in a greenhouse in Ganei Tal.
June 7, 2005: Bi Shude, 46, is killed while working in a greenhouse in Ganei Tal. Shude was a Chinese national.
July 15, 2005: Dana Gelkowitz, 22, is killed by a rocket fired at Moshav Nativ Ha'asara, just north of the Gaza Strip.
Aug. 2005: Israel’s Unilateral Disengagement from the Gaza Strip - Israel withdraws 9,000 citizens from the Gaza settlements and hands the entire territory over to Palestinian control. [11]
Dec. 14, 2005: Jitladda Tap-arsa, 20, is killed while working in a greenhouse in Ganei Tal. Jitladda was a Thai national.
In 2005, 417 rockets and mortar shells are fired by Palestinian terrorist groups (238 mortars and 179 rockets).[12]
March 2006: Palestinian Parliamentary Elections - Hamas wins the Palestinian parliamentary elections and forms a government. [13]
March 28, 2006: Salam Ziadin and Khalid, 16, a Bedouin father and son, are killed when a Qassam rocket they stumble across in the Nahal Oz area explodes.
Nov. 11, 2006: Fatima Slutzker, 57, is killed when a rocket hits the street where she is walking near the home of Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz.
Nov. 21, 2006: Yaakov Yaakobov, 43, is severely injured while at work in a Sderot poultry processing plant. He died from his wounds on Nov. 22, 2006.
In 2006, 968 rockets and mortar shells are fired by Palestinian terrorist groups (22 mortars and 946 rockets).[14]
May - June 2007: Hamas Conquers Gaza Strip - Hamas and Fatah militias in Gaza wage war against each other, resulting in a Hamas victory and its de facto control over the whole Gaza Strip. [15]
May 21, 2007: Shirel Friedman, 32, is killed when standing near a car that was struck by a rocket in Sderot.
May 27, 2007: Oshri Oz, 36, is killed in Sderot when a rocket hits his vehicle as he is driving in the city where he worked as a computer technician. He lived in Hod HaSharon, near Tel Aviv, and commuted everyday to Sderot.
May 2007 - Jan. 2008: Increased shelling of southern Israel - After Hamas’s violent takeover of the Gaza Strip, rocket and mortar fire from Palestinian terrorist groups increases dramatically. Terror groups launched an average of 285 rockets every month in this period -- more than one rocket every three hours. [16]
Nov. 27, 2007: Annapolis Conference - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas sign a joint statement in Annapolis, Md. to lay the groundwork for peace talks and a final peace agreement by the end of 2008. [17]
In 2007, 2,312 rockets and mortar shells are fired by Palestinian terrorist groups (1,263 mortars and 1,049 rockets). [18]
Jan. 9-11, 2008: President George W. Bush’s Visit to Israel - President Bush embarks on a tour of a number of Middle East countries, starting with Israel, to advance peace the negotiations initiated at the Annapolis conference in Nov. 2007.
Israel continues to move forward with its peace agenda, attempting to reach a two-state solution through negotiated agreement with the Palestinian Authority.
Speaking at the Herzliya Conference earlier this month, Olmert explained that “[t]here are endless arguments why not to invest in the attempt [for peace], why the chances are slim, why the dangers are great. I am aware of this. I am familiar with these arguments, excuses and interpretations – and yet, I am fully determined to continue ahead. We have no other way but to conduct peace talks. We have no more promising horizon of hope than the chance to hold dialogue with the present Palestinian leadership.” [19]
*Source for all listed fatalities from rocket and mortar fire within Israel and in the former Israeli settlements in Gaza: “Rocket threat from the Gaza Strip, 2000-2007” - Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Dec. 2007 - http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/rocket_threat_e.pdf
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