Intifada (1987–1991)

INTIFADA (1987–1991)

Palestinian uprising.

The Intifada erupted in Israeli-occupied Gaza and the West Bank in December 1987. In broad perspective, it was a continuation of the century-old Arab–Israel conflict. The immediate cause was opposition to Israel's twenty-year occupation and military rule of Gaza, the West Bank, and Arab East Jerusalem. Under Israeli military government, there was censorship of school texts and other publications; punitive demolition of Arab homes; and the institution of a permit system for travel outside the territories and for constructing new buildings, opening businesses, digging wells, and conducting other routine daily activities. Civilian courts were replaced by Israeli military tribunals without habeas corpus and the imprisonment of Palestinians for lengthy periods without trial. Often torture was used by Israeli security services.

Israeli plans for integration of the occupied territories included control and allocation of water resources in the West Bank and Gaza and integration of the electricity grid and road network with those in Israel. Approximately half the Palestinian work-force of the territories was employed at the bottom of the Israeli wage scale, in jobs such as construction and agriculture. Many highly educated and

skilled Palestinians were forced to accept such employment bcause of deteriorating economic conditions.

During the twenty years of occupation prior to the Intifada, about half the land in the West Bank was taken over by Israeli authorities and much of it allocated to Jewish settlers. The substantial increase in the number of Jewish settlers and settlements aroused growing apprehension among Palestinians who feared that Israel would absorb or annex the territories.

By December 1987 Palestinian dissatisfaction reached a crisis. The spark that ignited the Intifada was a road accident on 8 December, in which an Israeli-driven vehicle killed or seriously wounded several Palestinians returning to Gaza from work in Israel. Reports of the incident spread quickly, resulting in protest demonstrations, first throughout Gaza and, within a few days, throughout the West Bank. When Israeli troops arrived to quell the unrest, they were pelted with stones and iron bars by hundreds of demonstrators. Children throwing stones at Israeli soldiers soon became a global symbol of the Intifada.

The extent and intensity of the uprising caught Israeli, Palestinian, and Arab leaders by surprise. Shortly after the first spontaneous demonstrations in December, the uprising began to be organized by young representatives of several Palestinian factions in the territories, many of them from the refugee camps and the working class. The Unified National Leadership of the Uprising (UNLU) was an underground organization with delegates representing alFatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Democratic Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DPFLP), and the Palestine Communist Organization, all banned by Israeli authorities. Representatives of Islamic Jihad at times cooperated with the UNLU, although Islamic fundamentalist factions maintained their freedom of action. Membership in the UNLU frequently rotated, making it difficult for the occupation authorities to apprehend the leaders.

Because of the overwhelming power of the Israeli military, the Intifada avoided the use of firearms. Instead, tactics included strikes and demonstrations; extensive posting of illegal slogans, flags, and symbols; boycotting Israeli-made products; resigning from posts in the military government; withholding labor from Israel; and refusing to use Israeli official documents. The UNLU and the fundamentalist factions issued instructions and political pronouncements to the Palestinian population through posters and leaflets called bayanat and through broadcasts from underground radio stations that moved from place to place.

By 1990 more than 600 Palestinians had been killed by Israelis since the beginning of the Intifada, and over 1,000 injured. Arrests and imprisonments associated with the Intifada totaled about 50,000. During this period the uprising resulted in 20 Israeli deaths.

Initial objectives of the Intifada included releasing Palestinian prisoners, ending the policy of expulsion, ceasing Jewish settlement, and removing restrictions on Palestinian political activity and contacts between those in the territories and the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) abroad. Later demands were the ending of Israeli occupation and Palestinian self-determination.

Whereas the Intifada galvanized Palestinian society, overcoming divisions among regions, religious groups, political factions, sexes, and social classes, it polarized Israel between those who called for a political solution to the Palestine problem and those who demanded greater use of force to suppress the uprising. The Intifada had a detrimental impact on Israel's economy because it required a great increase in military manpower in the territories and entailed the loss of cheap Arab labor in important sectors of the economy.

The Intifada brought the Palestine question to the forefront of international attention, leading to renewed attempts by the United States and Western Europe to find a solution. As a result, the PLO gave greater consideration to the views of Palestinians resident in the territories, and declared in December 1988 that it would accept the coexistence of Israel and a Palestinian state within the West Bank and Gaza. The Intifada and the 1990 Gulf War were catalysts that led to the Middle East peace conference that opened in Madrid in 1991.

See also Aqsa Intifada, al-; Arab–Israel Conflict; Fatah, al-; Gulf War (1991); Islamic Jihad; Israel; Israeli Settlements; Palestine; Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO); Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; West Bank.

Bibliography

Lockman, Zachary, and Beinin, Joel, eds. Intifada: The Palestinian Uprising against Israeli Occupation. Boston: South End Press, 1989.

Nassar, Jamal R., and Heacock, Roger, eds. Intifada: Palestine at the Crossroads. New York: Praeger, 1990.

O'Balance, Edgar. The Palestinian Intifada. London and New York: Macmillan and St. Martin's Press, 1998.

Peretz, Don. Intifada: The Palestinian Uprising. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1990.

Schiff, Zeʾev, and Yaʾari, Ehud. Intifada: The Palestinian Uprising—Israel's Third Front. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990.

don peretz