About Jewishness

21st century

May 24, 2000 Israel unilaterally withdraws its remaining forces from its security zone in southern Lebanon to the international border, fully complying with the UN Security Council Res. 425.
The first UNIFIL troops arrived in Lebanon on March 23, 1978, just four days after the resolution was passed. Israel withdrew its forces by June. Later, Israel expanded its occupation in a larger-scale invasion in June 1982, in which Israeli troops occupied the capital city of Beirut. Other major attacks within Lebanon took place in July 1993 and April 1996 .
In May 2000, more than 22 years after resolution 425 was passed, Israel withdrew its troops from southern Lebanon. Prior to the withdrawal, opposition voices inside Israel pressured the government to withdraw from Lebanon, as they saw no valid reason to stay there and sustain Lebanese attacks.
The UN Secretary-General concluded that, as of June 16, 2000, Israel had indeed withdrawn its forces from Lebanon, in accordance with resolution 425 (1978). The border recognized by the UN is known as the "Blue Line".
Lebanon, however, claims that Israel is still keeping Lebanese land under its occupation, mainly in Shebaa Farms. Israel says, and the UN agrees, that Shebaa Farms is Syrian and not Lebanese, and therefore it is not included under resolution 425.
Lebanon has not extended control over south Lebanon, though it was called on to do so by UN Resolution 1391 of 2002 and urged by UN Resolution 1496 of 2003. Israel has lodged multiple complaints regarding Lebanon's conduct.

2000 July Camp David Summit
The Middle East Peace Summit at Camp David of July 2000 took place between United States Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. It was an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to negotiate a "final status settlement" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
On July 11, the Camp David 2000 Summit convened. The summit ended on July 25, without an agreement being reached. At its conclusion, a Trilateral Statement was issued defining the agreed principles to guide future negotiations.

2000-2005 Al Aqsa Intifida (Second Intifada)
2000, September 29 The al-Aqsa Intifada begins. The Second Intifada was a period of intensified Palestinian-Israeli violence, which began in late September 2000. "Al-Aqsa" is the name of a prominent Muslim mosque, constructed in the 8th century CE at the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, a location considered the holiest site in Judaism and third holiest in Islam. "Intifada" is an Arabic word that literally translates into English as "shaking off". The death toll, including both military and civilian, is estimated to be 5,500 Palestinians and over 1,000 Israelis, as well as 64 foreign citizens.

2001 Election of Ariel Sharon as Israel's Prime Minister
It was the third and last Prime Ministerial election (separate elections were scrapped before the next Knesset elections in 2003), and the only one which was not held alongside simultaneous Knesset elections. After winning the election, Sharon needed to form a government in the Knesset. However, because there had been no Knesset elections, Labour remained the largest party.
The result was a involving eight parties; Labour, Likud, Shas, the Centre Party, the National Religious Party, United Torah Judaism, Yisrael BaAliyah, the National Union and Yisrael Beiteinu. The government initially had 26 ministers, though this later rose to 29.

2005 August The Government of Israel withdraws its military forces and Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip
In February 2005, the Israeli government voted to implement a unilateral disengagement plan from the Gaza Strip. The plan began to be implemented on 15 August 2005, and was completed on 12 September 2005. Under the plan, all Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip (and four in the West Bank) and the joint Israeli-Palestinian Erez Industrial Zone were dismantled with the removal of all 9,000 Israeli settlers (most of them in the Gush Katif settlement area in the Strip's southwest) and military bases. On 12 September 2005 the Israeli cabinet formally declared an end to Israeli military rule in the Gaza Strip. To avoid any allegation that it was still in occupation of any part of the Gaza Strip, Israel also withdrew from the Philadelphi Route, which is a narrow strip adjacent to the Strip's border with Egypt, after Egypt's agreement to secure its side of the border.

2005 December Prime Minister Ariel Sharon falls into a coma; Deputy Premier Ehud Olmert takes over as Acting Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon (born Ariel Scheinermann) (27 February 1928) is an Israeli general and politician, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He is currently still in a permanent vegetative state after suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006.
A commander in the Israeli Army since its inception in 1948, Sharon participated in the 1948 War of Independence, 1956 Suez War, Six-Day War of 1967, and the Yom-Kippur War of 1973. After retiring from the army, Sharon joined the right-wing Likud party, and served in a number of ministerial posts in Likud-led governments in 1977-1992 and 1996-1999. He became the leader of the Likud in 2000, and served as Israel’s Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006.
During his long military and political career, Sharon was considered a controversial and polarizing figure. In 1983 a found that Sharon as Minister of Defense during bore personal but indirect responsibility for the massacre by Lebanese militias of Palestinian civilians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila. In 1970s, 1980s and 1990s Sharon championed construction of Israeli settlements in the and Gaza Strip. However, as Prime Minister, in 2004-2005 Sharon orchestrated Israel's unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Facing stiff opposition to this policy within the Likud, in November 2005 he left Likud to form a new party. In January 2006 Sharon suffered a major stroke that left him in a persistent vegetative state.

2006 March - Ehud Olmert leads the Kadima party to victory in Israeli elections, becomes Prime Minister of Israel
After the election, the government was formed by the Kadima, Labour, Shas, and Gil parties, with the Yisrael Beiteinu party joining the government later. The Prime Minister was Ehud Olmert, leader of Kadima, who had been the acting prime minister going into the election.

Israeli Merkava IV's prior to evening launch into Southern Lebanon, on the last day of the war

2006 July-August. Second Lebanon War
The 2006 Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War and known in Lebanon as the July War and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War was a 34-day military conflict in Lebanon and northern Israel. The principal parties were Hezbollah paramilitary forces and the Israeli military. The conflict started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, though it formally ended on 8 September 2006 when Israel lifted its naval blockade of Lebanon.
The conflict began when Hezbollah militants fired at Israeli border towns as a diversion for an anti-tank missile attack on two armored Humvees patrolling the Israeli side of the border fence. Of the seven Israeli soldiers in the two jeeps, two were wounded, five were killed, and two soldiers were taken to Lebanon. Eight more were killed in a failed Israeli rescue attempt. Israel responded with massive airstrikes and artillery fire on targets in Lebanon that damaged Lebanese civilian infrastructure, including Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport (which Israel alleged that Hezbollah used to import weapons and supplies), an air and naval blockade, and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah then launched more rockets into northern Israel and engaged the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in guerrilla warfare from hardened positions.
The conflict killed at least one and a half thousand people, mostly Lebanese civilians, severely damaged Lebanese civil infrastructure, and displaced approximately one million Lebanese and 300,000–500,000 Israelis, although most of the latter were able to return to their homes. After the ceasefire, some parts of southern Lebanon remained uninhabitable due to Israeli unexploded cluster bomblets.
On 11 August 2006, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved UN Resolution 1701 in an effort to end the hostilities. The resolution, which was approved by both Lebanese and Israeli governments the following days, called for disarmament of Hezbollah, for withdrawal of Israel from Lebanon, and for the deployment of Lebanese soldiers and an enlarged United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) force in southern Lebanon. UNIFIL was given an expanded mandate, including the ability to use force to ensure that their area of operations wasn't used for hostile activities, and to resist attempts by force to prevent them from discharging their duties. The Lebanese army began deploying in southern Lebanon on 17 August 2006. The blockade was lifted on 8 September 2006. On 1 October 2006, most Israeli troops withdrew from Lebanon, though the last of the troops continue to occupy the border-straddling village of Ghajar. In the time since the enactment of UNSCR 1701 both the Lebanese government and UNIFIL have stated that they will not disarm Hezbollah. The remains of the two captured soldiers, whose fates were unknown, were returned to Israel on 16 July 2008 as part of a prisoner exchange.

2008 Israel-Hamas ceasefire
The 2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire was a twenty six week Egyptian-brokered truce between Hamas and Israel which started on June 19, 2008 and lasted until December 19, 2008. It is part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, more specifically of the Gaza–Israel conflict, and began on the midst of the 2007-2008 Israel-Gaza conflict. The collapse of the ceasefire led to the Gaza War on December 27, 2008.

2008, December 18, One day before the expiration of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Hamas confirmed the end of the ceasefire, and indicated its refusal to renew it absent an Israeli commitment to abide by its conditions. Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli cities and towns resumed with Israel having fully sealed Gaza's borders since November 4 2008.

Operation Cast Lead, Gaza - Airstrike January 9, 2009

2008-2008 Operation Cast Lead (Gaza War)
The Gaza War was a three-week military conflict that took place in the Gaza Strip during the winter of 2008–2009. Palestinian representatives and individuals, among others, described it as a "war on the Palestinian people," however in Israel, the public believed that their army "works hard to spare civilians", the war was seen as just by the Jewish population, an act of self-defence in face of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel. Arab Israelis strongly opposed the attacks. Hamas military leadership saw the fighting with Israel in context of: "the final battle" with "an offense against God". It was dubbed Operation Cast Lead (Mivtza Oferet Yetzuka) and defined as a military operation against Hamas by the Israeli government. It was referred to as the War in the South in Israeli media coverage while the Arab world's titled it a war on Gaza. It has also been called the Gaza massacre in the Arab world.
Following previous winter Israel Defense Forces military campaign in the Gaza Strip, on 19 December 2008 a fragile six-month Israel-Hamas ceasefire was set to expire. Following Israel's violation of the ceasefire on November 4,2008, there were sporadic violent clashes along the Israeli-Gaza border for the following two months, as well as a stepping up of the blockade of Gaza, which had been in place since June 2007, when Hamas took control over the Gaza Strip. On 18 December, with a surge in cross-border fighting, Hamas confirmed the end of the ceasefire, and indicated its refusal to renew it absent an Israeli commitment to abide by its conditions. Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli cities and towns resumed with Israel having fully sealed Gaza's borders since November 4. On 27 December Israel began a wave of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip with the stated aim of stopping the rocket attacks from and arms smuggling into the territory, damaging or destroying tens of thousands of homes, 15 of Gaza’s 27 hospitals and 43 of its 110 primary health care facilities, 800 water wells, 186 greenhouses, and nearly all of its 10,000 family farms; leaving 50,000 homeless, 400,000-500,000 without running water, one million without electricity, and resulting in acute food shortages. Hamas' armed wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, and the armed wings of other Palestinian factions, intensified rocket and mortar attacks against Israel, reaching major Israeli cities Beersheba and Ashdod for the first time, and hitting civilian targets including a schoolhouse, a kindergarten and private homes. According to HRW, during the Gaza War, rocket attacks placed up to 800,000 people within range of attack. An Israeli ground invasion began on January 3, 2009.
The war ended on January 18, when Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire, followed by Hamas' announcing a one-week ceasefire twelve hours later. Israel completed its withdrawal on January 21.
Between 1,166 and 1,417 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed, and tens of thousands of people were left homeless. In 2009, the United Nations Mine Action Centre reported that a further 12 people have been killed and 27 injured in the Gaza Strip by unexploded ordnance since the ceasefire.
A UN mission headed by Judge Richard Goldstone was established in April 2009 and produced a report in September 2009, accusing both Palestinian militants and Israeli Defence Forces of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, and recommending bringing those responsible to justice. In October 2009 the UN Human Rights Council endorsed the report by 25 votes for, 6 against and 16 abstentions/failures to vote. Against Goldstone's recommendations, the Council singled out Israel exclusively for reprimand without any mention of Hamas.

2009 March Benjamin Netanyahu becomes Prime Minister of Israel (also, continues as the Chairman of the Likud Party)
Elections for the 18th Knesset were held in Israel on 10 February 2009. These elections became necessary due to the resignation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as leader of the Kadima party, and the failure of his successor, Tzipi Livni, to form a coalition government. Had Olmert remained in office or had Livni formed a coalition government, the elections would have been scheduled for 2010 instead.
On 16 March 2009, Netanyahu signed a coalition agreement with Yisrael Beitenu. Following an extension of the coalition negotiation deadline from 20 March to 3 April 2009, he then signed a coalition agreement with Shas on 22 March 2009, and on 24 March 2009 he secured the support of the Labour Party, with Labor's central committee approving the deal by 680 votes to 507. However, large parts of the party remained sceptical, accusing Ehud Barak of only being interested in his own benefits under the deal. On 25 March, the Jewish Home also joined the coalition.
On 30 March, in accordance with the Israeli , Netanyahu informed Peres and acting Knesset speaker, Michael Eitan, that he was able to form a government and the Knesset was set to convene on 31 March 2009, in order to vote on the government in a "Vote of Confidence" and to be sworn in thereafter. The country's 32nd government was approved that day by a majority of 69 lawmakers, with United Torah Judaism joined the following day, expanding the coalition to 74 MKs.