Yes, celebrated.
They have twisted the wave of terror into a fiction that the suicide bombers blowing up children in pizza shops is an example of how "the Palestinian people sacrificed thousands of martyrs, wounded and prisoners in sacrifice for Al-Aqsa."
What, in fact, was accomplished?
- About 3,000 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces
- About 580 Palestinians killed by other Palestinians
- Thousands of Palestinians arrested
How about Al Aqsa? How well was that defended?
Well, in 2000, Jews could not easily visit the Temple Mount at all, and the Israeli police did not go up there to protect them. Now, scores of religious Jews visit and quietly pray there every weekday and the Israeli police go up as needed to preserve order. every year, more Jews visit.
Doesn't sound like much of a victory from the Muslim perspective.
Others say that the intifada was a victory because it united all Palestinians. But Hamas and Fatah split in 2007, and have remained separate since then, so unity is not the reason they are celebrating.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians lost their jobs in Israel as a result of the terror spree. The unemployment rate skyrocketed from about 7% in early 2000 to as high as 35% in 2002 and it has never gone below 20% since.
Moreover, in September 2000, Palestinians were closer to having their own state than at any time in their short history as a people. The intifada helped destroy those chances, and even the Israeli Left that had pushed so hard for peace became disillusioned with their "moderate partners."
So why are the Palestinians celebrating? Their lives are worse by every possible metric.
Here's why:
Because they succeeded in murdering about a thousand Jews, most of them civilians.
That is their "victory."
As long as they manage to kill Jews, all their own deaths and misery and political prices are worth it.
Palestinians are overwhelmingly and institutionally antisemitic. Every poll proves this. Their public celebrations every time a Jew gets killed even now proves it. Antisemitism is not coincidental with their behavior, but a major driver. And their fond memories of the second intifada is merely one more proof of the centrality of Jew-hatred to their very identity - a proof that the West is still reluctant to admit.
