The First Intifada

The First Intifada was a mass uprising that began in 1987 in Israel. Palestinians, expressing their frustration over Israeli oppression and desiring a separate Islamic state, participated in many acts of civil disobedience, including boycotts, strikes, and demonstrations. However, as the revolution lengthened, the violence increased and over 1,500 people, both Israeli and Palestinian, were killed. In the end, an agreement was made between the Palestinian population and the Israeli government, yet Palestine was not declared a separate state, and in later years a future uprising would occur. 1.) What methods did the group(s) use to express their frustrations and ultimately lead to a revolutions? The First Intifada was a revolt mainly in the Gaza Strip and West Bank of Israel. Palestinians used both force and negotiation in their effort to free themselves of Israeli oppresion. The First Intifada involved a large amount of civil disobedience, including refusal to pay taxes, rallies, demonstrations, strikes, and boycotts. During the revolution, many Palestinian youths acted as human shields to prevent Israeli police and soldiers from attacking. Three major groups were involved in the revolution; the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the Islamic Jihad, and the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas. These three organizations desired a separate Islamic state that included all of historic Palestine. There were large amounts of popular support for the revolution. Many Muslim countries sided with Palestine while Israel suffered international criticism. It began with minimal violence; mainly thrown rocks and the like. However, as the revolution progressed, the violence increased with guns, hand grenades, and molotov cocktails. Popular support diminished and the Israeli government was forced to act in kind, with more troops and police positioned in the area. 2.) How is your revolution similar and/or different to one of the revolutions previously studied? All of the revolutions previously studied are all, in their own right, similar and different from the First Intifada. The American Revolution, like the First Intifada, involved one group attempting to free themselves of oppression, whether it is Britain or Israel. The American colonists were oppressed by Britain, who laid heavy taxes on the colonists and did not allow some privileges and opportunities, much like the economic restraints and lack of some privileges suffered by the Palestinians in Israel. However, the American Revolution involved armies and war, while the First Intifada consisted of random outbursts, demonstrations, boycotts, and sparks of violence. The uprising in Israel contrasts greatly with the American Revolution in size and violence. The French Revolution was similar and different from the First Intifada in many ways. The participants of the First Intifada never had combined attacks, only small, random attacks, whereas the French revolutionaries bonded together to launch massive attacks and pillages on the French nobility. The revolutions were similar, however, because both parties were oppressed by others; the nobility in the case of the French, and the Israeli government in the Palestinians’. The People Power movement was quite similar to the First Intifada. Both consisted of acts of civil disobedience; in both, thousands of people banded together to hold rallies and demonstrations. The First Intifada, however, included much more violence. Few were killed in EDSA, while over 1,000 people were killed in the First Intifada. 3.) What was the eventual outcome of the revolution, and did the nation/people become better due to the revolution? The revolt for a separate Islamic state of Palestine was unsuccesful and resulted in over 1,500 deaths and a second intifada years later. However, the first intifada did succeed in a signing of the Oslo Accords, or Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arragements. The Oslo Accords consist of a set of mutual agreements between Israel and the PLO and the allowance of a five-year period of Palestinian rule in the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinian people benefitted from the Oslo Accords due to the transfer of power and Israel’s responsibility for security in the Palestinian area; both major points included in the Declaration of Principles. 4.) Was the revolution justified? Would other methods have worked? The First Intifada was, by all means, a justified uprising. Israeli military occupation in historic Palestine had existed for many years, and despite international criticism and Palestinian frustration Israel did not significantly lessen the military occupation in Gaza and the West Bank. Unjust oppression led to the First Intifada, and it is justified by the fact that no group should suffer oppression merely due to religion or ethnicity. However, the First Intifada was faulty on many accounts. The revolt transformed from peaceful civil disobedience to violent outbursts and explosives. The uprising began as a movement of the people’s frustration and anger, yet ended as a war between Islamic Palestinian factions and the Israeli government. If the violence of the First Intifada had been considerably lower, than the revolt would have ended with less lives lost and more success, as well as international praise of the revolution for its non-violence. 5.) Briefly state whether or not your revolution follows Crane Brinton’s Stages of Revolution. The First Intifada was unique in the fact that it completely ignored Brinton Crane’s stated stages of most revolutions. This was mainly due to the purpose of a revolution; it was not for a new government, but rather a new Islamic state that included all of historic Palestine. The revolution was one ethnic group against its oppresor, which is unlike most other revolutions. The first intifada resulted in an agreement between the two groups, not a formation of a new government. However, the first intifada fits into two portions of the stages of a revolution. The revolution began due to the restrictions placed on the Palestinians by Israel and the oppresion they suffer. Also, the revolt began with minimal violence and was quite non-violent, yet later as the radical groups took charge violence began to spread as Palestinians were armed with explosives and guns, which is similar to Crane’s statement that moderates take power and are then succeeded by the radicals, who are later punished. The first intifada mainly does not follow Crane’s Stages of a Revolution. Dennis Z. Kai M. "ISRAEL 1967-1991 FIRST INTIFADA." Palestine Facts. 29 Jan 2008 //www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1967to1991_intifada_1987.php "ISRAEL 1991 TO PRESENT FIRST INTIFADA." Palestine Facts. 31 Jan 2008 //www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1991to_now_intifada_nature.php "Intifada." MSN Encarta. Microsoft. 31 Jan 2008 //encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761579974/Intifada.html Kafala, Tarik. "Intifada: Then and now." BBC News. 08 12 2000. 31 Jan 2008 //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1061537.stm