Events in the year 2000 in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Incumbents

President of Israel The president of the State of Israel ( he, נְשִׂיא מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Nesi Medinat Yisra'el, or he, נְשִׂיא הַמְדִינָה, Nesi HaMedina, President of the State) is the head of state of Israel. The posi ...

–

Ezer Weizman Ezer Weizman (; he, עֵזֶר וַיצְמָן ''Ezer Vaytsman''; 15 June 1924 – 24 April 2005) was the seventh President of Israel, first elected in 1993 and re-elected in 1998. Before the presidency, Weizman was commander of the Israeli Ai ...

to July 13,

Avraham Burg Avraham "Avrum" Burg ( he, אברהם בורג; born 19 January 1955) is an Israeli author, politician and businessman. He was a member of the Knesset, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Speaker of the Knesset, and Interim President of Is ...

acting president July 13 to August 1,

Moshe Katsav Moshe Katsav ( he, מֹשֶׁה קַצָּב; born 5 December 1945) is an Israeli former politician who was the eighth President of Israel from 2000 to 2007. He was also a leading Likud member of the Israeli Knesset and a minister in its cabine ...

from August 1 *

Prime Minister of Israel The prime minister of Israel ( he, רֹאשׁ הַמֶּמְשָׁלָה, Rosh HaMemshala, Head of the Government, Hebrew acronym: he2, רה״מ; ar, رئيس الحكومة, ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief exec ...

–

Ehud Barak Ehud Barak ( he-a, אֵהוּד בָּרָק, Ehud_barak.ogg, link=yes, born Ehud Brog; 12 February 1942) is an Israeli general and politician who served as the tenth prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until Ja ...

* President of the Supreme Court –

Aharon Barak Aharon Barak ( he, אהרן ברק; born Erik Brick, 16 September 1936) is an Israeli lawyer and jurist who served as President of the Supreme Court of Israel from 1995 to 2006. Prior to this, Barak served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of I ...

Chief of General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) is a post in many armed forces ( militaries), the head of the military staff. List * Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (United States) * Chief of the General Staff (Abkhazia) * Chief of General Staff (Af ...

–

Shaul Mofaz Shaul Mofaz ( he, שאול מופז; 4 November 1948) is a retired Israeli military officer and politician. He joined the Israel Defense Forces in 1966 and served in the Paratroopers Brigade. He fought in the Six-Day War, Yom Kippur War, 1982 L ...

Government of Israel The Cabinet of Israel (officially: he, ממשלת ישראל ''Memshelet Yisrael'') exercises executive authority in the State of Israel. It consists of ministers who are chosen and led by the prime minister. The composition of the governm ...

– 28th Government of Israel

Events

January

* January 3–10 – Shepherdstown Summit: Israel and Syria hold peace talks in

Shepherdstown, West Virginia Shepherdstown is a town in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States, located in the lower Shenandoah Valley along the Potomac River. Home to Shepherd University, the town's population was 1,734 at the time of the 2010 census. History ...

. Israeli Prime Minister

led the Israeli delegation and Foreign Minister

Farouk al-Sharaa Farouk al-Sharaa ( ar, فاروق الشرع; born 10 December 1938) is a Syrian politician and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent officials in the Syrian government and served as foreign minister of Syria from 1984 until 2006 when he bec ...

led the Syrian delegation. The Peace Conference finally came to a dead end and was later on followed by failed negotiation attempts to renew it. * January 28 – Yes, the sole satellite television provider (

DBS DBS may refer to: Music groups * The dB's, a power pop band of the '70s and '80s *d.b.s., a Canadian punk rock band from 1992 to 2001 * Death by Stereo, an American heavy metal/punk rock group from California Companies and organizations Schools ...

) in Israel, begins its broadcasting.

March

* March 12–26 –

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

visits Israel, and thus becomes the second pope to visit the Jewish state. During his stay, the Pope visits

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

(the Israeli national

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

memorial) and the

Western Wall The Western Wall ( he, הַכּוֹתֶל הַמַּעֲרָבִי, HaKotel HaMa'aravi, the western wall, often shortened to the Kotel or Kosel), known in the West as the Wailing Wall, and in Islam as the Buraq Wall (Arabic: حَائِط ...

placing a letter inside it in which he prayed for forgiveness for the actions against Jews in the past. * March 14 – Israel formally deploys its Arrow 2 anti-ballistic missile system. * March 27 – An

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defense ...

F-16D-30F of 109 Squadron (Israel) based at

Ramat David Airbase Ramat David Israeli Air Force Base (, he, בָּסִיס חֵיל-הַאֲוִיר רָמַת דָּוִד ''Basis Kheil HaAvir Ramat David'') is one of three principal airbases of the Israeli Air Force, located southeast of Haifa, close to kibbu ...

, crashes into the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

during a training flight off the coastal village of

Atlit Atlit ( he, עַתְלִית, ar, عتليت) is a coastal town located south of Haifa, Israel. The community is in the Hof HaCarmel Regional Council in the Haifa District of Israel. Off the coast of Atlit is a submerged Neolithic village. Atl ...

in northern Israel. The pilot, Major Yonatan Begin, was a son of parliamentarian Benny Begin and grandson of former Prime Minister

Menachem Begin Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'' (); pl, Menachem Begin (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ''Menakhem Volfovich Begin''; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of Israel. ...

. Neither he nor his co-pilot, Lt. Lior Harari, had notified their ground controllers of any problems. * March 28 – A police investigation recommends that former prime minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...

and his wife be indicted on criminal charges of fraud, bribery, theft of state gifts and obstruction of justice.

May

* 13 May –

Ping Pong Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

represents Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “

Sameach "Sameyakh" or "Sameach" ( he, label=Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew script, שמייח; meaning "happy") is a Hebrew song by the pop band PingPong (band), PingPong, a quartet consisting of Guy Asif, Roy Arad, Yifat Giladi and Ahal Eden. The song was the ...

” ("Happy"). * May 25 – Israel withdraws IDF forces from the "security zone" in southern Lebanon, in compliance with U.N. Resolution 425, to the international border after 22 years in which the area was occupied by Israeli forces. Several thousand members of the

South Lebanon Army The South Lebanon Army or South Lebanese Army (SLA; ar, جيش لبنان الجنوبي, Jayš Lubnān al-Janūbiyy), also known as the Lahad Army ( ar, جيش لحد, label=none) and referred to as the De Facto Forces (DFF) by the United Nat ...

(and their families) withdraw to Israel as well with the Israeli forces. Syria and

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

insist that the withdrawal is incomplete, claiming the

Shebaa Farms The Shebaa Farms, also spelled Sheba'a Farms ( ar, مزارع شبعا, '; he, חוות שבעא, ''Havot Sheba‘a'' or הר דוב, ''Har Dov''), are a small strip of land at the intersection of the Lebanese-Syrian border and the Israeli-oc ...

as Lebanese and still under occupation. The UN certifies full Israeli withdrawal.

June

* June 16 –

complies with

UN Security Council Resolution 425 United Nations List of the UN resolutions concerning Israel, Security Council Resolution 425, adopted on 19 March 1978, five days after the Operation Litani, Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the context of Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon ...

after 22 years of it issuance, which calls on Israel to completely withdraw from

. Israel withdraws from all of Lebanon, except the disputed Shebba farms.

July

* July 13 –

resigns as president. Knesset Speaker,

is appointed as acting president. * July 31 – The Israeli

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...

elects

as the eighth president of the State of Israel, by a majority of 63 to 57, against

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres (; he, שמעון פרס ; born Szymon Perski; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the ninth president of ...

, to assume office on August 1, 2000.

August

* August 1 –

assumes office as the eighth president of the State of Israel.

September

* September 3 – Former leader of Israel's Shas Party

Aryeh Deri Aryeh Makhlouf Deri (, ), also Arie Deri, Arye Deri, or Arieh Deri (born 17 February 1959), is an Israeli politician. He is one of the founders of the Shas political party, and has served as Israel's Minister of the Interior, Minister of the D ...

starts his three-year jail sentence after his appeal is rejected.

October

* October 1–9, 2000: Solidarity demonstrations held by Arab citizens of Israel escalate into clashes with Israeli police and Israeli Jewish citizens. Twelve

Israeli Arabs The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic and ...

and one Palestinian Arab from the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza. ...

are shot and killed by the Israeli police. One Israeli Jewish civilian was killed by a rock thought to have been thrown by an Arab citizen. * October 7 –

2000 Hezbollah cross-border raid The 2000 Hezbollah cross-border raid occurred at the boundary between Lebanon and the Golan Heights (see Blue Line) on October 7. Hezbollah militants captured three Israeli soldiers while they were patrolling the security fence, and subsequ ...

: Three Israeli soldiers are abducted by Hezbollah while patrolling the Israeli administered side of the Israeli-Lebanese border and Northern Israel is shelled in an attempt to ignite the Israeli-Lebanese border too, but Israelis decide on limited response.

December

* December 10 – Prime minister

announces his resignation as prime minister, and states that an election for the post would be held soon.

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

President Bill Clinton walks with Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel and Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority

July

* July 11–25 – The

Camp David 2000 Summit The 2000 Camp David Summit was a summit meeting at Camp David between United States president Bill Clinton, Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat. The summit took place between 11 and 25 July 2000 and ...

is held which is aimed at reaching a "final status" agreement. The summit collapses after

Yasser Arafat Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat ( , ; ar, محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني, Mu ...

would not accept a proposal drafted by American and Israeli negotiators.

is prepared to offer the entire

, part of East

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

as capital of a Palestinian Arab state, 73% of the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

(excluding eastern Jerusalem) raising to 90–94% after 10–25 years, and financial reparations for Palestinian Arab refugees for peace. Arafat turns down the offer without making a counter-offer. * September 28 – Israeli opposition leader

Ariel Sharon Ariel Sharon (; ; ; also known by his diminutive Arik, , born Ariel Scheinermann, ; 26 February 1928 – 11 January 2014) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006. S ...

visits the

Temple Mount The Temple Mount ( hbo, הַר הַבַּיִת, translit=Har haBayīt, label=Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites an ...

, protected by a several-hundred-strong Israeli police force. Riots by Palestinian Arabs erupt, leading to a full-fledged armed uprising (called the

Al-Aqsa Intifada The Second Intifada ( ar, الانتفاضة الثانية, ; he, האינתיפאדה השנייה, ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada ( ar, انتفاضة الأقصى, label=none, '), was a major Palestinian uprising against Israe ...

by sympathizers and the Oslo War by opponents).

October

* October 12 –

2000 Ramallah lynching The 2000 Ramallah lynching was a violent incident that took place on October 12, 2000 – early in the Al-Aqsa Intifada – at the el-Bireh police station, where a Palestinian crowd of passing funeral marchers broke in and killed and mutilated ...

– A

Palestinian Arab Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

mob Mob or MOB may refer to: Behavioral phenomena * Crowd * Smart mob, a temporary self-structuring social organization, coordinated through telecommunication Crime and law enforcement * American Mafia, also known as the Mob * Irish Mob, a US crim ...

lynches two Israel Defense Forces

reservist A reservist is a person who is a member of a military reserve force. They are otherwise civilians, and in peacetime have careers outside the military. Reservists usually go for training on an annual basis to refresh their skills. This person i ...

s, Vadim Nurzhitz and Yossi Avrahami, who had accidentally entered the

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine,

-controlled city of Ramallah in the

. The brutality of the event, captured in a photo of one of the perpetrators proudly waving his blood-stained hands to the crowd below, sparks international outrage and further intensifies the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Arabs. Notable Palestinian militant operations against Israeli targets
The most prominent Palestinian militant acts and operations committed against Israeli targets during 2000 include: * November 2 – 2 Israelis are killed and 10 are wounded when a car bomb explodes near the

Mahane Yehuda Market Mahane Yehuda Market ( he, שוק מחנה יהודה, ''Shuk Mahane Yehuda''), often referred to as "The Shuk" ( he, השוק, HaShuq), is a marketplace (originally open-air, but now partially covered) in Jerusalem. Popular with locals and touris ...

, one of whom is the daughter of the MK and former housing minister Yitzhak Levy. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for the attack. * November 20 – Kfar Darom bombing: an Israeli school bus was struck by a roadside bomb at the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom killing 2 adults and injuring several others. Hamas claimed responsibility. * November 22 – Hadera's main street bombing: Two Israeli women are killed and 60 civilians are wounded in a car bomb attack in

Hadera Hadera ( he, חֲדֵרָה ) is a city located in the Haifa District of Israel, in the northern Sharon region, approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the major cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The city is located along 7 km (5&nb ...

. Hamas claimed responsibility. * December 22 – Mechola bombing: Palestinian suicide bomber injures 3 Israeli soldiers. Hamas claimed responsibility. Notable Israeli military operations against Palestinian militancy targets
The most prominent Israeli military

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that Government, governments, law enforcement, business, and Intelligence agency, intellig ...

operations (

military campaign A military campaign is large-scale long-duration significant military strategy plan incorporating a series of interrelated military operations or battles forming a distinct part of a larger conflict often called a war. The term derives from the ...

s and

military operations A military operation is the coordinated military actions of a state, or a non-state actor, in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state or actor's favor. Operations ...

) carried out against

Palestinian militants Palestinian political violence refers to acts of violence perpetrated for political ends in relation to the State of Palestine or in connection with Palestinian nationalism. Common political objectives include self-determination in and sovereig ...

during 2000 include: * September 30 –

Second Intifada The Second Intifada ( ar, الانتفاضة الثانية, ; he, האינתיפאדה השנייה, ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada ( ar, انتفاضة الأقصى, label=none, '), was a major Palestinians, Palestinian uprising a ...

: Muhammad al-Durrah incident – Ten Palestinian Arabs are killed during crossfire between Israeli forces and Palestinian Arab militia at the Netzarim junction, among them the twelve-year-old boy

Muhammad al-Durrah On 30 September 2000, the second day of the Second Intifada, 12-year-old Muhammad al-Durrah () was killed in the Gaza Strip during widespread protests and riots across the Palestinian territories against Israeli military occupation. Jamal ...

who is caught in the crossfire and is allegedly killed in the arms of his father. Al-Durrah's death was filmed by a Palestinian Arab freelance cameraman and made worldwide headlines and as a result Al-Durrah became a symbol of the Palestinian Arab uprising in 2000 and of Palestinian

martyrdom A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...

. Whether the Israeli forces or the Palestinian Arab militia shot the boy is a matter of dispute. * December 17 –

Tanzim ''Tanzim'' ( ar, تنظيم ', "Organization") is a militant faction of the Palestinian Fatah movement. Overview The Tanzim militia, founded in 1995 by Yasser Arafat and other Fatah leaders to counter Palestinian Islamism, is widely consi ...

activist Samih al-Malabi, is assassinated by a mobile phone

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...

near the Qalandiyya refugee camp.NewsLibrary.com – newspaper archive, clipping service – newspapers and other news sources
/ref>

Notable deaths

* February 23 –

Ofra Haza Bat-Sheva Ofra Haza ( he, בת-שבע עפרה חזה; 19 November 1957 – 23 February 2000), known as Ofra Haza (), was an Israelis, Israeli singer, songwriter, actress, and Grammy Award-nominated recording artist commonly known in the Western ...

(born 1957), Israeli singer. * August 12 – Eliahu Ben Elissar (born 1932), Polish-born Israeli diplomat and politician. * September 22 – Yehuda Amichai (born 1924), German-born Israeli poet and an Israeli. * November 12 –

Leah Rabin Leah Rabin ( he, לאה רבין, née Schloßberg; 8 April 1928 – 12 November 2000) was the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995. Biography Leah Rabin was born Leah Schloßberg in Königsberg, East Pruss ...

(born 1928), German-born wife of former Prime minister of Israel

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; he, יִצְחָק רַבִּין, ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77, and from 1992 until ...

. * December 31 – Rabbi

Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane ( he, בנימין זאב כהנא‎ 3 October 1966 – 31 December 2000) was an Israeli Orthodox rabbi and the son of Rabbi Meir Kahane. Born in New York City, he emigrated to Israel with his family at the age of fo ...

(born 1966), American-born Israeli settler leader.

Major public holidays

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:2000 In Israel 2000s in Israel

Years of the 20th century in Israel

Incumbents

Events

January

March

May

June

July

August

September

October

December

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

July

October

Notable deaths

Major public holidays

See also

References

External links