Massive Israeli Invasion: Operation Defensive Shield, 2002

Event | While the Arab heads of state were meeting in Beirut on March 28, 2002, and adopting a Saudi peace initiative, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered the army, in an operation dubbed Defensive Shield, to invade the West Bank and reoccupy towns that were under Palestinian control under the Oslo Accords. Israeli army units laid siege to President Yassir Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah and declared it a closed military area.

Read more about Operation Defensive Shield on the Palestinian Timeline.