The history of the Intifada

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The First Intifada (1987-1991)

Intifada Revival in Palestine?: By Hans Lebrecht, People's Weekly World, 1 July 1995. Israeli military attacks on civilians is feeding Palestinian popular anger.
Intifada Rekindled!: Al-Akhbar, London 26 September 1996. The Israeli brutal response to initially peaceful protests. It is highly unlikely that peace or stability can ever prevail unless the Israelis recognise that the Palestinians are humans who have rights and feelings. Israel's provocative policies and the violation of human rights at by Israeli troops and security agencies are bound to rekindle the Intifada.
Who Remembers the Intifada?: Editorial, Challenge, [28 December 1997]. A picture has emerged from the Albright-Netanyahu negotiations that bodes no good for the Palestinians. The tenth anniversary of the Intifada slipped by quietly because of dashed hopes, pervasive corruption, and a regime that tortures its own people. The Palestinians have lost again, but the feeling of wrong means the war is not over. The situation demands true leadership to arise. This the Intifada taught.

The Second Intifada (2000- )

ODA Position Paper on the Intifada of al-Aksa

The Organization for Democratic Action, 11 October 2000. All the understandings and arrangements by which Israel ruled the Occupied Territories (by means of the Palestinian Authority) and its Arab citizens (by means of the Supreme Monitoring Committee) have collapsed, and this heralds the start of a new era. Whereas the Oslo Accords assumed Israeli supremacy, their failure has shown it is in the power of the the masses to change the situation.

U.S. Gives green light to Israel repression: Palestinian uprising defends sovereignty

By Richard Becker, Workers World, 12 October 2000. Provoked by The fascist Sharon and fired on by occupation troops, the Palestinian people have launched a new uprising—a new Intifada, the first since that of 1987-1991.

Intifada from the bottom up

By Yacov Ben Efrat, Mid-East Realities, 12 November 2000. The Palestinian Authority is bound to Israel by an umbilical cord. It is Israel's creation, set up to hold the Palestinian people in check. The Aksa intifada in Israel has drawn Arab citizens into the struggle for the first time, while pushing the Labor Party rightward; in the wider Arab world, it directly threatens the existing regimes, which have no choice but to hear its demands. The original of 1987-1990 had a clear program, but remained cooped up within the Occupied Territories. The Second Intifada has no program, but engages the wider world.

The tragedy deepens

By Edward Said, Al-Ahram Weekly, 10 December 2000< Whatever the reason for the Intifada's lull, the essential problems remain, and the Israelis continue their blind and finally stupid assault on Palestinians with the strangulation, economic blockade, and bombings of cities and towns continuing without respite. It is Zionism that we fight against. The Intifada is against Oslo and the people who constructed it, including the small, irresponsible coterie of Palestinian officials.

Time to turn to the other front

By Edward Said, Al-Ahram Weekly On-line, 29 March - 4 April 2001. News of the Palestinian Intifada has gradually disappeared from the cowed media. The Palestinian Intifada is unprotected and ineffective so long as it does not appear to be a struggle for liberation in the West.

A walking time bomb

By Yoel Marcus, Ha'aretz, 7 March 2002. The Hamas organization is highly motivated, it has the personnel, it has the equipment and, if a strategic decision is made to renew terror attacks, it is almost certain that we will see an increase. The calm now is because Palestinian Authority and Hamas's leadership agree that acts of terror will only sabotage the Palestinians' efforts to achieve their goals. But the Palestinian people are restive; their fascination with Hezbollah. If we do not reach a peace settlement with the Palestinians, we will never achieve a real peace with any Arab state.