their economy and their homes. Palestinian militants were executed ("targeted liquidations"), often killing civilian bystanders.Yasser Arafat was effectively imprisoned in his Ramallah compound (the "Mukata'ah").
79 The extreme military and economic pressure did not break the Palestinian population. Even in the most extreme circumstances, they managed to maintain some semblance of normal life and found means to fight back.The suicide bombings
brought the confrontation into the center of Israeli cities.
80 As a response to the attacks, the leaders of the "Zionist Left" demanded a physical barrier between Israel and the Palestinian territories. At first, the "Zionist Right" opposed this "Separation Fence", fearing that it would create a political border in close proximity to the Green Line, but it soon realized that it could exploit the idea of the fence for its own purposes. Ariel Sharon started to build the fence/wall rapidly along a path that cut deep into Palestinian territory, joining the large settlement blocs to Israel and cutting many Palestinian villages off from their lands. In the course of the fight against the fence, the village of Bil'in became the symbol of a stubborn, nonviolent struggle, creating a partnership between Palestinians, Israeli peace activists and international volunteers. Additional Palestinian villages, such a Ni'lin, saw in the fight of Bil'in a model to emulate.
81 After the failure of the Camp David conference and the collapse of the Israeli peace movement, several attempts at furthering the peace process were made. In December 2000, just before leaving office, President Bill Clinton published guidelines that constituted a full and sensible peace plan. In March 2002, the Arab League summit conference in Beirut unanimously accepted the peace proposal initiated by the (then) Saudi Crown Prince, Abdullah. In Israel,too, alternatives to the government policy were proposed. In August 2001, Gush Shalom published a draft peace agreement and in July 2002, the Israeli Ami Ayalon and the Palestinian Sari Nusseibeh published the principles for an agreement. In October 2003, the "Geneva Initiative" was published as the draft of a peace