What sparked the second intifada in 2000?

The second intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa intifada, was sparked in September 2000 by a combination of long-standing frustration and a specific, highly provocative event.

By the late 1990s, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process had largely broken down. Negotiations stalled due to mutual recrimination, the continued construction of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, and the failure to resolve core issues regarding the status of Jerusalem and a potential two-state solution.

The immediate catalyst for the uprising was a visit by Ariel Sharon—then the leader of the opposition in the Knesset—to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on September 28, 2000. Sharon visited the site, which houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, to assert Israeli sovereignty over the compound. Palestinians, who viewed the visit as a provocation in territory considered occupied under international law, responded with demonstrations. Israeli police reacted with lethal force, and the resulting unrest quickly escalated into the second intifada, which lasted until 2005.