According to the Israeli NGO Betselem, 668 civilians and 305 Israeli military lost their lives. There were an additional 47 “non-Israelis”. There were 144 suicidal attacks carried out by 161 Palestinians, resulting in 515 deceased and 3,428 injured. Betselem registered 3,329 deceased Palestinians, not including the suicides nor those who suffered accidents when manipulating explosives. There were also 192 Palestinians that died at the hands of the Palestinians themselves. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, a total of 3,891 Palestinians died, 776 of them under 18. The government of Barak blamed Yasser Arafat for the Intifada. After attacks such as the lynching of two soldiers in Ramallah (Oct/12/2000), Barak bombarded empty infrastructures of the Palestinian Authority. In February of 2001, Sharon defeated Barak in the elections. He began a policy of neutralization and detention in the Mukata of Yasser Arafat and destruction of the infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority under Operation Defensive Shield (2002- after the attack at Hotel Park in the night of Pesach).
For Palestinians, the “militarization of protests” moved the agenda of Hamas ahead of the others. Arafat freed the prisoners of Hamas and fostered attacks. The international public opinion supported the Palestinian claims and accused Israel of disproportionate use of violence. After the death of Yasser Arafat (Apr/11/2004), Mahmoud Abbas rejected the militarization and opted for other options to promote his interests. The Al-Aqsa Intifada (2000-2005) destroyed the spirit and perseverance of the Oslo negotiations. Since 1993, the strategy was to “create trust among the parties” to approach common postures to guide towards a final agreement. At present, the dominating spirit is “mistrust”. After Al-Aqsa, regional initiatives began to be considered to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Another dominating vision since then considers that the conflict cannot be solved, but only managed.