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civil disobedience, including massive demonstrations,
general strikes, refusal to pay taxes, boycotts of Israeli
products, political graffiti and the establishment of underground
schools (since regular schools were closed by the military
as reprisals for the uprising). It also included stone throwing,
Molotov cocktails and the erection of barricades to impede
the movement of Israeli military forces.
Intifada activism was organized through popular
committees under the umbrella of the United National Leadership
of the Uprising. The UNLU was a coalition of the four PLO parties
active in the occupied territories: Fatah, the PFLP, the DFLP
and the PPP. This broad-based resistance drew unprecedented
international attention to the situation facing Palestinians
in the West Bank and Gaza, and challenged the occupation as
never before.
Under the leadership of Minister of Defense Yitzhak
Rabin, Israel tried to smash the intifada with "force, power
and blows." Army commanders instructed troops to break the
bones of demonstrators. From 1987 to 1991 Israeli forces killed
over 1,000 Palestinians, including over 200 under the age of
sixteen. By 1990, most of the UNLU leaders had been arrested
and the intifada lost its cohesive force, although it continued
for several more years. Political divisions and violence within
the Palestinian community escalated, especially the growing
rivalry between the various PLO factions and Islamist organizations
(HAMAS and Islamic Jihad). Palestinian militants killed over
250 Palestinians suspected of collaborating with the occupation
authorities and about 100 Israelis during this period.
Although the intifada did not bring an end to
the occupation, it made clear that the status quo was untenable.
The intifada shifted the center of gravity of Palestinian political
initiative from the PLO leadership in Tunis to the occupied
territories. Palestinian activists in the occupied territories
demanded that the PLO adopt a clear political program to guide
the struggle for independence. In response, the Palestine National
Council (a Palestinian government-in-exile), convened in Algeria
in November 1988, recognized the state of Israel, proclaimed
an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip, and renounced terrorism. The Israeli government did
not respond to these gestures, claiming that nothing had changed
and that the PLO was a terrorist organization with which it
would never negotiate. The US did acknowledge that the PLO's
policies had changed, but did little to encourage Israel to
abandon its intransigent stand. |
