Intifada
Intifada (Arabic: انتفاضة, intifāḍah), meaning "shaking off" or "uprising," denotes two principal Palestinian campaigns of resistance against Israeli control over the West Bank and Gaza Strip, characterized by civil unrest, organized protests, economic boycotts, and escalating violence including stone-throwing, improvised explosives, shootings, and suicide bombings.[1][2] The First Intifada erupted on December 8, 1987, in Gaza after an Israeli military vehicle collided with Palestinian workers' vans, killing four and injuring seven, an event Palestinians perceived as deliberate amid longstanding grievances over occupation and settlement expansion.[3] This uprising, coordinated partly through underground leaflets from the Unified National Leadership of the Uprising, emphasized nonviolent tactics like general strikes and commercial shutdowns initially but devolved into frequent clashes with Israeli forces using live ammunition and "force, might, and beatings" as directed by Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin.[3] By its subsidence in 1993, coinciding with the Oslo Accords, it claimed approximately 1,000 to 1,200 Palestinian lives (many from gunshot wounds during confrontations) and over 100 Israeli fatalities, including soldiers and civilians targeted in stabbings and vehicular attacks, while injuring tens of thousands on both sides and galvanizing Palestinian national identity but failing to end the occupation.[4][5] The Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, ignited in September 2000 following Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount amid failed Camp David talks, though underlying causes included Palestinian Authority incitement, rejection of statehood offers, and armed factions' shift to terrorism.[6][3] Far bloodier than its predecessor, it featured coordinated suicide bombings by Hamas and Islamic Jihad—over 140 such attacks killing hundreds of Israeli civilians in buses, cafes, and markets—alongside gunfire ambushes and rocket launches, prompting Israeli responses including targeted killings, incursions, and the construction of security barriers.[6] Casualties totaled over 1,000 Israelis (about 70% civilians) and 3,000 to 5,000 Palestinians (including combatants and those killed by fellow Palestinians in infighting or executions), with the violence ebbing by 2005 after Israel's Gaza disengagement and PA-Hamas clashes, ultimately strengthening Israeli security measures while undermining Palestinian negotiating leverage and fostering Hamas's electoral rise.[7][8][6] These uprisings, while framed by participants as liberation struggles, involved systematic targeting of noncombatants in the latter phase and internal Palestinian repression, contributing to cycles of retaliation that prioritized maximalist goals over pragmatic state-building, as evidenced by the absence of territorial gains despite international sympathy.[3] The term has since been invoked in broader calls for violence against Israel, highlighting its evolution from localized revolt to a rallying cry with global echoes.[1]Terminology and Etymology
Linguistic Origins and Morphology
The Arabic term intifāḍa (اِنْتِفَاضَة) derives from the triliteral root ن-ف-ض (n-f-ḍ), which conveys the action of shaking or trembling, often in the sense of dislodging something attached, such as dust from cloth or debris from a surface.[9] [2] The root's base verb in Form I is nafaḍa (نَفَضَ), meaning "to shake off" or "to flap," with connotations of ridding oneself of encumbrances through vigorous motion.[2] [10] Morphologically, intifāḍa functions as a verbal noun (maṣdar) derived from the Form VIII verb intafāḍa (انْتَفَاضَ), which employs the Arabic pattern iftaʿala (اِفْتَعَلَ) to indicate reflexive or intensive action—here, a self-initiated shaking or uprising against restraint.[9] This form intensifies the root's semantic field, extending from literal physical agitation to metaphorical rebellion or revolt, as in "shaking off" oppression or foreign control.[11] The word's structure aligns with Classical Arabic derivation patterns, where Form VIII often implies causation or reciprocity, predating its modern political associations by centuries in Arabic lexicography.[12] In phonetic terms, intifāḍa features a long ā vowel following the prefix in- (indicative of Form VIII) and ends with a ḍād (ض), a emphatic coronal stop unique to Arabic, contributing to its emphatic, resonant quality in pronunciation.[9] Early attestations in Arabic literature, such as poetic references to trembling or shaking in response to stimuli, underscore its pre-20th-century usage beyond insurgency, rooted in everyday and descriptive language.[10]Broader Meanings and Pre-Palestinian Uses
In Arabic, intifada (انتفاضة) literally denotes "shaking off," derived from the root n-f-ḍ meaning to shake or tremble, often evoking the image of ridding oneself or an object of dust or burdens.[2][9] This broader semantic field encompasses spontaneous or organized acts of defiance, revolt, or resistance against authority, without inherent connotation of violence; it has been applied in everyday language to describe minor rebellions, tremors, or even allergic reactions as a "shaking" of the body.[13][14] In political contexts, it signifies popular uprisings short of full revolution, emphasizing grassroots mobilization over elite-led coups.[2] Prior to its association with Palestinian resistance in 1987, intifada described several Arab-world upheavals. The Iraqi Intifada of 1952 erupted on November 21 in Basra amid economic discontent and opposition to the pro-Western Hashemite monarchy, escalating into nationwide strikes, riots, and protests against the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty that permitted British military influence.[15][16] Violence peaked in Baghdad by November 25–26, with demonstrators clashing with security forces, looting, and targeting symbols of monarchy and foreign ties; the unrest forced Regent Abdul Ilah to appoint a new cabinet under Nazim Pasha, marking a shift toward reformist policies amid widespread anti-corruption and nationalist fervor.[15][2] Another pre-1987 instance was the Zemla Intifada on June 17, 1970, in Spanish-controlled Western Sahara (then Río de Oro), where Sahrawi nationalists organized a peaceful demonstration in Laayoune (El Aaiún) to demand independence and end colonial rule.[17][18] Led by figures like Mohamed Sidi Brahim Bassiri, the protest—named after the Zemla district administrative offices targeted for occupation—drew hundreds calling for self-determination; Spanish authorities responded with a brutal crackdown by the Spanish Legion, resulting in an estimated 1–12 deaths (official figures minimized) and dozens arrested or disappeared, galvanizing the formation of the Polisario Front and accelerating Sahrawi nationalist mobilization.[17][18] These events illustrate intifada's application to anti-colonial and anti-monarchical struggles across Arab contexts, distinct from later Palestinian usages.[2]Palestinian Uprisings in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
The First Intifada (1987–1993)
The First Intifada erupted on December 9, 1987, following a traffic accident in Gaza where an Israeli truck collided with vehicles carrying Palestinian workers, killing four and injuring seven; Palestinians perceived the incident as deliberate retaliation for prior attacks, igniting widespread protests in the Jabalia refugee camp and beyond.[19][20] Underlying grievances included prolonged Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip since 1967, economic stagnation, land expropriations, and restrictions on Palestinian movement and self-governance, though the uprising's immediate catalyst was spontaneous rather than centrally orchestrated.[21] Initial demonstrations emphasized civil disobedience, including commercial strikes, tax boycotts, and the establishment of underground committees to provide alternative social services such as education and healthcare, aiming to undermine Israeli administrative control.[21] Coordination emerged through the Unified National Leadership of the Uprising (UNLU), a clandestine coalition formed in January 1988 comprising representatives from major Palestinian factions affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), including Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Palestinian Communist Party.[22][23] The UNLU issued over 600 leaflets, or "bayans," dictating daily actions such as work stoppages, marches, and symbolic gestures like closing shops on specific days, which fostered grassroots compliance and mobilized diverse sectors of Palestinian society, including women and youth.[24] Tactics predominantly involved stone-throwing at Israeli patrols—symbolizing asymmetric resistance—and escalated to Molotov cocktails, stabbings, and sporadic shootings, with some attacks targeting Israeli civilians and soldiers in the territories and inside Israel proper.[21][25] These methods, while framed by UNLU as nonviolent popular resistance, included elements of terrorism, such as ambushes and the killing of alleged collaborators, contributing to internal Palestinian violence that claimed hundreds of lives.[25][26] Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) responded with intensified patrols, curfews, and a policy articulated by then-Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin of using "force, might, and beatings" to deter participation, including systematic bone-breaking of stone-throwers and mass arrests exceeding 100,000 Palestinians.[20] Deportations of over 400 activists and the use of live ammunition against crowds resulted in significant casualties, as documented by B'Tselem data showing 1,376 Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces in the occupied territories (including 281 minors) and 115 by Israeli civilians.[4] Palestinian fatalities also included approximately 942 killed by fellow Palestinians on suspicion of collaboration with Israel, per IDF figures cited in human rights reports, highlighting factional enforcement within the uprising.[26] Israeli losses totaled 94 civilians and 91 security personnel killed by Palestinians in the territories, with additional deaths inside Israel.[4][27] The uprising waned by late 1991 due to Israeli suppression, economic exhaustion, and PLO efforts to channel energies toward diplomacy, culminating in the Madrid Conference of October 1991, where Israel and a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation engaged in direct talks for the first time under U.S. and Soviet auspices, laying groundwork for the 1993 Oslo Accords.[28][21] While the Intifada elevated Palestinian national consciousness and pressured Israel to reconsider occupation policies, it failed to achieve immediate independence and entrenched divisions, with Hamas emerging as a rival Islamist force rejecting compromise.[25] The period's violence underscored the challenges of asymmetric conflict, where Palestinian mobilization yielded international sympathy but also exposed tactical limitations against a militarily superior adversary.[20]The Second Intifada (2000–2005)
The Second Intifada, also referred to as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, erupted on September 28, 2000, amid heightened tensions following the collapse of U.S.-brokered peace talks at Camp David in July 2000 and subsequent negotiations in Taba in January 2001.[19] The immediate catalyst was the visit by Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount (known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif) in Jerusalem, a site sacred to both Jews and Muslims, accompanied by a large contingent of Israeli police for security.[29] Palestinian officials and media portrayed the visit as a provocative assertion of Israeli sovereignty over the compound, sparking riots that spread rapidly from Jerusalem to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with initial clashes resulting in seven Palestinian deaths by Israeli police gunfire on September 29.[30] While Palestinian narratives emphasize the visit as the spark, Israeli analyses contend it served as a pretext for pre-planned violence, noting that Palestinian Authority security forces failed to prevent or condemn attacks and that incitement from PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's leadership contributed to the escalation.[31] The uprising differed markedly from the First Intifada in its intensity and methods, shifting from primarily stone-throwing protests to systematic terrorism, including over 130 suicide bombings orchestrated mainly by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, targeting civilian buses, cafes, and public spaces in Israeli cities.[6] Notable attacks included the June 1, 2001, Dolphinarium disco bombing in Tel Aviv, which killed 21 civilians, mostly teenagers, and the August 9, 2001, Sbarro pizzeria bombing in Jerusalem, claiming 15 lives including seven children.[25] These tactics inflicted over 1,000 Israeli deaths, with approximately 70% civilians, and thousands more wounded, severely disrupting daily life and the economy through road closures and heightened security measures.[19] Palestinian armed groups framed such operations as resistance to occupation, but the deliberate targeting of non-combatants drew international condemnation for constituting war crimes under international humanitarian law.[32] Israel responded with a combination of defensive fortifications, targeted assassinations of militant leaders, and large-scale military operations to dismantle terrorist infrastructure in Palestinian-controlled areas. Key actions included the construction of a security barrier beginning in 2002, which empirical data later showed reduced suicide bombings by over 90% in areas it covered, and Operation Defensive Shield in March-April 2002, which reasserted Israeli control over West Bank cities like Jenin and Nablus following a Passover eve hotel bombing that killed 30 civilians.[33] These measures, while effective in curbing attacks—suicide bombings dropped from a peak of 59 in 2002 to near zero by 2005—resulted in significant Palestinian casualties, with estimates ranging from 3,000 to over 4,000 deaths, including combatants, civilians, and those killed during clashes or operations.[19][34] Sources on Palestinian fatalities vary due to differing classifications of combatants versus non-combatants; for instance, B'Tselem reported 6,371 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces through 2010, including 1,317 minors, though this encompasses the broader post-2000 period and attributes many deaths to participation in hostilities.[34] The violence gradually subsided after Arafat's death in November 2004 and the election of Mahmoud Abbas as PA president in January 2005, culminating in the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit on February 8, 2005, where Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pledged mutual cessation of hostilities.[25] By mid-2005, following Israel's unilateral disengagement from Gaza in August-September, terrorist attacks had plummeted, reflecting the impact of Israeli counterterrorism rather than Palestinian goodwill alone, as Hamas continued rocket fire from Gaza post-withdrawal.[35] Overall, the Intifada caused approximately 1,000 Israeli and 4,000 Palestinian fatalities, exact figures disputed due to source methodologies—Israeli data emphasize civilian victims of terrorism, while Palestinian counts often include deaths from intra-factional violence or failed launches.[19][36] Economically, it devastated Palestinian territories through infrastructure destruction and unemployment spikes exceeding 30%, while Israel incurred billions in security costs and lost tourism revenue.[37] The period entrenched mutual distrust, undermining faith in negotiated peace and bolstering hardline positions on both sides.Tactics, Violence, and Outcomes
Palestinian Methods and Escalation of Violence
In the First Intifada, Palestinian tactics began with mass protests and civil disobedience following the December 9, 1987, incident in which an Israeli military truck collided with parked civilian vehicles in Gaza, killing four Palestinians and sparking riots.[38] Initial methods centered on stone-throwing at Israeli patrols and vehicles—often lethal when directed at moving cars—and the use of Molotov cocktails to set ambushes and arson against property.[38] These evolved under coordination by the Palestine Liberation Organization's Unified National Leadership of the Uprising, which distributed over 600 leaflets instructing actions ranging from economic boycotts and strikes to targeted violence, including the use of knives for stabbings and smuggled firearms for shootings against soldiers and settlers.[39] By mid-1988, the leadership explicitly called for escalating confrontations, resulting in the deaths of 27 Israeli civilians and soldiers inside the territories, plus additional attacks within Israel proper, totaling over 100 Israeli fatalities from Palestinian violence by 1993.[38][5] Internal enforcement included summary executions of suspected collaborators, with at least 800 Palestinians killed by fellow Palestinians for non-compliance or alleged cooperation with Israeli authorities.[40] The Second Intifada marked a profound escalation in lethality and organization, shifting from sporadic riots after Ariel Sharon's September 28, 2000, visit to the Temple Mount to systematic armed assaults.[33] Early phases featured drive-by shootings and ambushes by Fatah-affiliated Tanzim militias using Kalashnikov rifles, often initiated by gunfire from Palestinian Authority security forces, followed by stabbing attacks in urban areas.[41] From early 2001, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad intensified tactics with suicide bombings, conducting over 130 such operations by 2005, primarily targeting civilian sites like buses, discotheques, and Passover seders to maximize casualties.[33][42] These attacks, which caused the majority of the approximately 1,000 Israeli deaths during the period—nearly half from suicide bombings alone—represented a strategic pivot to indiscriminate terror aimed at undermining Israeli morale and negotiations.[43] Palestinian leadership, including elements within the Palestinian Authority, tolerated or enabled this violence, with suicide operations peaking in 2002 amid the failure of ceasefires, before declining due to Israeli counter-measures like the security barrier.[33]Israeli Security Responses
During the First Intifada, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) initially responded to stone-throwing, Molotov cocktails, and riots with crowd-control tactics including tear gas, rubber bullets, and plastic bullets designed to minimize lethality, reserving live fire for instances where soldiers or civilians faced imminent threats such as barricades or armed assaults.[38] Escalation occurred in January 1988 when Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin directed troops to implement a policy of "force, might, and beatings" to suppress unrest by inflicting pain on participants—particularly adult males—to deter involvement without relying on mass arrests or ammunition, which aimed to reduce both operational costs and international scrutiny over fatalities.[44] This approach, enforced through clubbing and other physical measures, affected thousands, with reports of systematic bone-breaking during interrogations and crowd dispersals, though Israeli officials maintained it targeted active resisters rather than bystanders.[45] Complementary measures included imposing curfews on over 1,000 Palestinian towns and villages, conducting widespread arrests of approximately 57,000 suspects for interrogation and detention, deporting 481 individuals accused of militant leadership, and demolishing 2,532 homes linked to violent acts or as punitive responses.[38] These efforts contributed to quelling much of the organized civil disobedience by 1990, though sporadic violence persisted until the 1993 Oslo Accords; Israeli casualties totaled 160 deaths (including 27 soldiers and over 100 civilians), while Palestinian fatalities from IDF actions reached about 1,000, predominantly combatants or those in confrontational settings.[38] The Second Intifada's shift toward frequent suicide bombings, shootings, and drive-by attacks—claiming nearly 1,000 Israeli lives, mostly civilians—necessitated more aggressive, intelligence-driven countermeasures to preempt and dismantle terror networks, including fortified checkpoints, armored patrols, and aerial surveillance to restrict militant mobility.[8] A pivotal response was Operation Defensive Shield in March-April 2002, launched after a Passover eve bombing killed 30 in Netanya; IDF forces reoccupied major West Bank cities like Jenin and Nablus, raiding terror bases, seizing weapons caches, and arresting thousands, which disrupted command structures and reduced operational capacity of groups like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, at the cost of 30 soldiers killed and over 400 militants neutralized. Targeted killings, employing precision airstrikes, helicopter missiles, or ground operations against planners and bomb-makers, demonstrated effectiveness in lowering attack rates; econometric studies of the period found that such eliminations reduced overall violence by disrupting operational cycles, with one analysis estimating a net decrease in suicide attacks following high-value targeting.[46] [47] Construction of the West Bank security barrier, initiated in 2002 along the pre-1967 Green Line with adaptations for settlements, further curtailed infiltration by combining fencing, concrete walls, sensors, and patrol roads, achieving a near-total halt in suicide bombings from the West Bank by 2005—dropping from hundreds of attempts and successes in the early 2000s to zero, thereby preventing an estimated several hundred Israeli deaths based on prior patterns.[48] This physical deterrent complemented raids and intelligence, enabling a decline in Palestinian terror fatalities from 984 Israelis murdered between 2001-2004 to minimal levels post-2005, though gaps and incomplete segments allowed occasional breaches until full operationalization.[49] Overall, these responses prioritized causal interruption of attack chains over reactive suppression, yielding empirical reductions in violence despite ongoing asymmetric threats.Casualties, Economic Impact, and Strategic Failures
During the First Intifada (1987–1993), approximately 1,000 Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces and civilians, including over 200 minors, while around 160 Israelis—comprising roughly 100 civilians and 60 security personnel—died from Palestinian attacks.[38][5] The Second Intifada (2000–2005) saw far higher tolls, with 3,000 to 5,000 Palestinians killed, the majority by Israeli forces during operations targeting militants, and about 1,000 to 1,100 Israelis slain in suicide bombings, shootings, and other assaults, including over 700 civilians.[8][50] In the second uprising, Palestinian fatalities included a significant proportion of combatants—estimated at 40–50% by UN data on those engaged in hostilities—reflecting the shift to armed tactics like bombings and ambushes, which contrasted with the first's emphasis on protests and stones.[37]| Uprising | Palestinian Deaths | Israeli Deaths |
|---|---|---|
| First (1987–1993) | ~1,000 (mostly civilians, incl. 200+ minors) | ~160 (100 civilians, 60 security) |
| Second (2000–2005) | 3,000–5,000 (mix of combatants/civilians) | ~1,000–1,100 (700+ civilians) |