Palestinian leaders from Hamas and Fatah paid tribute to the Al-Aqsa intifada on Tuesday as they marked the 10th anniversary of the devastating Palestinian uprising. "The intifada restored the dignity of the Palestinian people and brought them closer to victory and liberation," Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya said during a special meeting of his government in Gaza.
"Our people will not hand over their weapons nor stop the resistance because it is our legitimate right as long as there is an occupation," he said. Tuesday marks a decade since Ariel Sharon's controversial visit to the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, an event that sparked deadly violence that soon engulfed the occupied territories. Over the next four years scores of Palestinian suicide bombers struck inside Israel as Israel sent tanks, bulldozers and fighter jets into cities and towns across the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.