Summary
The Palestinian popular uprising that began in Jabalia Refugee Camp, Gaza, in December 1987, in Makdisi’s account the product of the occupation’s combination of economic exploitation and political repression; it shifted the struggle’s focus to the occupied territories and pushed the Palestinians, for the first time, to propose the two-state solution, producing the Palestine National Council’s November 1988 declaration (Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation, PDF p.126-127).
Details
- The uprising began with nonviolent protests and demonstrations, civil disobedience and grassroots networking for independent alternatives to Israeli-controlled markets and institutions; apart from stone-throwing at armoured vehicles and armed soldiers and settlers, the events were generally peaceful (PDF p.126).
- Israel’s response: shootings, raids, mass arrests, home demolitions, curfews, closures and disruption of schools and universities. Defense minister Yitzhak Rabin: “The first priority of the security forces is to prevent violent demonstrations with force, power and blows”; Rabin allegedly ordered his men to “break the bones” of demonstrators, a charge the Knesset decided not to investigate (PDF p.126-127).
- Israeli forces killed over 700 Palestinians in the first three years, and some 1,400 by 2000; 20 percent of them were children. Palestinian factions resorted to violence, in particular from 1994, when a bombing campaign inside Israel killed almost 200 Israeli civilians by 2000 (PDF p.127).
- In November 1988 the Palestinian National Council, meeting in exile, renounced terrorism, offered to recognise Israel and proposed a Palestinian state alongside Israel in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, declaring that state’s independence; Israel rejected the offer and reiterated its refusal to negotiate with the PLO; prime minister Yitzhak Shamir dismissed the declaration and subsequent speeches by Yasser Arafat as “a monumental act of deception” (PDF p.127).
Related pages
Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation, Second Intifada, Oslo Accords, Yitzhak Rabin, Gaza