Intifada (1987–1992, 2000–2003)

The Arabic term for “shaking off,” intifada refers to two separate periods of uprising and revolt by Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. In 1947, the United Nations decided to partition the historic land of Palestine, designating the areas of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem for the purpose of the creation of a Palestinian state. During the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the Israeli military captured and occupied these lands. The United Nations declared the illegitimacy of lands captured during wartime and demanded that Israel end its occupation. Israel, however, initiated a settlement program that resulted in a transfer of populations. Large areas of Palestinian land were confiscated, and large settlements were erected on these sites. The government offered subsidies and other benefits to Israeli citizens to move into these settlements.

In the 1970s, Menachem Begin, of the Likud Party, served as prime minister, followed in 1983 by the election of Yitzhak Shamir, also of the Likud Party. Both leaders sought actively to incorporate the occupied Palestinian territories as part of the state of Israel. This plan was carried out on many levels: the settlement program was intensified, resulting in more confiscation of Palestinian land; Palestinians accused (though not tried and/or found guilty) of political activism were deported; large numbers of Palestinians were routinely arrested, held without being charged for months, and even tortured in prison; and Palestinians were forced to pay heavy fines and exorbitant taxes, and to deal with security checkpoints and other administrative hassles that frequently obstructed their ability to work and carry out daily, routine tasks. For Palestinians, life under occupation had been difficult since 1967, but under the Begin and Shamir governments, it became unbearable.

On December 8, 1987, a traffic accident involving an Israeli military vehicle killed four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The next day, thousands of Palestinians held a demonstration to express their outrage, which turned deadly when Israeli soldiers shot into the crowd, killing three protestors.

The residents of the Gaza Strip, and later the West Bank, launched the revolt called the Intifada. Led mostly by young people, demonstrators threw stones at Israeli soldiers, burned tires, and held demonstrations calling for an end to the Israeli occupation. Within a few weeks, when the Intifada had proved it could endure, the Unified National Leadership (UNL, also known as the Unified National Leadership of the Uprising) was formed to direct the movement. In January 1988, the UNL, which had to operate covertly, began coordinating the uprising by distributing leaflets that offered instructions and issued directives for protest activities. The UNL and other Palestinian leaders issued a 14-point mission, for the purpose of the Intifada, titled the “Fourteen Demands.”

The overall strategy of the Intifada was to use the methods of civil disobedience: demonstrations, boycotts of Israeli products, store closures, and strikes. By making the occupation a financial burden on the Israeli government, the Palestinians hoped to convince it to vacate their land. The Israeli government responded harshly to the Intifada, however, by stepping up arrests, shooting and killing demonstrators, and imposing mass curfews on entire populations. The death toll was high: By the time the Intifada ended in 1992, more than 1,000 Palestinians had been killed and more than 37,000 injured.

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