Mideast peace hope after 1,000 days of carnage

AS the Palestinian uprising passed the 1,000-day mark amid unabated bloodshed, hope was emerging that an agreement

Thu, 26 Jun, 2003 - 01:00

Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups could herald the implementation of a peace plan and break the intifada’s daily cycle of violence.

Opinions diverge on whether the intifada was really started by the controversial September 28, 2000 visit to east Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound by then opposition leader Ariel Sharon, often considered the spark which set the region ablaze.

However, the ensuing clashes, which claimed their first victims on September 29, clearly rung the death knell for the 1990s Oslo peace process, and swept in a new level of confrontation between the two sides.