Ariel Sharon in the context of "Prime minister of Israel"

The Second Intifada (Arabic: الانتفاضة الثانية, romanized: al-Intifāḍa aṯ-Ṯāniya, lit. 'The Second Uprising'; Hebrew: האינתיפאדה השנייה, romanized: ha-Intifada ha-Shniya), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its occupation from 2000. Starting as a civilian uprising in Jerusalem and Israel proper, Israeli security responded with extreme violence, killing over 100 Palestinian protesters within the first few weeks. This led to the uprising devolving into a period of heightened violence in Palestine and Israel. This violence, including shooting attacks, suicide bombings, and military operations continued until the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit of 2005, which ended hostilities.

The general triggers for the unrest are speculated to have been centered on the failure of the 2000 Camp David Summit, which was expected to reach a final agreement on the Israeli–Palestinian peace process in July 2000. An uptick in violent incidents started in September 2000, after Israeli politician Ariel Sharon made a provocative visit to the Temple Mount; the visit itself was peaceful, but, as anticipated, sparked protests and riots that Israeli police put down with rubber bullets, live ammunition, and tear gas. Within the first few days of the uprising, the Israeli military fired one million rounds of ammunition.

In 2005, Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip by dismantling all 21 Israeli settlements there. Nonetheless, the Gaza Strip has continued to be regarded by the United Nations, many other international humanitarian and legal organizations, and most academic commentators as being under Israeli occupation due to Israel's active control over the territory's external affairs, as affirmed by the 2024 International Court of Justice advisory opinion. Historically, according to Article 42 of the Hague Regulations and precedent in international law, it has been generally understood that a territory remains effectively occupied so long as a belligerent's authority is established and exercised over it, even if said belligerent does not have ground forces deployed in the area.

Proposed by Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon in 2003 and adopted by the Cabinet in 2004, the strategy was officially approved by the Knesset as the Disengagement Plan Implementation Law in June 2004. A deadline was issued for August 15, 2005, after which the IDF began evicting all Israeli settlers who were refusing to accept government compensation packages in exchange for voluntarily vacating their homes in the Gaza Strip. By September 12, all Israeli residential buildings in the territory had been demolished and the 8,000+ Israeli settlers who inhabited them had been removed. The dismantlement of the four West Bank settlements was completed ten days later.

The Sharm El Sheikh Summit of 2005 was a high-profile diplomatic meeting between Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian National Authority. Hosted in the Egyptian city of Sharm El Sheikh on 8 February 2005, it was organized in an effort to end the Second Intifada, which had resulted in the deaths of over 3,000 Palestinians and over 1,000 Israelis since it began in September 2000. The four leaders in attendance were Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, Jordanian king Abdullah II, and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas had recently succeeded Yasser Arafat, who died in November 2004, as the President of the Palestinian National Authority.

Sharon and Abbas explicitly undertook to cease all violence against each other's peoples and affirmed their commitment to the roadmap for peace, which had been proposed by the Middle East Quartet. Sharon also agreed to release 900 of the 7,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody at the time, and to withdraw from occupied West Bank towns.