[1] Other possible reasons are Sharon's massive lead in opinion polling, and the lack of enthusiasm among Barak supporters due to his perceived failings, notably, the failure of the 2000 Camp David talks with the Palestinians, and the "turbine affair" in which Barak yielded to the religious parties' pressure, violating previous promises.

The following month, the UN confirmed that Israel's force deployment was now entirely consistent with the various security council resolutions with regard to Lebanon.

Israel would therefore have gained an additional 6–10% of the West Bank, including more of East Jerusalem than previously held, and Palestinian leaders would have had to give up the Right of Return.

Policemen used tear-gas and opened fire with rubber-coated bullets and later live ammunition in some instances, many times in contravention with police protocol governing crowd-dispersion.

In addition, the severity of the events in which main highways were blocked, many vehicles were attacked, communities and government institutions were attacked, full or partial blockade was imposed on several towns, and in which many shops were burned, led also to a decrease in Ehud Barak's popularity among the Israeli Jewish public.

An investigation committee, headed by Supreme Court Justice Theodor Or, reviewed the protests and found that the police were poorly prepared to handle such disturbances and charged major officers with bad conduct.

The committee also blamed Arab leaders and Knesset members for contributing to inflaming the atmosphere and making the violence more severe.