2003 - One more Intifada year

Summary of the most importent events of the year

19.03.2003 - Abbas PM

Mahmoud Abbas appointed Prime Minister.

30.04.2003 - Road Map for peace

The details of the Road map for peace are released. The "road map" for peace is a plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict proposed by a "quartet" of inteational entities: the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations. The principles of the plan were first outlined by U.S. President George W. Bush in a speech on June 24, 2002, in which he called for an independent Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace.

In exchange for statehood, the road map requires the Palestinian Authority to make democratic reforms and abandon the use of terrorism. Israel, for its part, must support and accept the emergence of a reformed Palestinian govement and end settlement activity of the Gaza Strip and West Bank as the Palestinian threat is removed.

The road map comprises three goal-driven phases with the ultimate goal of ending the conflict as early as 2005. However, as a performance-based plan, progress will require and depend upon the good faith efforts of the parties, and their compliance with each of the obligations quartet put the plan together, with amendments following consultations with Israelis and Palestinians:

Phase I (as early as May 2003): End to Palestinian violence; Palestinian political reform; Israeli withdrawal and freeze on settlement expansion; Palestinian elections.

Phase II (as early as June-Dec 2003): Inteational Conference to support Palestinian economic recovery and launch a process, leading to establishment of an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders; revival of multilateral engagement on issues including regional water resources, environment, economic development, refugees, and arms control issues; Arab states restore pre-intifada links to Israel (trade offices, etc.).

21 August 2003 - The assassination of Ismail Abu Shanab