The intifada began on 9 Dec 1987 in the Jabalia refugee camp after an Israeli Defense Forces(IDF) truck collided with a civilian car, killing four Palestinian workers, three of whom were from the Jabalia refugee camp...1/n
The Palestinian response was characterized by protests, civil disobedience, and violence. There was graffiti, barricading and widespread throwing of stones and Molotov cocktails (petrol bomb) at the IDF and its infrastructure within the West Bank and Gaza Strip...2/n
These contrasted with civil efforts including general strikes, boycotts of Israeli Civil Administration institutions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, an economic boycott consisting of refusal to work in Israeli settlements on Israeli products, and refusal to pay taxes...3/n
Israel deployed some 80,000 soldiers in response. Israeli countermeasures, which initially included the use of live rounds frequently in riots, were criticized as disproportionate. The IDF's rules of engagement were also criticized as too liberally employing lethal force...4/n
In the Intifada's first year, IDF killed 311 #Palestinians, of which 53 were under the age of 17. Over 6 yrs the IDF killed an estimated 1,162–1,204 Palestinians. Almost 120,000 Palestinians were arrested, 481 were deported while 2500 had their houses razed to the ground...5/n
One journalistic calculation reports that in the Gaza Strip alone from 1988 to 1993, some 60,706 Palestinians suffered injuries from shootings, beatings or tear gas. The Swedish branch of Save the Children estimated that "23,600 to 29,900 children required medical treatment...6/n
treatment for their injuries in the first two yrs of the Intifada", one third were under the age of 10.
Intra-Palestinian violence was also a prominent feature of the Intifada, with widespread executions of an estimated 822 #Palestinians killed as alleged Israeli collaborators!
Under Israel's then defence minister Yithzak Rabin's orders, Israeli army commanders were instructed to break the bones of Palestinian protestors. Today this policy has evolved to specifically target the knees and legs of Palestinian youth to physically disable them...8/n
Outcomes:
The Intifada was recognized as an occasion where the Palestinians acted cohesively and independently of their leadership! There was unprecedented international coverage, and the Israeli response was criticized in media outlets and international fora!...9/n
The large no of Palestinian casualties provoked international condemnation. The Security Council demanded Israel cease deportations of Palestinians. In November 1988, Israel was condemned by a large majority of the UN General Assembly for its actions against the Intifada...10/n
According to Mubarak Awad, a Palestinian American psychologist, The Intifada was a protest against Israeli repression including "beatings, shootings, killings, house demolitions, uprooting of trees, deportations, extended imprisonments, and detentions without trial"...11/n
Today Palestinians are again demanding the justice, freedom and equality, the same demands of Palestinians which rose 30 years ago.
Inshallah, Palestine will be free soon!🤲🏻🇵🇸✊
#IntifadaPalestine #FreePalestine #PalestiniansLivesMatter
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