(Communicated by the Prime Minister’s Office)

Today (Thursday), 29 September 2005, marks five years since the start of the current round of Palestinian violence and terrorism, during which 26,159 terrorist attacks were perpetrated against Israeli targets, 1,060 Israelis were murdered and 6,089 were wounded. The fifth year brought with it many changes, beginning with the death of Yasser Arafat on 4 November 2004 and including the rise of current Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Abu Mazen.

On 22 January 2005, a calm was declared in the context of which Abu Mazen is trying to calm the terrorism and improve the security situation through agreements with the rejectionist organizations. While there has been a reduction in the number of terrorist attacks in comparison to previous years, the declaration has not led to a halt in terrorist attacks. From 29 September 2004 until the present, 3,530 terrorist attacks were perpetrated in which 57 Israelis were killed and 516 wounded; in the preceding year there were 3,877 terrorist attacks, in which 135 Israelis were killed and 567 wounded.