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During the 1980's, Israeli forces in the Occupied Territories increased their harassment of Palestinians. Israel confiscated more land, deported many suspected Palestinian political activists, and increased the number of people arrested and jailed for six months without a warrant or charge. Palestinians were made to pay taxes but rarely benefited from the services—such as unemployment insurance and health care—that the taxes supported. In addition, they were forced to undergo extensive background checks to receive any sort of licenses or permits, a process which Jewish Israelis did not have to go through.
This policy of repression did not break the Palestinians; instead, it led to increased unity and anti-Israeli activity. In December 1987, an Israeli military vehicle killed four Palestinians in a road accident in Gaza Strip. The protest that followed swelled into a huge demonstration throughout Gaza Strip, and quickly spread to West Bank. This uprising was called the Intifada, which means a “shaking off” in Arabic.
Ramallah, 1988. Children throw stones at Israeli soldiers in the Amari refugee camp. After they had been stuck in limbo for close to four decades, Palestinians’ anger erupted in open protests in the late 1980s, a movement commonly referred to as the First Intifada.
Soon after the intifada broke out, the United National Leadership of the Intifada, representing the main Palestinian political parties, was formed. Leaders planned strikes, boycotts, and marches and refused to pay taxes. Violent confrontations, largely confined to rock throwing for the first two years but escalating to include guns and hand grenades, became common with Israeli troops.
Israel responded violently, following Prime Minister Rabin’s policy of “force, might, and beatings." Israeli troops demolished homes and businesses and arrested tens of thousands of people. In the first three years of the Intifada, more than 1,000 Palestinians died and more than 37,000 were wounded. In addition, 56 Israelis were killed. The rate of violence increased in 1990.
Situation 1980's: You are a member of the United Nations. Which of the following responses to the Intifada do you think most fairly addresses the concerns of all groups involved?
CHOICE A: Pass a resolution condemning Israeli human rights violations committed against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.
CHOICE B: Send peacekeeping forces into the Occupied Territories to stop the violence.
CHOICE C: Encourage Israeli and Palestinian leaders to meet and attempt to negotiate a diplomatic end to the Intifada.
CHOICE D: Send a Special Commission into the Occupied Territories to study Palestinian living conditions as a first step to ending the Intifada.
1980s - The Outcome - Complete your response before viewing below
1980s - The Outcome - Complete your response before viewing below
Actual Decision: Option 3 - Encourage Israeli and Palestinian leaders to meet and attempt to negotiate a diplomatic end to the Intifada.
The United Nations took no official steps to end the Intifada. Because the uprising did not involve a conflict between sovereign states—Palestinians did not have a recognized state of their own—the United Nations considered the Intifada to be an important but internal Israeli affair.
In 1991. the United States brought Israel and Arab states—but not the Palestinian leadership, who were almost powerless in their official role as part of the Jordanian delegation—into negotiations for peace. Because of this framework, negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians remained stalled for over a year. New Israeli leadership elected in 1992 more seriously pursued negotiations with the Palestinians in secret meetings in Norway. In 1993, these negotiations resulted in an agreement, known as the Declaration of Principles, between the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Israeli government. The general agreement was followed by specific negotiations in 1995. which called for gradual Israeli withdrawal from parts of the Occupied Territories and Palestinian limited self-rule over the evacuated regions for a five-year interim period. The final status of the Occupied Territories was left unresolved at that time.
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