Israel and the Palestinians: 9: From the Second Intifada to Netanyahu’s Re-election

In the ninth of ten programmes exploring the origins and tracing the history of the Middle East conflict, presenter Jonny Dymond is joined by journalist and film-maker Jane Corbin, who has been reporting from the region for more than 30 years, and by the BBC’s International Editor Jeremy Bowen.

They begin by examining the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising – bloodier than the first – which began on the West Bank and in Gaza in 2000 and lasted till 2005.

They go on to discuss Israel’s construction, from 2002 onwards, of the West Bank separation barrier, the last years and legacy of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who died in 2004, the Israeli disengagement from Gaza in 2005, the rise of Hamas, its victory in the Palestinian elections of 2006, and its violent takeover of Gaza in 2007.

Jonny and his guests examine reactions in Israel and in the international community to Hamas rule in Gaza and discuss the blockade of the territory. They finish this episode by looking at how the Middle East conflict was affected by the election of Barack Obama as US president in 2008, and the re-election of Benjamin Netanyahu for a second term as Israeli prime minister in 2009.

'Israel and the Palestinians' is a BBC News Long Form Audio production. The presenter is Jonny Dymond and the editor is Penny Murphy. The Radio 4 commissioners are Hugh Levinson and Dan Clarke. The studio engineers are Neil Churchill, James Beard, Rod Farquhar, Mike Regaard and David Crackles.