Operation Defensive Shield
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Operation Defensive Shield was a 2002 Israeli military operation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank during the Second Intifada. Lasting for just over a month, it was the largest combat operation in the
Israeli soldiers taking cover behind an M113 APC in Qalqilya, April 2002
Israeli soldiers in Jenin
Israeli soldiers in Nablus
Israeli paratroopers serving in Nablus as part of Operation Defensive Shield
Yasser Arafat
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Yasser Arafat, also popularly known by his kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization from 1969 to 2004, President of Palestine from
Operation Defensive Shield
…was the largest combat operation in the territory since the 1967 Arab–Israeli War. The operation began with an Israeli incursion into Ramallah, where Yasser Arafat was placed under siege at his compound. This was followed by successive incursions into the six largest West Bank cities and their surrounding localities…
Arafat in 1996
Arafat (right) with his sister Khadija and brother Fathi in Cairo, 1942
Arafat with Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader, Nayef Hawatmeh and Palestinian writer Kamal Nasser at press conference in Amman, 1970
Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser (center) mediating an agreement between Arafat and Jordanian King Hussein to end to the Black September conflict, during the emergency Arab League summit, September 1970