January 2 2003
Israeli troops raid refugee camps in the Gaza Strip and demolish two homes. Heavy gun battles accompany the incursions.
Israel raids Gaza camps
January 3 2003
It emerges that Ariel Sharon's Likud party has suffered a sharp drop in support during a corruption and organised crime scandal that has touched senior politicians, including Mr Sharon's son.
Likud's poll rating hit hard by scandal
January 5 2003
A dual suicide bombing in the heart of Tel Aviv kills 25 people, including the two bombers. Many of the victims were migrant workers from Africa, eastern Europe and the Philippines. The slaughter ends a six week lull in attacks on Israel and comes just three weeks before a general election.
Suicide bombs kill 23 in Israel
January 6 2003
Palestinian officials are barred by Israel from attending a meeting in London to discuss progress towards an independent state. The travel ban was imposed by the Israeli cabinet in direct response to the previous day's suicide bombings.
Palestinians barred from UK peace talks
January 7 2003
It emerges Israel's state attorney is investigating Mr Sharon in connection with an allegation that he lied to the police about the source of $1.5m (£930,000) used to repay illegal campaign funds.
Sharon investigated for illegal funding
January 12 2003
Israeli forces kill four Palestinians in military strikes in the Gaza Strip including two teenage boys who were hit in a botched missile attack on Hamas fugitives. In Israel's north, two Palestinian infiltrators kill an Israeli in a village near the West Bank town of Jenin before they are hunted down.
Israelis kill boys in missile blunder
January 14 2003
Defying a travel ban imposed by Israel to go to London talks organised by the British government, Palestinian leaders use a hastily arranged video link from Ramallah and Gaza. They outline far-reaching plans for political reform, a democratic constitution, and a transparent budget.
Palestinians promise major reforms
January 15 2003
The Israeli army close down two Palestinian universities which they claim had been used as "training grounds" for terrorist attacks.
Israelis close Palestinian universities
January 19 2003
Mr Sharon dismisses European peace efforts as anti-Israeli, and says only the US matters in deciding the fate of the Palestinians.
Sharon derides EU peace efforts
January 26 2003
Just two days before an Israeli general election in which Mr Sharon is campaigning on his militarist policies, Israeli forces launch their biggest raid on Gaza since the prime minister came to power two years ago. The raid kills 12 Palestinians and critically injures eight.
12 killed in Israeli raid on Gaza Strip
February 3 2003
Amram Mitzna, the leader of Israel's Labour party, refuses to join Ariel Sharon's coalition government unless the Israeli prime minister agrees to shut Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and begin negotiations with the Palestinians.
Israeli Labour party rejects Sharon's call
February 7 2003
The Israeli army arrests two dozen Palestinians in raids across the West Bank. Israeli strikes also kill at least six, including two Palestinian nurses in Gaza.
Palestinian nurses shot dead in Israeli search for bombers
February 10 2003
Following a secret meeting between Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat earlier this week, ceasefire talks between Israel and the Palestinians begin. Israeli officials describe the meetings as the start of a process that will lead to a lasting settlement with the Palestinians.
Israel in surprise peace talks
February 11 2003
The UN Palestinian refugee agency, Unrwa, reports that 1.1 million Palestinians, who are already suffering economic collapse, growing unemployment and malnutrition levels comparable to those in Congo, are threatened with food shortages because western governments have turned their backs on a UN appeal for £60m in aid funding.
Food running out in Gaza as aid appeal fails
February 13 2003
Israel's Labour party leader, Amram Mitzna, meets Tommy Lapid, the leader of Israel's third-largest party, to discuss joining a cabinet led by Ariel Sharon. Mr Mitzna, previously opposed to joining Mr Sharon's government, is reportedly softening his line in the hope that any coalition deal will include a major concession from Mr Sharon on the Palestinian issue.
Labour softens towards Likud-led coalition
February 14 2003
The Israeli government reacts furiously to a ruling by the Belgian supreme court that Israeli military commanders, including Ariel Sharon, could be prosecuted for complicity in the massacre of 800 Palestinians in Lebanon in 1982. The Israeli foreign minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, calls the ruling a 'blood libel' against the Jewish people.
Israel scorns 'anti-semitic little Belgium'
February 15 2003
Yasser Arafat bows to intense international pressure and agrees to appoint a Palestinian prime minister within the next few days - a vital prerequisite for the resumption of peace talks with the Israelis.
Arafat bows to pressure to appoint PM
February 18 2003
Israel lifts its foreign travel ban on Palestinian leaders, allowing them to discuss the peace process in a series of meetings beginning in London today. The Israeli move is in acknowledgement of Yasser Arafat's pledge to devolve some of his powers to an as yet unnamed prime minister.
Palestinians head for UK talks after travel ban is lifted
February 19 2003
The Israeli intelligence service arrests 12 people, including two soldiers, accused of trading military secrets to Hizbollah in exchange for tonnes of drugs.
Israel holds 12 in Hizbullah spy ring
February 20 2003
The Israeli army kills at least 11 people during six hours of fighting in Gaza. Israel says the raid, which follows the killing of four Israeli soldiers by Hamas this week, targeted terrorist weapons factories. Israel says all the dead were armed men, while Palestinians say at least three were civilians who were crushed to death when Israeli soldiers blew up a building.
Israel turns up heat on Hamas
February 21 2003
Ariel Sharon says that he will not discuss the division of Jerusalem or the return of Palestinian refugees during peace negotiations, in a blow to the prospects of a sucessful Israeli-Palestinian settlement.
Peace hopes sink as Sharon rules out Jerusalem deal
February 24 2003
The Israeli Labour party finally rules out joining Ariel Sharon's government, after the Israeli prime minister announces the inclusion of a rightwing party, the National Religious party, in his new coalition.
Labour out in cold as Sharon shifts to right
February 26 2003
President Bush pledges a 'personal commitment' to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement after the fall of Saddam Hussein, in a speech designed to soothe the Arab world's anger over impending military action against Iraq. Meanwhile, Ariel Sharon sacks his foreign minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in a move apparently aimed at reassuring the US that his hawkish new government is serious about peace.
US pledges fresh Middle East peace push
Sharon sacks Netanyahu to smooth US ties
February 27 2003
In another blow to growing hopes of a renewed peace process in Israel, Ariel Sharon u-turns on an earlier commitment to create a Palestinian state, as envisioned by Washington's 'road map' for peace.
Sharon in Palestine state u-turn
March 3 2003
In the latest of a series of raids in Gaza, Israeli soldiers kill eight people, including a pregnant woman. Meanwhile, Tony Blair expresses frustration at the delay in publishing the interntional 'road-map' for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Blair presses for 'road map' to be published
Eight die in raid on Gaza camp
March 5 2003
At least 15 people, many of them students, are killed after a Palestinian suicide bombing of a bus in the northern Israeli town of Haifa - the first such attack in a two-month lull. In apparent response, Israeli launches helicopter gunship attacks on a Gaza refugee camp, Jabalya.
Israel attacks Gaza as bus bomb kills 15
March 7 2003
Yasser Arafat nominates his deputy in the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Mahmoud Abbas, as Palestinian prime minister-designate, as part of reforms aimed at reviving peace talks with Israel. Meanwhile, Palestinian gunmen disguised as religious Jews kill two Israelis in a raid on a West Bank settlement, hours after Israel sets up a 'security zone' in the northern Gaza Strip.
Arafat names Oslo peace pact architect as PM
Gunmen in disguise kill praying settlers
March 8 2003
One of Hamas's most senior leaders, Ibrahim al Makadme, is killed by an Israeli helicopter strike on his car. Hamas vows to avenge the assassination.
Hamas pledges revenge for killing of leader
March 14 2003
In a u-turn designed to ease the political pressure that the Iraq crisis is putting on his ally Tony Blair, George Bush announces that he will soon publish his long-awaited road map for peace in the Middle East. However, he insists the plan will only be released after the swearing-in of a Palestinian prime minister 'in a position of real authority', since Yasser Arafat still appears unwilling to cede his executive powers to another Palestinian leader.
Bush to publish road map to peace
March 16 2003
A US peace activist, Rachel Corrie, 23, is crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer in the Gaza Strip, in what witnesses describe as a deliberate killing. Meanwhile, Ariel Sharon announces that he will press the US to amend its road map for peace so that all references to an independent Palestinian state are excluded.
Israeli army bulldozer crushes US peace protester in Gaza Strip
No independent Palestine, Sharon insists
March 18 2003
After a last-ditch effort to cling to some of his powers, Yasser Arafat signs legislation surrendering most of his authority to a new Palestinian prime minister, opening the way for the release of the 'road map' peace plan.
Arafat forced to give up most powers to new PM
March 19 2003
Mahmoud Abbas officially accepts Yasser Arafat's offer of the post of Palestinian prime minister. He is expected to be sworn in after he selects a new cabinet, when the US will publish its long-awaited peace plan.
Arafat appoints new prime minister
March 30 2003
A suicide bomber blows himself up in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya, injuring 58 people. The attack, marking Palestinian 'Land Day', is the first suicide bombing in Israel since the start of the war in Iraq.
Suicide bomb a 'gift to Iraq'
April 2 2003
Israeli forces launch two days of raids on occupied Palestinian territories, killing six Palestinians, including a 14-year-old, and detaining more than 1,000 boys and men.
Six killed in Israeli raids on West Bank
April 8 2003
President Bush announces that he will publish the internationally-brokered 'road map' peace plan, outlining the steps to a Palestinian state within three years, once the recently named future Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, names his cabinet. Meanwhile a senior Hamas leader, Sa'ad al-Arabeed, and four other Palestinians are killed in a targeted Israeli air strike.
Israel plays down president's push for 'road map' to end conflict
April 9 2003
A bomb, which may have been planted by Jewish extremists, explodes in a West Bank school playground in a village south of Jenin, injuring 20 Palestinian children.
Playground bombing injures 20 Palestinians
April 13 2003
Yasser Arafat angrily rejects the choices of the Palestinian prime minister designate, Mahmoud Abbas, for a new Palestinian cabinet, in a rift that threatens to disrupt tentative moves to establish an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.
Arafat jeopardises peace by rejecting new cabinet
April 15 2003
The US military in Baghdad says it has captured Abu Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Front, who masterminded the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro.
Achille Lauro plotter caught
April 17 2003
Washington officials claim the US is putting pressure on Israel to accept the internationally-brokered road map for peace, in a bid to restart the peace process after the Iraq war. An Israeli delegation sent to the US capital to suggest 14 amendments to the internationally-brokered 'road map' for peace was told there would be no changes before publication, a US official says.
Americans lean on Israel to make concessions
April 20 2003
The Israeli military carries out one of the largest raids in Gaza since the start of the intifada, killing six people and wounding 48 in Rafah, a town in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Six killed as Israeli tanks push into Gaza
April 23 2003
Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian prime minister-delegate, Mahmoud Abbas, finally agree on the composition of the new Palestinian cabinet after frantic last-minute negotiations. In response to the move, the US indicates that it will publish its long-awaited road map for peace some time next week. Meanwhile, a Palestinian suicide bomber blows himself up at a crowded railway station in central Israel, killing a security guard who tried to prevent him from entering the building.
Arafat yields in battle over new cabinet
April 27 2003
Britain sharply criticises Israel over its plans to build a 'separation fence' around the entire Palestinian territory of the West Bank. Palestinian leaders have said that the fence, which will be around six metres high, topped with barbed wire and lined with guard towers, will make any new Palestinian state little more than a reservation.
UK censures Sharon over fence around West Bank
April 28 2003
The Palestinian prime minister-designate, Mahmoud Abbas, says he will not travel abroad to meet foreign politicians until Israel lifts its travel ban on Yasser Arafat. President Bush is expected to invite Mr Abbas to Washington if the Palestinian parliament approves his cabinet this week. An Egyptian mediator reportedly assured Mr Arafat that his freedom would be restored if he approved Mr Abbas's ministerial choices, but the Israeli government has denied it agreed to the plan.
I won't travel until Arafat can, says PM-to-be
April 30 2003
The US releases its long-awaited road map for peace to Israeli and Palestinian leaders hours after the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, known as Abu Mazen, and his cabinet are sworn in. But, on the same day that Mr Abbas pledges to take the first step on the road map by cracking down on Palestinian terrorists, a suicide bombing at a bar in Tel Aviv kills three Israelis. Hamas and al-Aqsa claim joint responsibility, but Israeli police say that the suicide bomber and his accomplice, who escaped unharmed, were British.
US releases 'road map' amid underlying tensions
The British suicide bombers
May 1 2003
Israeli troops raid the home of a Hamas bombmaker in Gaza, killing 14 Palestinians, including two boys aged two and 13, during a fierce gun battle.
Boy, 2, among 14 killed by Israeli troops
May 4 2003
The leader of Israel's Labour party, Amram Mitzna, resigns.
Israeli Labour leader resigns
May 10 2003
US secretary of state Colin Powell arrives in Israel for talks with Ariel Sharon and Abu Mazen on the US-backed road map to peace.
Powell detours from tough issues in road map talks
May 14 2003
The body of Briton Omar Sharif is found floating in the sea off Tel Aviv. Sharif was wanted in connection with the attack on a Tel Aviv bar that killed three bystanders.
May 17 2003
Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, meets his Palestinian counterpart, Abu Mazen, in Jerusalem, for three hours of talks. A suicide bomber kills an Israeli man and his pregnant wife in Hebron.
Bomb mars Middle East peace talks
May 18 2003
A suicide bomber disguised as an Orthodox Jew blows up an Israeli bus in Jerusalem, killing seven passengers.
Sharon calls off US visit after bomb kills seven
May 19 2003
A suicide bomber kills two people in a shopping centre in Afula, Israel.
Two killed in fifth attack in three days
May 25 2003
The Israeli cabinet reluctantly votes to accept the US-led "road map" to an independent Palestinian state within three years. But Ariel Sharon's government attaches opt-out clauses and demands which reinforce Palestinian fears that Israel is seeking to buy time.
Israeli cabinet vote fails to convince Palestinians that Sharon is serious
June 4 2003
The summit meeting between Ariel Sharon, Abu Mazen and the US president, George Bush, convenes in Aqaba, Jordan. Sharon pledges to support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Abu Mazen says: "The armed intifada must end." Fearing the road map will spell the end of illegal settlements on Palestinian land, thousands of Israeli settlers protest in Jerusalem.
Sharon endorses Palestinian state
Settlers protest against road map
June 10 2003
Israel draws stinging criticism from Washington, accusations of terrorism from its Palestinian partner in the peace process and a vow by Hamas to respond in kind after an army helicopter tried to assassinate the Hamas political leader in Gaza.
June 11 2003
A teenage suicide bomber dressed as an Orthodox Jew kills 16 people on a rush-hour bus in the heart of Jerusalem, fulfilling a vow by the militant Islamist movement Hamas to avenge a botched Israeli attempt to assassinate itspolitical leader a day earlier.
Day of carnage leaves Middle East in chaos
June 13 2003
Israeli helicopter gunships fire three missiles at a car, killing one person and wounding 22, including seven children.
Israeli gunships fire on car in Gaza
June 17 2003
Gunmen kill an Israeli girl on a road near the West Bank, feeding a cycle of violence that has battered the road map to peace which the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, will try to rescue in a regional visit this week.
Girl shot as Abbas ceasefire plea fails
June 22 2003
Israel delivers another blow to the faltering road map to peace with the assassination of a Hamas leader, drawing threats of retaliation from the Islamic organisation and implicit criticism from the US secretary of state, Colin Powell.
Israel road map suffers new blow
June 29 2003
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement formally announce a three month ceasefire.
Hopes muted as road map traps Israel and Hamas in fragile standoff
June 20 2003
The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, warns the Israelis and Palestinians to "move with great speed" to build confidence in the US-led road map to peace, or risk Hamas wrecking the process.
Speed is of the essence for road map, says Powell
June 30 2003
Israel relinquishes control of much of the Gaza Strip's main motorway as it continued to withdraw its forces from Palestinian territories under the peace road map.
Israel withdraws from northern Gaza
July 1 2003
The Israeli government accuses the BBC of competing with the "worst of Nazi propaganda" and severs ties with the corporation over a documentary broadcast internationally.
Israel cuts links with BBC
July 3 2003
Israel's army chief claims victory over the Palestinian intifada, saying the ceasefire announced by Hamas and other groups is an admission of defeat.
Israeli claim of victory denounced
July 6 2003
The Israeli cabinet reluctantly agrees to free several hundred Palestinian prisoners to bolster the US-led road map to peace.
Palestinian anger as Israel agrees to free 400
July 8 2003
An Islamic Jihad cell claims responsibility for a suicide bombing in an Israeli village that killed a 65-year-old woman.
Palestinian bombing threatens fragile ceasefire
July 10 2003
Downing Street confirms that the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, is to travel to London for talks with Tony Blair on the Middle East peace process.
It emerges that Mr Sharon has barred the BBC from his meeting with the British press amid accusations that the corporation made false allegations against Israel in a report on weapons of mass destruction.
Blair to hold talks with Israeli PM
Sharon shuns BBC over documentary
July 14 2003
Tony Blair's hopes of improving relations with Ariel Sharon suffer a blow as the prime minister is forced to rebuff an attempt by his Israeli counterpart topersuade Britain to sever all contact with Yasser Arafat.
Israeli ploy on Arafat backfires
July 25 2003
President George Bush hosts a Palestinian prime minister at the White House for the first time in his presidency, in a visit designed to quicken a sluggish peace process and shore up the authority of his guest.
Talks with Bush boost Palestinian leader
July 25 2003
An Israeli soldier shoots dead a four-year-old Palestinian boy and injures two other children, when he fires a tank-mounted machine gun at a northern West Bank roadblock.
Israeli soldier kills Palestinian boy
July 27 2003
Ariel Sharon cajoles his reluctant cabinet into agreeing to release more than 200 Hamas and Islamic Jihad prisoners in an attempt to stave off pressure for further concessions from the US.
Sharon sways cabinet into freeing prisoners
July 29 2003
Ariel Sharon shrugs off President George Bush's request to halt construction on the security fence through the West Bank, vowing that the work will continue.
Sharon says barrier will stay despite Bush plea
August 4 2003
Palestinians condemn a list of prisoners that Israel plans to release from its jails, saying that the number is below what had originally been promised.
Palestinians condemn Israel's prisoner release list
August 5 2003
Palestinian and Israeli leaders cancel their summit as the US-backed road map to peace runs into further trouble.
Abbas and Sharon cancel meeting
August 5 2003
Israel calls a halt to its military withdrawal from Palestinian cities following the wounding of a Jewish settler and her three children near Bethlehem.
Israel suspends pullback from occupied areas
August 6 2003
The Bush administration threatens to impose financial sanctions on Israel if it persists in pushing its security fence and wall deep into Palestinian territory.
Israel's fence draws threat of US sanctions
August 6 2003
More than 300 Palestinian men walk free from Israeli military prisons to be snubbed by their own leaders but hailed by Ariel Sharon as evidence of Israel's commitment to peace.
Joy and anger as Israel frees 339
August 8 2003
Two Jewish settlers are charged with possessing explosives stolen from the army, allegedly in preparation for a "terrorist attack" on Palestinian civilians.
Jewish settlers on explosives charges
August 11 2003
Israeli aircraft attack suspected Hizbullah positions in southern Lebanon, hours after guerrillas kill a teenage boy and injure five people.
Israel attacks Hizbullah after fatal shelling
August 12 2003
Four people, including the two bombers, die in back-to-back suicide attacks in Israel and the West Bank as the Middle East peace process suffers a further setback.
Four killed in suicide attacks
August 13 2003
Israeli troops kill a top Islamic Jihad fugitive in a raid on his hideout, prompting threats of revenge by the militant group and placing further strain on an already shaky ceasefire.
Islamic Jihad fugitive killed in shoot-out
August 17 2003
Efforts to keep the Middle East road map peace process on track hit a snag when an agreement to transfer control of four West Bank cities to the Palestinian Authority falls apart at the last minute.
Peace talks held up by roadblocks
August 18 2003
A deal for Israel to pull troops out of four West Bank cities is expected to be finalised in a move to bolster a six-week-old ceasefire threatened by renewed violence.
Palestinians expect checkpoint deal to clinch Israeli pullout from four West Bank cities
August 19 2003
A Palestinian suicide bomber blows apart a bus in the heart of Jerusalem, killing at least 20 people, including children, wounding more than 100 and inflicting the most serious blow yet to the six-week-old ceasefire.
Palestinian suicide bomber kills 20 and shatters peace process
August 21 2003
Palestinian militant groups call off their ceasefire after Israel launches a helicopter strike in Gaza. Three people, including Ismail Abu Shanab, a political leader of Hamas, are killed.
Palestinian militants call off ceasefire
September 1 2003
Israeli helicopters kill a Hamas activist, wound a second and injure 25 bystanders in a missile attack on Gaza City.
Missile kills Hamas activist
September 4 2003
The Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, tells parliament to back him in a power struggle with Yasser Arafat or sack his government.
Back me or lose me, warns Abbas
September 5 2003
Israeli troops kill a Hamas commander in the West Bank city of Nablus. The raid could further undermine the troubled leadership of Mahmoud Abbas.
Hamas commander killed in West Bank raid
September 6 2003
The Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, resigns amid a power struggle with Yasser Arafat and an upsurge of violence.
Palestinian prime minister resigns
September 7 2003
Yasser Arafat nominates the speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Ahmed Qureia, to be prime minister and oversee a crumbling peace process further jeopardised by pledges from Ariel Sharon and Hamas to destroy each other.
Arafat backs new Palestine leader
September 8 2003
Yasser Arafat's nominee for prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, demands guarantees from Washington and Europe that they will force a major shift in Israel's treatment of the Palestinians before he accepts the post.
Arafat's nominee sets out his demands
September 9 2003
Fifteen die in suicide attacks on troops and nightspot.
Bombers hit back at Israel
September 10 2003
Israeli warplanes bomb the home of a senior Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, wounding him and his wife and killing two others, including his son.
Hamas leader's son killed in Israeli attack
September 11 2003
Cabinet's response to suicide bombings seeks revenge as Palestinians mount show of defiance.
Israelis threaten to exile Arafat
September 12 2003
The Arab League says that Israel is declaring "war" on Middle East diplomacy by threatening to expel the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat.
Israeli threat of exile strengthens Arafat's hand
Israeli threat to expel Arafat denounced
September 13 2003
Palestinians search for options as chances of two states recede, reports Conal Urquhart in Jerusalem.
Gaza shifts to a new solution
September 14 2003
The Israeli government is considering killing Yasser Arafat as one of the means to carry out its threat to "remove" him as an obstacle to peace, Israel's deputy prime minister says.
September 15 2003
Britain gives the Israeli government a fierce dressing down, warning that any Israeli plan to assassinate Yasser Arafat is unacceptable.
Death threat rebuke for Israel
Israel may kill Arafat, deputy PM says
September 16 2003
The US vetoes a UN resolution demanding that Israel neither harms nor expels the Palestinian authority president, Yasser Arafat.
US vetoes UN call to protect Arafat
September 24 2003
A group of Israeli airforce pilots declare their refusal to fly missions which could endanger civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israeli pilots refuse to fly assassination missions
September 25 2003
Edward Said - scholar, literary critic and the most eloquent supporter of the Palestinian cause - dies in New York after a long battle against leukaemia.
Scholar Edward Said dies
September 30 2003
Marwan Baghouti delivers his closing speech at his trial.
Intifada leader uses courtroom to point to one-state solution
October 1 2003
The Israel cabinet votes to extend the West Bank 'security fence'.
Israeli cabinet extends 'security fence'
October 4 2003
A female suicide bomber kills 20 people in an attack on a Haifa cafe.
Bomber kills 20 in holiday horror
The revenger's tragedy: why women turn to suicide bombing
October 5 2003
Israeli planes launch their deepest raid into Syria for 30 years, attacking a Palestinian "terrorist training base" north of Damascus.
Israeli jets hit Syria camp in blast revenge
October 7 2003
The Guardian reports that Yasser Arafat has suffered a mild heart attack but the Palestinian leadership has sought to keep his health problems secret for fear it will "create panic".
Arafat has suffered heart attack, admits aide
October 9 2003
The new Palestinian government is thrown into jeopardy when the new prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, threatens to resign in a dispute with Yasser Arafat.
New PM could quit in row with ailing Arafat
October 9-12 2003
The Israeli army fights its way into Rafah refugee camp in Gaza, ostensibly in search of weapons smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt. At the raid's end, three tunnels had been found, while more than 100 homes had been rocketed or flattened by bulldozers, about 1,500 people left homeless and two children killed after an Israeli helicopter fired a missile into a crowd.
Six die as Israelis seek tunnels
Rafah counts its dead as Israeli tanks pull out
October 15 2003
Palestinian militants launch a large bomb attack on a US embassy convoy driving through Gaza, killing three American security guards and severely wounding a diplomat. Meanwhile, Ariel Sharon dismisses a draft peace agreement drawn up by leftwing Israeli politicians and Palestinian leaders as the "greatest historic mistake" since the Oslo peace accords a decade ago.
Three killed in Gaza convoy blast
Israeli PM sneers at watershed peace bid with Palestinians
October 19 2003
Three Israeli soldiers are killed in an ambush by Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank.
October 20 2003
Israeli aircraft kill 10 people and injure nearly 100 others in five waves of air strikes in Gaza.
Israeli jets kill 10 in wave of attacks on Gaza
October 21 2003
Israel says it will ignore a resolution passed by the general assembly of the UN calling on it tear down its West Bank "security fence". Meanwhile, Hamas launches a barrage of missiles at targets inside and outside Gaza. It comes in response to the heaviest air raids ever carried out by the Israeli military.
Israel defies UN over 'security fence'
Hamas barrage follows Israeli raids
October 23 2003
Three Israeli soldiers are killed and two others wounded in a shooting attack in the Gaza Strip.
October 26 2003
The Israeli military has ordered thousands of Palestinians living near the steel and concrete "security fence" through the West Bank to obtain special permits to live in their own homes.
Permits ordered for Palestinians
October 28 2003
The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, asks Mr Qureia to form a new government within a week.
Arafat gives PM deadline to form government
October 30 2003
Fierce rebuke exposes rift between military and government.
Our strategy helps the terrorists - army chief warns Sharon
November 2 2003
Israel is described as the najor threat to world peace, ahead of North Korea, Afghanistan and Iran, by an unpublished European Commission poll of 7,500 Europeans, sparking an international row.
Israel outraged as EU poll names it a threat to peace
November 7 2003
Israeli troops kill a 10-year-old boy and three Palestinian gunmen in separate incidents in the Gaza Strip.
Boy, 10, killed in Gaza Strip
November 12 2003
Palestinian MPs ratify a new cabinet led by the prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, in a move seen as crucial to reviving the US-backed peace plan.
Palestinian MPs pass Qureia cabinet
November 18 2003
The European Union formally condemns Israel's controversial "security fence" in the occupied West Bank.
EU hits out at Israeli fence
November 27 2003
Ariel Sharon goes back on a personal commitment to George Bush to dismantle illegal Jewish outposts in the West Bank by saying he would allow some to remain for security reasons.
Sharon goes back on settlements pledge
November 28 2003
The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, declares Israel in violation of international law for flouting a UN resolution calling for its "security fence" around the West Bank to be dismantled.
UN's chief says fence must go
December 1 2003
The Geneva peace initiative is met with scepticism and violence on the ground as Israeli forces raid Ramallah killing three activists and a nine-year-old boy, and Palestinians rally to denounce the accord.
Israeli forces kill three Hamas activists as tanks go into Ramallah
December 7 2003
Palestinian factions fail to agree on a comprehensive ceasefire considered crucial to reviving the peace process.
Palestinians fail to agree on a ceasefire
December 8 2003
US intelligence and military sources reveal that Israeli advisers are helping train US special forces in aggressive counter-insurgency operations in Iraq.
Israel trains US assassination squads in Iraq
December 11 2003
Israeli forces reportedly kill six people during a raid on the southern Gaza town of Rafah.
Israeli army 'kills six' in Rafah raid
December 18 2003
Ariel Sharon says he is prepared to deliver an ultimatum to the Palestinians to act against terrorists or he will embark on a "unilateral separation" plan within months.
Sharon: act now or we go it alone
December 22 2003
Palestinians vent their frustration for the perceived lack of support by Arab countries by attacking the Egyptian foreign minister when he arrived to pray at Islam's third holiest site in Jerusalem.
Palestinians attack Egyptian foreign minister during visit to holy site
December 23 2003
An Israeli army raid in southern Gaza leaves eight Palestinians dead in the worst outbreak of violence in two months.
Eight dead in Gaza raid
December 25 2003
Five Palestinians, including three members of Islamic Jihad, are killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. Minutes later four Israelis are killed by a suicide bomber near Tel Aviv.
Simultaneous attacks kill nine in Middle East
December 26 2003
Israel closed the West Bank and Gaza strip and planned revenge attacks following the suicide bomb that killed four people near Tel Aviv, ending nearly three months of relative calm in the region.
Israel plans revenge over Christmas suicide attacks
December 31 2003
Israel approves a plan to double the number of settlements in the disputed Golan heights in a move likely to provoke Syrian ire.
Israel snubs Syria with Golan plan
Israeli troops raid refugee camps in the Gaza Strip and demolish two homes. Heavy gun battles accompany the incursions.
Israel raids Gaza camps
January 3 2003
It emerges that Ariel Sharon's Likud party has suffered a sharp drop in support during a corruption and organised crime scandal that has touched senior politicians, including Mr Sharon's son.
Likud's poll rating hit hard by scandal
January 5 2003
A dual suicide bombing in the heart of Tel Aviv kills 25 people, including the two bombers. Many of the victims were migrant workers from Africa, eastern Europe and the Philippines. The slaughter ends a six week lull in attacks on Israel and comes just three weeks before a general election.
Suicide bombs kill 23 in Israel
January 6 2003
Palestinian officials are barred by Israel from attending a meeting in London to discuss progress towards an independent state. The travel ban was imposed by the Israeli cabinet in direct response to the previous day's suicide bombings.
Palestinians barred from UK peace talks
January 7 2003
It emerges Israel's state attorney is investigating Mr Sharon in connection with an allegation that he lied to the police about the source of $1.5m (£930,000) used to repay illegal campaign funds.
Sharon investigated for illegal funding
January 12 2003
Israeli forces kill four Palestinians in military strikes in the Gaza Strip including two teenage boys who were hit in a botched missile attack on Hamas fugitives. In Israel's north, two Palestinian infiltrators kill an Israeli in a village near the West Bank town of Jenin before they are hunted down.
Israelis kill boys in missile blunder
January 14 2003
Defying a travel ban imposed by Israel to go to London talks organised by the British government, Palestinian leaders use a hastily arranged video link from Ramallah and Gaza. They outline far-reaching plans for political reform, a democratic constitution, and a transparent budget.
Palestinians promise major reforms
January 15 2003
The Israeli army close down two Palestinian universities which they claim had been used as "training grounds" for terrorist attacks.
Israelis close Palestinian universities
January 19 2003
Mr Sharon dismisses European peace efforts as anti-Israeli, and says only the US matters in deciding the fate of the Palestinians.
Sharon derides EU peace efforts
January 26 2003
Just two days before an Israeli general election in which Mr Sharon is campaigning on his militarist policies, Israeli forces launch their biggest raid on Gaza since the prime minister came to power two years ago. The raid kills 12 Palestinians and critically injures eight.
12 killed in Israeli raid on Gaza Strip
February 3 2003
Amram Mitzna, the leader of Israel's Labour party, refuses to join Ariel Sharon's coalition government unless the Israeli prime minister agrees to shut Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and begin negotiations with the Palestinians.
Israeli Labour party rejects Sharon's call
February 7 2003
The Israeli army arrests two dozen Palestinians in raids across the West Bank. Israeli strikes also kill at least six, including two Palestinian nurses in Gaza.
Palestinian nurses shot dead in Israeli search for bombers
February 10 2003
Following a secret meeting between Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat earlier this week, ceasefire talks between Israel and the Palestinians begin. Israeli officials describe the meetings as the start of a process that will lead to a lasting settlement with the Palestinians.
Israel in surprise peace talks
February 11 2003
The UN Palestinian refugee agency, Unrwa, reports that 1.1 million Palestinians, who are already suffering economic collapse, growing unemployment and malnutrition levels comparable to those in Congo, are threatened with food shortages because western governments have turned their backs on a UN appeal for £60m in aid funding.
Food running out in Gaza as aid appeal fails
February 13 2003
Israel's Labour party leader, Amram Mitzna, meets Tommy Lapid, the leader of Israel's third-largest party, to discuss joining a cabinet led by Ariel Sharon. Mr Mitzna, previously opposed to joining Mr Sharon's government, is reportedly softening his line in the hope that any coalition deal will include a major concession from Mr Sharon on the Palestinian issue.
Labour softens towards Likud-led coalition
February 14 2003
The Israeli government reacts furiously to a ruling by the Belgian supreme court that Israeli military commanders, including Ariel Sharon, could be prosecuted for complicity in the massacre of 800 Palestinians in Lebanon in 1982. The Israeli foreign minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, calls the ruling a 'blood libel' against the Jewish people.
Israel scorns 'anti-semitic little Belgium'
February 15 2003
Yasser Arafat bows to intense international pressure and agrees to appoint a Palestinian prime minister within the next few days - a vital prerequisite for the resumption of peace talks with the Israelis.
Arafat bows to pressure to appoint PM
February 18 2003
Israel lifts its foreign travel ban on Palestinian leaders, allowing them to discuss the peace process in a series of meetings beginning in London today. The Israeli move is in acknowledgement of Yasser Arafat's pledge to devolve some of his powers to an as yet unnamed prime minister.
Palestinians head for UK talks after travel ban is lifted
February 19 2003
The Israeli intelligence service arrests 12 people, including two soldiers, accused of trading military secrets to Hizbollah in exchange for tonnes of drugs.
Israel holds 12 in Hizbullah spy ring
February 20 2003
The Israeli army kills at least 11 people during six hours of fighting in Gaza. Israel says the raid, which follows the killing of four Israeli soldiers by Hamas this week, targeted terrorist weapons factories. Israel says all the dead were armed men, while Palestinians say at least three were civilians who were crushed to death when Israeli soldiers blew up a building.
Israel turns up heat on Hamas
February 21 2003
Ariel Sharon says that he will not discuss the division of Jerusalem or the return of Palestinian refugees during peace negotiations, in a blow to the prospects of a sucessful Israeli-Palestinian settlement.
Peace hopes sink as Sharon rules out Jerusalem deal
February 24 2003
The Israeli Labour party finally rules out joining Ariel Sharon's government, after the Israeli prime minister announces the inclusion of a rightwing party, the National Religious party, in his new coalition.
Labour out in cold as Sharon shifts to right
February 26 2003
President Bush pledges a 'personal commitment' to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement after the fall of Saddam Hussein, in a speech designed to soothe the Arab world's anger over impending military action against Iraq. Meanwhile, Ariel Sharon sacks his foreign minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in a move apparently aimed at reassuring the US that his hawkish new government is serious about peace.
US pledges fresh Middle East peace push
Sharon sacks Netanyahu to smooth US ties
February 27 2003
In another blow to growing hopes of a renewed peace process in Israel, Ariel Sharon u-turns on an earlier commitment to create a Palestinian state, as envisioned by Washington's 'road map' for peace.
Sharon in Palestine state u-turn
March 3 2003
In the latest of a series of raids in Gaza, Israeli soldiers kill eight people, including a pregnant woman. Meanwhile, Tony Blair expresses frustration at the delay in publishing the interntional 'road-map' for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Blair presses for 'road map' to be published
Eight die in raid on Gaza camp
March 5 2003
At least 15 people, many of them students, are killed after a Palestinian suicide bombing of a bus in the northern Israeli town of Haifa - the first such attack in a two-month lull. In apparent response, Israeli launches helicopter gunship attacks on a Gaza refugee camp, Jabalya.
Israel attacks Gaza as bus bomb kills 15
March 7 2003
Yasser Arafat nominates his deputy in the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Mahmoud Abbas, as Palestinian prime minister-designate, as part of reforms aimed at reviving peace talks with Israel. Meanwhile, Palestinian gunmen disguised as religious Jews kill two Israelis in a raid on a West Bank settlement, hours after Israel sets up a 'security zone' in the northern Gaza Strip.
Arafat names Oslo peace pact architect as PM
Gunmen in disguise kill praying settlers
March 8 2003
One of Hamas's most senior leaders, Ibrahim al Makadme, is killed by an Israeli helicopter strike on his car. Hamas vows to avenge the assassination.
Hamas pledges revenge for killing of leader
March 14 2003
In a u-turn designed to ease the political pressure that the Iraq crisis is putting on his ally Tony Blair, George Bush announces that he will soon publish his long-awaited road map for peace in the Middle East. However, he insists the plan will only be released after the swearing-in of a Palestinian prime minister 'in a position of real authority', since Yasser Arafat still appears unwilling to cede his executive powers to another Palestinian leader.
Bush to publish road map to peace
March 16 2003
A US peace activist, Rachel Corrie, 23, is crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer in the Gaza Strip, in what witnesses describe as a deliberate killing. Meanwhile, Ariel Sharon announces that he will press the US to amend its road map for peace so that all references to an independent Palestinian state are excluded.
Israeli army bulldozer crushes US peace protester in Gaza Strip
No independent Palestine, Sharon insists
March 18 2003
After a last-ditch effort to cling to some of his powers, Yasser Arafat signs legislation surrendering most of his authority to a new Palestinian prime minister, opening the way for the release of the 'road map' peace plan.
Arafat forced to give up most powers to new PM
March 19 2003
Mahmoud Abbas officially accepts Yasser Arafat's offer of the post of Palestinian prime minister. He is expected to be sworn in after he selects a new cabinet, when the US will publish its long-awaited peace plan.
Arafat appoints new prime minister
March 30 2003
A suicide bomber blows himself up in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya, injuring 58 people. The attack, marking Palestinian 'Land Day', is the first suicide bombing in Israel since the start of the war in Iraq.
Suicide bomb a 'gift to Iraq'
April 2 2003
Israeli forces launch two days of raids on occupied Palestinian territories, killing six Palestinians, including a 14-year-old, and detaining more than 1,000 boys and men.
Six killed in Israeli raids on West Bank
April 8 2003
President Bush announces that he will publish the internationally-brokered 'road map' peace plan, outlining the steps to a Palestinian state within three years, once the recently named future Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, names his cabinet. Meanwhile a senior Hamas leader, Sa'ad al-Arabeed, and four other Palestinians are killed in a targeted Israeli air strike.
Israel plays down president's push for 'road map' to end conflict
April 9 2003
A bomb, which may have been planted by Jewish extremists, explodes in a West Bank school playground in a village south of Jenin, injuring 20 Palestinian children.
Playground bombing injures 20 Palestinians
April 13 2003
Yasser Arafat angrily rejects the choices of the Palestinian prime minister designate, Mahmoud Abbas, for a new Palestinian cabinet, in a rift that threatens to disrupt tentative moves to establish an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.
Arafat jeopardises peace by rejecting new cabinet
April 15 2003
The US military in Baghdad says it has captured Abu Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Front, who masterminded the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro.
Achille Lauro plotter caught
April 17 2003
Washington officials claim the US is putting pressure on Israel to accept the internationally-brokered road map for peace, in a bid to restart the peace process after the Iraq war. An Israeli delegation sent to the US capital to suggest 14 amendments to the internationally-brokered 'road map' for peace was told there would be no changes before publication, a US official says.
Americans lean on Israel to make concessions
April 20 2003
The Israeli military carries out one of the largest raids in Gaza since the start of the intifada, killing six people and wounding 48 in Rafah, a town in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Six killed as Israeli tanks push into Gaza
April 23 2003
Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian prime minister-delegate, Mahmoud Abbas, finally agree on the composition of the new Palestinian cabinet after frantic last-minute negotiations. In response to the move, the US indicates that it will publish its long-awaited road map for peace some time next week. Meanwhile, a Palestinian suicide bomber blows himself up at a crowded railway station in central Israel, killing a security guard who tried to prevent him from entering the building.
Arafat yields in battle over new cabinet
April 27 2003
Britain sharply criticises Israel over its plans to build a 'separation fence' around the entire Palestinian territory of the West Bank. Palestinian leaders have said that the fence, which will be around six metres high, topped with barbed wire and lined with guard towers, will make any new Palestinian state little more than a reservation.
UK censures Sharon over fence around West Bank
April 28 2003
The Palestinian prime minister-designate, Mahmoud Abbas, says he will not travel abroad to meet foreign politicians until Israel lifts its travel ban on Yasser Arafat. President Bush is expected to invite Mr Abbas to Washington if the Palestinian parliament approves his cabinet this week. An Egyptian mediator reportedly assured Mr Arafat that his freedom would be restored if he approved Mr Abbas's ministerial choices, but the Israeli government has denied it agreed to the plan.
I won't travel until Arafat can, says PM-to-be
April 30 2003
The US releases its long-awaited road map for peace to Israeli and Palestinian leaders hours after the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, known as Abu Mazen, and his cabinet are sworn in. But, on the same day that Mr Abbas pledges to take the first step on the road map by cracking down on Palestinian terrorists, a suicide bombing at a bar in Tel Aviv kills three Israelis. Hamas and al-Aqsa claim joint responsibility, but Israeli police say that the suicide bomber and his accomplice, who escaped unharmed, were British.
US releases 'road map' amid underlying tensions
The British suicide bombers
May 1 2003
Israeli troops raid the home of a Hamas bombmaker in Gaza, killing 14 Palestinians, including two boys aged two and 13, during a fierce gun battle.
Boy, 2, among 14 killed by Israeli troops
May 4 2003
The leader of Israel's Labour party, Amram Mitzna, resigns.
Israeli Labour leader resigns
May 10 2003
US secretary of state Colin Powell arrives in Israel for talks with Ariel Sharon and Abu Mazen on the US-backed road map to peace.
Powell detours from tough issues in road map talks
May 14 2003
The body of Briton Omar Sharif is found floating in the sea off Tel Aviv. Sharif was wanted in connection with the attack on a Tel Aviv bar that killed three bystanders.
May 17 2003
Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, meets his Palestinian counterpart, Abu Mazen, in Jerusalem, for three hours of talks. A suicide bomber kills an Israeli man and his pregnant wife in Hebron.
Bomb mars Middle East peace talks
May 18 2003
A suicide bomber disguised as an Orthodox Jew blows up an Israeli bus in Jerusalem, killing seven passengers.
Sharon calls off US visit after bomb kills seven
May 19 2003
A suicide bomber kills two people in a shopping centre in Afula, Israel.
Two killed in fifth attack in three days
May 25 2003
The Israeli cabinet reluctantly votes to accept the US-led "road map" to an independent Palestinian state within three years. But Ariel Sharon's government attaches opt-out clauses and demands which reinforce Palestinian fears that Israel is seeking to buy time.
Israeli cabinet vote fails to convince Palestinians that Sharon is serious
June 4 2003
The summit meeting between Ariel Sharon, Abu Mazen and the US president, George Bush, convenes in Aqaba, Jordan. Sharon pledges to support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Abu Mazen says: "The armed intifada must end." Fearing the road map will spell the end of illegal settlements on Palestinian land, thousands of Israeli settlers protest in Jerusalem.
Sharon endorses Palestinian state
Settlers protest against road map
June 10 2003
Israel draws stinging criticism from Washington, accusations of terrorism from its Palestinian partner in the peace process and a vow by Hamas to respond in kind after an army helicopter tried to assassinate the Hamas political leader in Gaza.
June 11 2003
A teenage suicide bomber dressed as an Orthodox Jew kills 16 people on a rush-hour bus in the heart of Jerusalem, fulfilling a vow by the militant Islamist movement Hamas to avenge a botched Israeli attempt to assassinate itspolitical leader a day earlier.
Day of carnage leaves Middle East in chaos
June 13 2003
Israeli helicopter gunships fire three missiles at a car, killing one person and wounding 22, including seven children.
Israeli gunships fire on car in Gaza
June 17 2003
Gunmen kill an Israeli girl on a road near the West Bank, feeding a cycle of violence that has battered the road map to peace which the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, will try to rescue in a regional visit this week.
Girl shot as Abbas ceasefire plea fails
June 22 2003
Israel delivers another blow to the faltering road map to peace with the assassination of a Hamas leader, drawing threats of retaliation from the Islamic organisation and implicit criticism from the US secretary of state, Colin Powell.
Israel road map suffers new blow
June 29 2003
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement formally announce a three month ceasefire.
Hopes muted as road map traps Israel and Hamas in fragile standoff
June 20 2003
The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, warns the Israelis and Palestinians to "move with great speed" to build confidence in the US-led road map to peace, or risk Hamas wrecking the process.
Speed is of the essence for road map, says Powell
June 30 2003
Israel relinquishes control of much of the Gaza Strip's main motorway as it continued to withdraw its forces from Palestinian territories under the peace road map.
Israel withdraws from northern Gaza
July 1 2003
The Israeli government accuses the BBC of competing with the "worst of Nazi propaganda" and severs ties with the corporation over a documentary broadcast internationally.
Israel cuts links with BBC
July 3 2003
Israel's army chief claims victory over the Palestinian intifada, saying the ceasefire announced by Hamas and other groups is an admission of defeat.
Israeli claim of victory denounced
July 6 2003
The Israeli cabinet reluctantly agrees to free several hundred Palestinian prisoners to bolster the US-led road map to peace.
Palestinian anger as Israel agrees to free 400
July 8 2003
An Islamic Jihad cell claims responsibility for a suicide bombing in an Israeli village that killed a 65-year-old woman.
Palestinian bombing threatens fragile ceasefire
July 10 2003
Downing Street confirms that the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, is to travel to London for talks with Tony Blair on the Middle East peace process.
It emerges that Mr Sharon has barred the BBC from his meeting with the British press amid accusations that the corporation made false allegations against Israel in a report on weapons of mass destruction.
Blair to hold talks with Israeli PM
Sharon shuns BBC over documentary
July 14 2003
Tony Blair's hopes of improving relations with Ariel Sharon suffer a blow as the prime minister is forced to rebuff an attempt by his Israeli counterpart topersuade Britain to sever all contact with Yasser Arafat.
Israeli ploy on Arafat backfires
July 25 2003
President George Bush hosts a Palestinian prime minister at the White House for the first time in his presidency, in a visit designed to quicken a sluggish peace process and shore up the authority of his guest.
Talks with Bush boost Palestinian leader
July 25 2003
An Israeli soldier shoots dead a four-year-old Palestinian boy and injures two other children, when he fires a tank-mounted machine gun at a northern West Bank roadblock.
Israeli soldier kills Palestinian boy
July 27 2003
Ariel Sharon cajoles his reluctant cabinet into agreeing to release more than 200 Hamas and Islamic Jihad prisoners in an attempt to stave off pressure for further concessions from the US.
Sharon sways cabinet into freeing prisoners
July 29 2003
Ariel Sharon shrugs off President George Bush's request to halt construction on the security fence through the West Bank, vowing that the work will continue.
Sharon says barrier will stay despite Bush plea
August 4 2003
Palestinians condemn a list of prisoners that Israel plans to release from its jails, saying that the number is below what had originally been promised.
Palestinians condemn Israel's prisoner release list
August 5 2003
Palestinian and Israeli leaders cancel their summit as the US-backed road map to peace runs into further trouble.
Abbas and Sharon cancel meeting
August 5 2003
Israel calls a halt to its military withdrawal from Palestinian cities following the wounding of a Jewish settler and her three children near Bethlehem.
Israel suspends pullback from occupied areas
August 6 2003
The Bush administration threatens to impose financial sanctions on Israel if it persists in pushing its security fence and wall deep into Palestinian territory.
Israel's fence draws threat of US sanctions
August 6 2003
More than 300 Palestinian men walk free from Israeli military prisons to be snubbed by their own leaders but hailed by Ariel Sharon as evidence of Israel's commitment to peace.
Joy and anger as Israel frees 339
August 8 2003
Two Jewish settlers are charged with possessing explosives stolen from the army, allegedly in preparation for a "terrorist attack" on Palestinian civilians.
Jewish settlers on explosives charges
August 11 2003
Israeli aircraft attack suspected Hizbullah positions in southern Lebanon, hours after guerrillas kill a teenage boy and injure five people.
Israel attacks Hizbullah after fatal shelling
August 12 2003
Four people, including the two bombers, die in back-to-back suicide attacks in Israel and the West Bank as the Middle East peace process suffers a further setback.
Four killed in suicide attacks
August 13 2003
Israeli troops kill a top Islamic Jihad fugitive in a raid on his hideout, prompting threats of revenge by the militant group and placing further strain on an already shaky ceasefire.
Islamic Jihad fugitive killed in shoot-out
August 17 2003
Efforts to keep the Middle East road map peace process on track hit a snag when an agreement to transfer control of four West Bank cities to the Palestinian Authority falls apart at the last minute.
Peace talks held up by roadblocks
August 18 2003
A deal for Israel to pull troops out of four West Bank cities is expected to be finalised in a move to bolster a six-week-old ceasefire threatened by renewed violence.
Palestinians expect checkpoint deal to clinch Israeli pullout from four West Bank cities
August 19 2003
A Palestinian suicide bomber blows apart a bus in the heart of Jerusalem, killing at least 20 people, including children, wounding more than 100 and inflicting the most serious blow yet to the six-week-old ceasefire.
Palestinian suicide bomber kills 20 and shatters peace process
August 21 2003
Palestinian militant groups call off their ceasefire after Israel launches a helicopter strike in Gaza. Three people, including Ismail Abu Shanab, a political leader of Hamas, are killed.
Palestinian militants call off ceasefire
September 1 2003
Israeli helicopters kill a Hamas activist, wound a second and injure 25 bystanders in a missile attack on Gaza City.
Missile kills Hamas activist
September 4 2003
The Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, tells parliament to back him in a power struggle with Yasser Arafat or sack his government.
Back me or lose me, warns Abbas
September 5 2003
Israeli troops kill a Hamas commander in the West Bank city of Nablus. The raid could further undermine the troubled leadership of Mahmoud Abbas.
Hamas commander killed in West Bank raid
September 6 2003
The Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, resigns amid a power struggle with Yasser Arafat and an upsurge of violence.
Palestinian prime minister resigns
September 7 2003
Yasser Arafat nominates the speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Ahmed Qureia, to be prime minister and oversee a crumbling peace process further jeopardised by pledges from Ariel Sharon and Hamas to destroy each other.
Arafat backs new Palestine leader
September 8 2003
Yasser Arafat's nominee for prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, demands guarantees from Washington and Europe that they will force a major shift in Israel's treatment of the Palestinians before he accepts the post.
Arafat's nominee sets out his demands
September 9 2003
Fifteen die in suicide attacks on troops and nightspot.
Bombers hit back at Israel
September 10 2003
Israeli warplanes bomb the home of a senior Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, wounding him and his wife and killing two others, including his son.
Hamas leader's son killed in Israeli attack
September 11 2003
Cabinet's response to suicide bombings seeks revenge as Palestinians mount show of defiance.
Israelis threaten to exile Arafat
September 12 2003
The Arab League says that Israel is declaring "war" on Middle East diplomacy by threatening to expel the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat.
Israeli threat of exile strengthens Arafat's hand
Israeli threat to expel Arafat denounced
September 13 2003
Palestinians search for options as chances of two states recede, reports Conal Urquhart in Jerusalem.
Gaza shifts to a new solution
September 14 2003
The Israeli government is considering killing Yasser Arafat as one of the means to carry out its threat to "remove" him as an obstacle to peace, Israel's deputy prime minister says.
September 15 2003
Britain gives the Israeli government a fierce dressing down, warning that any Israeli plan to assassinate Yasser Arafat is unacceptable.
Death threat rebuke for Israel
Israel may kill Arafat, deputy PM says
September 16 2003
The US vetoes a UN resolution demanding that Israel neither harms nor expels the Palestinian authority president, Yasser Arafat.
US vetoes UN call to protect Arafat
September 24 2003
A group of Israeli airforce pilots declare their refusal to fly missions which could endanger civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israeli pilots refuse to fly assassination missions
September 25 2003
Edward Said - scholar, literary critic and the most eloquent supporter of the Palestinian cause - dies in New York after a long battle against leukaemia.
Scholar Edward Said dies
September 30 2003
Marwan Baghouti delivers his closing speech at his trial.
Intifada leader uses courtroom to point to one-state solution
October 1 2003
The Israel cabinet votes to extend the West Bank 'security fence'.
Israeli cabinet extends 'security fence'
October 4 2003
A female suicide bomber kills 20 people in an attack on a Haifa cafe.
Bomber kills 20 in holiday horror
The revenger's tragedy: why women turn to suicide bombing
October 5 2003
Israeli planes launch their deepest raid into Syria for 30 years, attacking a Palestinian "terrorist training base" north of Damascus.
Israeli jets hit Syria camp in blast revenge
October 7 2003
The Guardian reports that Yasser Arafat has suffered a mild heart attack but the Palestinian leadership has sought to keep his health problems secret for fear it will "create panic".
Arafat has suffered heart attack, admits aide
October 9 2003
The new Palestinian government is thrown into jeopardy when the new prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, threatens to resign in a dispute with Yasser Arafat.
New PM could quit in row with ailing Arafat
October 9-12 2003
The Israeli army fights its way into Rafah refugee camp in Gaza, ostensibly in search of weapons smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt. At the raid's end, three tunnels had been found, while more than 100 homes had been rocketed or flattened by bulldozers, about 1,500 people left homeless and two children killed after an Israeli helicopter fired a missile into a crowd.
Six die as Israelis seek tunnels
Rafah counts its dead as Israeli tanks pull out
October 15 2003
Palestinian militants launch a large bomb attack on a US embassy convoy driving through Gaza, killing three American security guards and severely wounding a diplomat. Meanwhile, Ariel Sharon dismisses a draft peace agreement drawn up by leftwing Israeli politicians and Palestinian leaders as the "greatest historic mistake" since the Oslo peace accords a decade ago.
Three killed in Gaza convoy blast
Israeli PM sneers at watershed peace bid with Palestinians
October 19 2003
Three Israeli soldiers are killed in an ambush by Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank.
October 20 2003
Israeli aircraft kill 10 people and injure nearly 100 others in five waves of air strikes in Gaza.
Israeli jets kill 10 in wave of attacks on Gaza
October 21 2003
Israel says it will ignore a resolution passed by the general assembly of the UN calling on it tear down its West Bank "security fence". Meanwhile, Hamas launches a barrage of missiles at targets inside and outside Gaza. It comes in response to the heaviest air raids ever carried out by the Israeli military.
Israel defies UN over 'security fence'
Hamas barrage follows Israeli raids
October 23 2003
Three Israeli soldiers are killed and two others wounded in a shooting attack in the Gaza Strip.
October 26 2003
The Israeli military has ordered thousands of Palestinians living near the steel and concrete "security fence" through the West Bank to obtain special permits to live in their own homes.
Permits ordered for Palestinians
October 28 2003
The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, asks Mr Qureia to form a new government within a week.
Arafat gives PM deadline to form government
October 30 2003
Fierce rebuke exposes rift between military and government.
Our strategy helps the terrorists - army chief warns Sharon
November 2 2003
Israel is described as the najor threat to world peace, ahead of North Korea, Afghanistan and Iran, by an unpublished European Commission poll of 7,500 Europeans, sparking an international row.
Israel outraged as EU poll names it a threat to peace
November 7 2003
Israeli troops kill a 10-year-old boy and three Palestinian gunmen in separate incidents in the Gaza Strip.
Boy, 10, killed in Gaza Strip
November 12 2003
Palestinian MPs ratify a new cabinet led by the prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, in a move seen as crucial to reviving the US-backed peace plan.
Palestinian MPs pass Qureia cabinet
November 18 2003
The European Union formally condemns Israel's controversial "security fence" in the occupied West Bank.
EU hits out at Israeli fence
November 27 2003
Ariel Sharon goes back on a personal commitment to George Bush to dismantle illegal Jewish outposts in the West Bank by saying he would allow some to remain for security reasons.
Sharon goes back on settlements pledge
November 28 2003
The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, declares Israel in violation of international law for flouting a UN resolution calling for its "security fence" around the West Bank to be dismantled.
UN's chief says fence must go
December 1 2003
The Geneva peace initiative is met with scepticism and violence on the ground as Israeli forces raid Ramallah killing three activists and a nine-year-old boy, and Palestinians rally to denounce the accord.
Israeli forces kill three Hamas activists as tanks go into Ramallah
December 7 2003
Palestinian factions fail to agree on a comprehensive ceasefire considered crucial to reviving the peace process.
Palestinians fail to agree on a ceasefire
December 8 2003
US intelligence and military sources reveal that Israeli advisers are helping train US special forces in aggressive counter-insurgency operations in Iraq.
Israel trains US assassination squads in Iraq
December 11 2003
Israeli forces reportedly kill six people during a raid on the southern Gaza town of Rafah.
Israeli army 'kills six' in Rafah raid
December 18 2003
Ariel Sharon says he is prepared to deliver an ultimatum to the Palestinians to act against terrorists or he will embark on a "unilateral separation" plan within months.
Sharon: act now or we go it alone
December 22 2003
Palestinians vent their frustration for the perceived lack of support by Arab countries by attacking the Egyptian foreign minister when he arrived to pray at Islam's third holiest site in Jerusalem.
Palestinians attack Egyptian foreign minister during visit to holy site
December 23 2003
An Israeli army raid in southern Gaza leaves eight Palestinians dead in the worst outbreak of violence in two months.
Eight dead in Gaza raid
December 25 2003
Five Palestinians, including three members of Islamic Jihad, are killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. Minutes later four Israelis are killed by a suicide bomber near Tel Aviv.
Simultaneous attacks kill nine in Middle East
December 26 2003
Israel closed the West Bank and Gaza strip and planned revenge attacks following the suicide bomb that killed four people near Tel Aviv, ending nearly three months of relative calm in the region.
Israel plans revenge over Christmas suicide attacks
December 31 2003
Israel approves a plan to double the number of settlements in the disputed Golan heights in a move likely to provoke Syrian ire.
Israel snubs Syria with Golan plan