After waves of suicide attacks early in the year, Israel re-occupied almost all of the West Bank in March, and again in June. For most of 2002, Palestinian cities were regularly raided, remained cut off from each other, surrounded and under curfew for long periods of time.

In April, Israeli forces entered and captured the refugee camp in northern West Bank city of Jenin. The Palestinians claimed massacre. The Israeli army, which took heavy casualties, said it met heavy organised resistance, and insisted that 52 Palestinians were killed.

A UN report criticised both sides for "violence that placed civilians in harm's way", and concluded that there was no massacre of civilians. A report by the human rights group Amnesty International concluded however that that the Israeli army had committed war crimes during its incursions into the West Bank towns of Jenin and Nablus.

In May, a five-week standoff at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity ended when 13 Palestinian militants were sent into exile. A large group of Palestinians had taken refuge in the church when Israeli troops moved into the town.

Israeli officials said the operations in the West Bank and Gaza throughout 2002 were aimed at destroying the Palestinian terrorist infrastructure. Through the year, suicide attacks continued, though at a reduced rate.

For the second year running the peace process was in deep freeze. The Quartet, the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union tried to revive it with the "roadmap" for Middle East settlement. The publication of the document was delayed by wrangling over its contents in 2002. Diplomatic initiatives were put on hold until after the US-led war in Iraq in April 2003 when the roadmap was published.

In June, President George Bush made a long-anticipated statement on the Middle East. He called for Palestinians to replace their leader with one not "compromised by terror".