Remembering The Second Intifada

 

From the very first day that Israeli soldiers set foot on Palestine and started the occupation, the Palestinian people have fought that invasion and resisted the occupation.The word Intifada originates in the Arabic root “to shake,” and contextually means uprising. It entered the English dictionary on December 8 1987 with the eruption of the First Intifada in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip when an Israeli settler identified as Herzel Boukiza rammed his vehicle into Palestinian workers returning home through Erez/Beit Hanoun checkpoint between Israel and Gaza. Four workers from Jabalya and Maghazi in the Gaza Strip were killed in the terror attack. Protests and violence erupted; only to end in 1993 with the signature of the Oslo Accords.The word Intifada has since  become synonymous with the Palestinian unarmed rebellion against Israel’s occupation.

The Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, lasted from 28 September 2000 to 8 February 2005. This second mass resistance movement against the Israeli occupation was sparked by then-candidate for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s  and his right wing Likud party delegation, stormed the Al Aqsa mosque with thousands of troops deployed in and around the Old City of Jerusalem, Al Quds. therefore violating the terms of the status quo in Jerusalem.  According to the historical arrangement governing the site, which both Jews and Muslims recognize as sacred to their traditions, the compound is administered by the Islamic Waqf. By storming the compound and entering al-Aqsa Mosque with his supporters under heavy military escort, Sharon was signaling that Israel had total control of the site and could disregard centuries-old arrangements between Muslims and Jews.

Sharon's visit was condemned by the Palestinians as a provocation as well as an incursion since his bodyguards were armed. Shortly after Sharon left the site, angry demonstrations by Palestinians erupted outside the compound. The broader context behind the uprising was the failure of the US-based Camp David negotiations between PM Ehud Barak and Yassir Arafat.

What began as a few hundred protesters throwing shoes at Sharon's police escort following prayers at al-Aqsa mosque had within hours erupted into demonstrations across the Palestinian territories, with chants of "we want an intifada". The following day, September 29,in a extremely harsh reaction. Israeli forces opened fire on crowds of unarmed demonstrators in al-Aqsa compound, killing seven and wounding more than 100. "People are being massacred! Bring the ambulances," echoed from the mosque's loudspeakers. Demonstrations raged throughout the West Bank and Gaza. Israeli forces repeatedly met the stone-throwing crowds with live ammunition.In Gaza, a French broadcast crew captured footage of a boy called Mohammed al-Durrahhttps://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2013/09/in-memory-of-mohammed-al-durrrah.html being shot repeatedly by Israeli forces as he clung to his father. Moments later, a paramedic from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society was killed as he attempted to treat the boy and his father.The scene assumed iconic status as it was shown around the world demonstrating Israel's blatant violence against Palestinians.

Inside the Green Line, too, riots took hold in Palestinian communities, with 13 Palestinian citizens of Israel killed in the first days of protests As the intensity of the demonstrations increased, so too did international and human rights groups' condemnation of Israel's violent attempts to suppress what was quickly becoming an uprising. 

Malka, the head of Israeli military intelligence at the time, said that Israeli forces fired more than 1,300,000 bullets in the territories in the first month alone."This is a strategic figure that says that our soldiers are shooting and shooting and shooting," Malka said about what amounted to some 40,000 rounds a day.""The significance is that we are determining the height of the flames."

Palestinian stone-throwers were met with Israeli snipers; gunmen, with helicopter gunships and tanks. 

Whereas the first intifada (1987-1992) was defined by popular protest, general strikes and stones - and to be sure, harsh Israeli counter-measures, including the infamous order by Yitzhak Rabin to break the bones of stone-throwing Palestinians - it was immediately clear that this new uprising was different. Demonstrations were being met with overwhelming force by Israel and it made popular protest impossible. Some analysts point to this overwhelming force by Israeli forces as the reason why the phase of popular protest in the Intifada ended quickly, and armed resistance took its place.

In February 2001, the Israeli public backed the strategy when General Sharon was elected prime minister. While suicide attacks came to define the Palestinian armed struggle, these operations did not begin in earnest until more than a year into the uprising, and after the deaths of more than 400 Palestinians. Against a heavily armed and armored Israeli force, the kind of guerrilla warfare that the Palestinians had access to - namely, ambushes, shooting attacks and defensive armed struggle - was strictly limited and of marginal impact. While Hamas and Islamic Jihad carried out the most attacks, all factions were involved - including secular elements of Fatah's al-Aqsa Brigades and the leftist PFLP.

The Second Intifada also had a prominent unarmed character that was largely overlooked by mainstream media, with local Palestinian communities organizing predominantly nonviolent actions to combat the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israeli settlements and the illegal Separation Barrier; Israeli and international civilians were also involved in many of these actions

Israel's campaign to suppress the uprising took a heavy toll on ordinary Palestinians.During the Al Aqsa Intifada, Israel caused unprecedented damage to the Palestinian economy and infrastructure. Israel reoccupied areas governed by the Palestinian Authority and began construction of its separation wall.

Significantly, the Palestinian leadership was also decimated by a concerted campaign of assassination.While some assassinations were ambushes by undercover Israeli units, helicopters increasingly became a fixture of Israeli attacks.Helicopter gunships and anti-tank missiles were used on cars, offices and homes.They hovered over Palestinian cities and refugee camps. Avi Dichter, Israel's internal security chief during the intifada, characterized the policy by stating simply: "When a Palestinian child draws a picture of the sky, he doesn't draw it without a helicopter."

Between November 2000 and September 2004, Israel carried out at least 273 assassinations, according to data compiled by the Institute for Palestine Studies.High profile assassinations included Abu Ali Mustafa, the general secretary of the PFLP, in 2001, and the top Hamas leaders and founders, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantissi, in 2004.

Perhaps most notoriously, in July 2002, Israeli warplanes dropped a 2,000-pound bomb on a Gaza apartment building that housed Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades commander Salah Shehade and his family. The Hamas founder was killed along with 15 others, including his wife and nine children. The Shehade assassination led to notable criticism, even within Israel, where it inspired the so-called "pilots' letter" - a declaration by several Israeli air force pilots refusing to carry out bombing raids over the occupied territory. The then leader of the Palestinian Liberation Orgnisation (PLO) Yasser Arafat’s headquarters was also demolished and besieged by Israeli forces. 

In what is perhaps the defining moment of the Intifada, in the Jenin refugee camp, Palestinian fighters held off the Israeli offensive of more than 1,000 soldiers during several days of fierce fighting to effectively enter the camp with ground troops, Israel responded by bombing the camp with helicopters and warplanes, shelling it with tanks, and ultimately bulldozing a massive section of the camp - leaving 4,000 homeless according to Human Rights Watch. In 10 days, 52 Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers were killed in what became known as the Battle of Jenin.

In April 2002, Israel invaded the West Bank en masse in an operation titled "Defensive Shield", and reoccupied Palestinian cities and towns in the largest military offensive in Palestinian territory since 1967. According to a report by the UN secretary general, 500 Palestinians were killed and more than 6,000 were arrested during the campaign.  

Unlike the First Intifada, which ended at the signing of the Oslo Accords  there is no clear ending date to the Second Intifada. Some claim the uprising ended with Yasser Arafat's death in November 2004, while others say it culminated with a truce signed in February 2005 between Abbas and Sharon, then-Prime Minister of Israel, in Sharm al-Shaikh, Egypt where it.was agreed to the resumption of talks to reach the so called “two state solution”.

Sharon also agreed to release 900 of the 7500 Palestinian prisoners being held at the time and to withdraw from West Bank towns that had been reoccupied during the Intifada. Israel, however, never fulfilled its end of the bargain, which comes as no surprise. 

Two days later, Hamas contested the ceasefire and fired rockets at an illegal settlement near the Gaza Strip. The move prompted Abbas to sack senior security officials within the group, causing tension within Palestinian factions.

The rift grew the following year when Hamas triumphed over Fatah in elections. Ongoing disputes between the groups often led to violent confrontations and in 2007 Hamas eventually asserted control over the Gaza Strip, leaving Fatah to retreat to the West Bank. The divide has endured for over 10 years despite attempts to reconcile, leaving Palestinians frustrated at their state of political limbo. The factions mean the Palestinian territories are divided between two rival powers, and reconciliation attempts have so far failed although recently Hamas and Fatah appear united by their opposition to Arab-Israeli normalisation deals.

The Intifada was, and still is, an expression of a deep disappointment and frustr.ation over the ongoing disrespect and denial of basic rights for Palestinians caused by the occupation – including the right to free access to Jerusalem, security and development, and the refugees’ right to return.

Whilst Palestinians made some material gains as a result of the intifada, after the ceasefire Israeli aggression intensified and human rights violations increased. The peace process was stalled for many years as Israel vehemently opposed a two-state solution.The settler community have also been emboldened, with greater construction and government support for illegal settlement activity.

Palestinians who grew up in the shadow of the uprising, a not to distant memory, sadly find themselves surrounded by physical and political barriers with little hope for the future. The Israeli military controls 60 percent of the West Bank, and in Gaza, Palestinians are facing considerably worse conditions, with the Israeli blockade leading to perennial power cuts, a lack of clean water, and a youth unemployment rate hitting 65 percent, according to World Bank data leaving .many Palestinians lamenting how the occupation has been normalised over the decades following the unrealised Oslo accords.

The current situation in the occupied territories and Jerusalem, is in many ways reminiscent of the period leading up to the Second Intifada. At the time, continued settlement expansion and the failure of the talks at Camp David in the summer of 2000, to finalize implementation of the 1995 Oslo Accords, originally drawn up as interim agreements has reinforced Palestinian public disillusion with the so-called peace process who have also seen that real peace is not a priority for Israel, nor is ending the conflict with the Palestinians. Israel has to be compelled to make peace a priority, because today the West Bank, which has been under Israeli military occupation since 1967, is simmering.

Stationed throughout the West Bank, Israeli soldiers, police and private security firms protect settler populations that the international community consider illegal  at the expense of Palestinian civilians. In this hyper-militarized environment, Palestinian children have face disproportionate physical violence, restricted access to education, and psychological trauma. 

Between the near-nightly Israeli raids, the clashes, the ensuing deaths, arrests and the ongoing animosity between Al Fatah and Hamas in Palestine, and the hawks and doves in Israel, it all continues to make dialogue difficult and peace a permanent mirage and because of this, there are fears it could soon boil over into a third Intifada, or popular uprising that would include all forms or means of struggle against the ongoing Israeli occupation. Where there is oppression resistance will thrive.