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Palestinian Intifadas:

Palestinian Intifadas:. Grievances & Goals, 1948-1987. Grievances: Land Loss. 1948: 700,000 Palestinians flee or expelled in Arab-Israeli fighting Jordan takes West Bank; Egypt takes Gaza Strip Israeli expropriation of Palestinian land and homes

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Palestinian Intifadas:

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  1. Palestinian Intifadas: Grievances & Goals, 1948-1987

  2. Grievances: Land Loss • 1948: 700,000 Palestinians flee or expelled in Arab-Israeli fighting • Jordan takes West Bank; Egypt takes Gaza Strip • Israeli expropriation of Palestinian land and homes • Six-Day War of 1967: more territory taken. 1 million more Palestinians come under Israeli authority. • Settlements in the Occupied Territories

  3. Causes of the Six Day War • Syrian-Israeli tensions; Fatah attacks & shelling of Israel • Arab propaganda war; threats against Israel • Soviet message to Egyptian President Gemal abd al-Nasser that Israel was massing forces on the Syrian border and was about to attack (Egypt, Syria, and Iraqi armies had a defense pact) (message later proven to be false) • Egypt blocks Straits of Tiran (shipping lane to Israel), cutting off Israel’s supply lines.

  4. Six-Day War • 5 June 1967 Israeli forces wage a pre-emptive strike and destroy Egyptian air fields. Destroy its air forces on the ground. • Taking advantage of Jordanian shelling of Israel and other fighting, Israeli leaders decide to seize what they saw as a “historic opportunity” and take Jerusalem. Then move on to the West Bank. • War over June 10- Israel has seized the Golan Heights from Syria as well as the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Sinai from Egypt, and Jerusalem. • Israel annexes east Jerusalem but occupies West Bank and Gaza.

  5. Land Loss: • Settlements, government land seizures, Israeli military control • By 1985 Israelis have control over 52% of the West Bank’s land and at least 40% of the Gaza Strip. • Israeli Settlements • most intense period of settlement: ’77-’85: 119 new Israeli settlements

  6. Grievances: Representation, Administration, & Citizenship • 1948-1967 West Bank Palestinians under Jordanian rule; Gaza Strip Palestinians (mostly refugees) under Egyptian rule • Legal status of West Bank and Gaza Palestinians until 1967 • 1967-1994: West Bank & Gaza Palestinians under Israeli military occupation; East Jerusalem land annexed (but not people)

  7. Israeli Military Authority: “Carrot and Stick Phase” (’67-’77) • Military courts, administration • No Israeli citizenship rights for Palestinians in Occupied Territories • opening of several universities, permission to engage in limited political activities • large degree of self government to municipalities • Open bridge policy between Jordan and West Bank • Demonstrations mostly suppressed • Deportations, especially of leaders of Palestinian nationalism • Collective punishment (curfews, blowing up of houses)

  8. Administration: “Iron Fist” Phase, 1977-1994 • administrative detention – Pal’s could be held for 6 months without trial (only 62 such cases in 1980-85; 131 in last five months of 1985) • dismissal of Palestinian mayors; interrogation, deportation • freezing of Palestinian building permits, new limitations on freedom of expression, editors arrested, etc

  9. Deportations • Around 1,100 people deported between 1967 and 1977 • Most targeted groups: educators, professionals, students (included President of Bir Zeit University in 1974). • Less than 1 percent allowed to return. • devastating effect on Palestinian leadership • (Ann Lesch, winter 1979 J. of P Studies)

  10. Collective Punishment • Over 15,000 houses destroyed between 1967-1980 • Curfews • School closures • checkpoints

  11. Typical West Bank checkpoint to Israel, 1990. Photo by Ian Lustick.

  12. Grievances: Economics • ’66-’67: Economic integration of Israel and Occ. Territories: Palestinians become cheap labor force for Israel • Per capita Palestinian income goes from $133 in 1966 to $930 in 1975, but falls in 1980s • Restrictions on Palestinian goods and agricultural products; preferential treatment to Israeli businesses • Israeli-Palestinian human contacts…

  13. 1st Intifada, 1987-1991 • Leadership and structure? • * Grassroots Model, (Decentralized) • Main leadership: Unified National Command • Also PLO, Hamas • * “Intifada elite” • * Committees • * leaflets

  14. Causes? • Social factors: • Demographics • Education • economics • Political Opportunity Structures? • Increased level of repression • Divisions among Israeli elites (war weariness) • Economic downturn • Global political realignment

  15. Goals, strategies, and repertoires: First Intifada

  16. Goals • Israeli withdrawal from the territories and creation of Independent Palestinian state • Jerusalem as capital city • Right of return for refugees? • Eradication of Israel? (Hamas)

  17. Strategies • Humanize Palestinian suffering and through this, induce Israelis to want to compromise (Ashrawi) • Reduce Palestinian dependence on Israel • Undermine authority of Israeli rule by civil revolt that would force withdrawal and create a Palestinian state

  18. Repertoires? • Violent: • Throwing stones & fire bombs • Building barriers • Burning tires • Knife & gun attacks • Attacking collaborators • Attacks on busses, etc.

  19. Repertoires? Nonviolent: • Severing of economic ties with Israel: • Not working in Israel • Boycotting Israeli products • Withdrawing deposits from Israeli owned banks • Developing a home based economy: develop economic self sufficiency • Civil disobedience: • Nonpayment of taxes and fines • Partial commercial strikes • Building solidarity • Day long strikes for solidarity with prisoners • Memorials • Sit-down strikes • reducing doctor’s fees • Helping farmers with olive harvest

  20. Deportations- 69 leaders of the Intifada sent into exile between 1987 and 1991 December 1992: 415 deportations Arrests By end of 1989, 35,000-40,000 Palestinians arrested around 75,000 Palestinians arrested during the first three years of the Intifada Of these, about 15,000 were actually charged each year. Israeli responses Source: B’TSELEM, Kimmerling & Migdal (2003)

  21. Responses: Casualties • 1987-1989: 626 Pal’s; 43 Israelis killed. • 37,439 Pal’s wounded • Total casualties in the Occupied Territories and Israel from December 9, 1987 to September 30, 2000: • Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli forces - 1,407 • Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli civilians - 140 • Israeli civilians killed by Palestinian civilians - 270 • Members of the Israeli forces killed by Palestinian civilians - 135 • 33% Pal. deaths below the age of 18 (usually 14-18) • Hundreds of Palestinians killed by other Palestinians as collaborators • Assassinations of PLO officials associated with the Intifada • 1988 Abu Jihad, news editor and high-level PLO official Hamas members show a journalist a hatchet they claim they used to attack Palestinian informants. Photo by Judah Passow; available at http://www.msnbc.com/modules/intifada/launch.asp?b=hi Source: B’TSELEM

  22. Responses: Suppression • Intifada as “terrorism” • Beatings, tear gas • Curfews • Raiding of Palestinian homes and gardens • Closure of schools & universities Israeli soldiers force a Hebron shopowner to open a store, in violation of a Palestinian strike. Photo by Judah Passow; available at http://www.msnbc.com/modules/intifada/launch.asp?b=hi

  23. Why did the first Intifada end? (circa 1991) • Exhaustion & suppression • Palestinian economic problems • PLO centralization & Israeli eradication of leadership • 1990-91 Gulf War • 1991 Madrid conference/negotiations

  24. 1st Intifada: Achievements • Challenged Israeli belief in sustainability of occupation. • Damaged Israel economically, internationally • Forced a search for an alternative • New recognition of Palestinians in Israel and idea that partition was necessary. • New & more pragmatic goals among Palestinians • Local leadership pushed PLO towards a two-state solution and acceptance of Israel. • New Palestinian self-image, and self-sufficiency • Helped bring new rounds of negotiations

  25. Achievements, cont. • Economic cost to Israel • By Feb. 1998- cost of augmented military forces in the territories reached $5 million a day. • $19 million daily loss to Israeli business sector • 50 percent drop in tourism by midsummer of 1988 • by the end of 1988, boycott had cost Israel $650 million in export losses, including “exports” to the Palestine common market.

  26. What factors undermined the efficacy of the first Intifada? • Difficult to sustain: • Israeli use of increased repression and encirclement of refugee camps. • Isolation of communities • Palestinian economic problems: 30-40% unemployment. • Families lost as much as three-quarters of their income • Loss of Palestinian leadership • Use of violence • Palestinian lack of leverage: Imbalance of power between Israel & the Palestinians • Palestinian lack of influential external allies

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