BBC News | September 11: One year on

Israel argued that its own conflict with Palestinian militants should be seen as anti-terrorism and not the suppression of national aspirations. After a series of Palestinian suicide bombings, President Bush accepted this argument, while at the same time calling for new Palestinian leadership and the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state.

The Palestinian groups Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Brigades continued their efforts to attack Israeli targets, including civilians.

In a series of operations, which saw the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem under siege and a fierce battle in the refugee camp in Jenin, Israel re-occupied the Palestinian territories and hopes of a peace settlement were as far away as they had been for a generation.

The BBC's Middle East correspondent Orla Guerin details the traumas suffered by both sides and the difficulties of breaking the cycle of violence

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