First Intifada

First Intifada, which began on 8 December 1987 after an Israeli truck driver drove his vehicle into a car carrying Palestinian workers near the Beit Hanun (Erez) checkpoint in northern Gaza Strip, resulting in the deaths of four Palestinian workers, was a widespread popular uprising that quickly spread from Gaza to the West Bank and East Jerusalem. This process, which started in the final days of 1987, constituted a prolonged uprising characterized by mass participation in civil resistance, demonstrations, general strikes, boycotts, and local organization, and continued until the commencement of the Oslo negotiations in 1993.

The background to the Palestinian question includes the Zionist movement that emerged in the early 20th century, demographic and land reforms during the British Mandate period, the 1947 partition plan, and the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948. As a result of the 1948 wars, Palestinians suffered large-scale territorial losses, and hundreds of thousands became refugees. This process, referred to by Palestinians as the “nakba” or catastrophe, marked the beginning of a prolonged refugee crisis.

Between 1948 and 1967, the West Bank remained under Jordanian control while the Gaza Strip was administered by Egypt. During this period, Palestinian refugees were confined to camps and surrounding Arab countries, and the Palestinian cause became one of the central elements of Arab states’ foreign policies and regional power dynamics.

During the 1967 War, Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, and also took control of the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. As a result, occupation rapidly expanded, and a significant portion of Palestinian territory came under direct Israeli military administration.

After 1967, Israel implemented a settlement policy in the occupied territories aimed at reducing the Palestinian population, increasing the Jewish settler population, and altering the territorial status quo. New settlements were established, and Palestinians’ access to agricultural land, homes, and water sources was restricted through various military regulations.

During this period, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza began living under military rule, with freedom of movement, work permits, tax obligations, and public services all subject to decisions by Israeli military authorities.

From the 1970s onward, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was recognized across the Arab world and at the United Nations as the “legitimate representative” of the Palestinian people. In 1974, the UN General Assembly granted the PLO observer status, making the Palestinian cause more visible at the international level.

In Israel’s 1976 “Land Day” events, Palestinian citizens of Israel protested against land expropriations; several deaths occurred during these demonstrations, and the fear of land confiscation became a central element of Palestinian nationalism.

The Arab-Israeli wars of 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973 resulted in the failure of Arab states to achieve their objectives through military means. After 1973, the Palestinian issue increasingly became the subject of diplomatic processes and negotiation initiatives.

By the 1980s, Jewish settlements in the occupied territories had expanded, and control points, administrative permits, and mechanisms of economic dependency restricting Palestinian freedom of movement had become widespread. Both nationalist and Islamic resistance movements gained broader grassroots support within Palestinian society.

Between 1967 and 1987, Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza were integrated into the Israeli economy as low-wage laborers while simultaneously facing the burdens of taxes and movement restrictions imposed by the occupation. Palestinian workers were concentrated in construction, agriculture, and low-wage industrial jobs, where they were employed under more precarious conditions than their Israeli counterparts.

Unemployment, income inequality, limitations in public services, and the mechanisms of control under the occupation regime created a cumulative sense of discontent within Palestinian society.

By the late 1970s and early 1980s, the PLO had become geographically distant from the Palestinian population due to the Lebanese civil war and regional power dynamics, transforming into an exiled organization based in Tunis. This situation widened the physical and political gap between the PLO leadership and Palestinians living under occupation.

Over time, Arab states developed divergent approaches to the Palestinian issue; the military defeats suffered in the 1967 and 1973 wars made it more difficult for Arab states to address the Palestinian cause independently of their bilateral strategic calculations.

Israel’s “settlement policy” encompassed a series of measures aimed at altering the status of Palestinian land. New settlement units were established; Palestinian villagers were forcibly displaced from their agricultural land, orchards, and gardens; in some cases, homes were demolished and residents expelled under the supervision of Jewish settlers or security forces. Throughout this process, Palestinians continued to lose land, and the physical presence of settlements shaped both daily life and future political solution debates.

The beginning of the First Intifada is associated with the incident on 8 December 1987 near the Beit Hanun (Erez) checkpoint in northern Gaza Strip, when an Israeli truck driver drove his vehicle into a car carrying Palestinian workers, killing four of them. While Israeli authorities described the incident as a traffic accident, some Palestinian eyewitnesses claimed it was a deliberate act in retaliation for the earlier killing of Israeli soldiers. ^【1】 Shortly after the incident, clashes erupted between large crowds attending the funeral in Gaza and Israeli soldiers; these clashes quickly spread to other parts of Gaza, then to the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The First Intifada had thus begun.

In the initial days, demonstrations in Gaza took the form of street clashes, tire burning, barricade construction, and stone-throwing. Broad segments of the population, including students, workers, merchants, women, and people of all age groups, participated in the protests.

Within a short time, similar actions emerged in cities and refugee camps across the West Bank; demonstrations, general strikes, and civil resistance activities became widespread in centers such as Nablus, Ramallah, and Hebron, as well as in refugee camps.

Throughout 1988, clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian resistance fighters intensified; curfews, mass arrests, and the proliferation of checkpoints severely disrupted daily life.

The Intifada developed as a mass popular movement based primarily on civil resistance practices with decisive mass participation. The main forms of action included:

• Mass Demonstrations and Stone-Throwing: Groups gathered in the streets and responded to Israeli military interventions with stones and slingshots; Israeli forces responded with live fire, plastic and real bullets, tear gas, and batons.

• General Strikes: Palestinian workers and merchants closed their shops on designated days, and workers employed in Israel did not report to work; these strikes significantly reduced production in construction and agriculture.

• Boycott of Israeli Goods: Intifada leadership encouraged the refusal to purchase Israeli products and services; significant declines were recorded in sales of industrial, agricultural, and textile goods. In 1987, industrial goods sold in the occupied territories amounted to $850 million; by 1988, this figure had dropped to $250 million; agricultural sales declined by approximately 60 percent, and exports in some sectors fell by 20–30 percent.

• Refusal to Pay Taxes: Palestinians collectively stopped paying taxes to the Israeli civil administration; in response, Israeli authorities introduced new measures linking the provision of certain services to proof of tax payment. For example, a tax payment certificate became mandatory for travel to Jordan.

• Local Committees and Alternative Arrangements: Local committees established in neighborhoods and villages organized strike schedules, boycott lists, and community solidarity activities; alternative arrangements were implemented in health, food, and education.

During the Intifada, Israel implemented intensive security measures in the occupied territories:

• Curfews and Checkpoints: Long-term curfews were imposed in many cities and camps; new checkpoints were established; inter-city movement for Palestinians became dependent on administrative permits.

• Mass Arrests and Prisons: Tens of thousands of Palestinians were detained or arrested during the Intifada; some were held for extended periods under administrative detention without trial.

• Home Demolitions and Expulsions: Israel demolished homes of some families on security grounds and expelled certain individuals from the occupied territories.

• Use of Force: In confrontations with protesters, Israeli soldiers opened fire, resulting in deaths and injuries among demonstrators. Between 1987 and 1993, Palestinian fatalities exceeded 1,000, and many more were wounded.

The Intifada directly affected the education system. In particular, schools in the West Bank were closed for extended periods by military orders; students and teachers frequently encountered soldiers at checkpoints, on school routes, or within school premises:

• In 1988, all 1,194 schools in the West Bank were closed for nine months by military order; in 1989, they were closed for eight months; approximately 310,000 students were affected by these closures.

• Raided schools had tear gas bombs thrown into classrooms, and damage was inflicted on buildings and equipment.

• Universities, viewed as “centers of resistance,” frequently faced closure orders; access to campuses was restricted, and students and academics were arrested.

During this period, Palestinians developed alternative education methods, such as holding classes in mosques, homes, and gardens; local education networks operated during periods when official schools were closed.

In daily life, curfews, checkpoints, strikes, and clashes frequently disrupted transportation, healthcare services, commerce, and family life.

The general strikes, boycotts, tax refusal campaigns, and increased military expenditures during the Intifada imposed significant costs on the Israeli economy:

• Strikes by Palestinian workers, especially in agriculture and construction, reduced production in these sectors. In 1988, total employment in Israel’s agricultural sector decreased by 9 percent compared to 1987.

• Boycotts led to sharp declines in sales of industrial, agricultural, and textile products in the occupied territories; some local Palestinian businesses sustained operations due to increased demand.

• The decline in tax payments led the Israeli civil administration to deliberately reduce certain services; proof of tax payment became a requirement for various administrative documents used in daily life.

• Military expenditures increased; reserve duty periods were extended; new military units and checkpoints were established in the occupied territories; these measures required additional budgetary allocations.

The spontaneous actions at the outset of the Intifada quickly became more coordinated through statements and directives issued by the United National Leadership of the Uprising (UNLU), a local leadership mechanism composed of representatives from Palestinian factions in the occupied territories. The UNLU published materials on strike days, boycott calls, and forms of action.

The UNLU did not directly reject the authority of the PLO; instead, it emphasized the PLO’s role as the “legitimate representative” of the Palestinian people, maintaining the understanding that grassroots organization occurred locally while international representation remained with the PLO.

At the outbreak of the Intifada, the PLO operated as an exiled organization based in Tunis. The scale of the uprising caught PLO leaders by surprise; over time, the PLO provided political support to the Intifada and intensified its diplomatic efforts internationally.

During the years of the Intifada, the PLO maintained relations with Arab states while also seeking contact with the United States and Western countries. In 1988, the United States’ decision to engage in direct talks with the PLO exemplified the diplomatic engagement of this period.

The Islamic movement in Palestine had been organized along the lines of the Muslim Brotherhood since the 1940s; during the 1980s, it built broad grassroots support through social welfare networks, mosques, student associations, and charitable institutions.

The structure that institutionalized under the name Hamas in 1987 became an active player on the ground during the First Intifada. Although Hamas did not formally join the United National Leadership of the Uprising established by the PLO, it played a significant role in protests, religious messaging, and organized actions in Gaza and the West Bank.

Hamas was defined as an organization that combined Islamic ideology with resistance to occupation; it rejected the existence of Israel and developed a discourse based on jihad and Islamic references.

In the First Intifada, young people, especially students, were among the primary actors in street demonstrations and stone-throwing actions. Palestinian youth played active roles both in schools and in local committees established in neighborhoods and camps.

Women participated in the Intifada through food provision, medical support, care for the wounded, organization of local aid networks, and direct involvement in protest actions in some areas. They provided logistical support alongside local community committees.

Local committees assumed numerous functions at the neighborhood level, including security, food distribution, alternative education, medical assistance, and action coordination; thus, they provided an organizational framework essential to sustaining the Intifada.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), police, and intelligence units operated in the occupied territories with the mandate of ensuring the security of Israeli settlers and suppressing resistance. Military measures included extending reserve duty periods, creating new units, establishing special units to protect settlements, setting up checkpoints, and imposing curfews; these policies produced various outcomes both within the occupied territories and within Israel itself in the areas of security and the economy.

During the First Intifada, images from the occupied territories—particularly scenes of children throwing stones against heavily armed soldiers—received extensive coverage in the international press. Israel’s use of force against civilians became a focal point of global public debate.

During this period, European countries, the United Nations, and various international organizations issued resolutions and statements on the Palestinian issue; Palestinian demands gained greater prominence on diplomatic platforms.

In December 1988, the US administration accepted direct talks with the PLO for the first time. This step was interpreted as a consequence of the Intifada’s ground-level impact and growing international interest in the Palestinian issue; the direct contact between the PLO and the United States marked a significant development that altered the diplomatic framework of the Palestinian question. These talks laid the groundwork for future peace conferences and negotiation processes.

The Madrid Conference, convened in 1991, marked a multilateral peace conference in Arab-Israeli relations, initiating direct negotiations between Israel, Arab states, and a Palestinian delegation. The Madrid Conference emerged as a consequence of the political environment following the First Intifada.

The Madrid process was recorded as a diplomatic stage in which the status of the Palestinian delegation, territorial issues, and security concerns were discussed, but no final resolution was reached.

Secret negotiations conducted in Oslo, Norway’s capital, in the early 1990s produced a framework agreement that included mutual recognition between the PLO and Israel. Under the Oslo Accords signed in 1993, Israel agreed to withdraw from certain areas of the occupied territories, while the Palestinian side recognized the state of Israel; it was decided that the Palestinian National Authority would be established in parts of the West Bank and Gaza.

It is widely recognized that the First Intifada spanned approximately six years, from its beginning in 1987 until the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, and officially ended with the implementation of these agreements.

The First Intifada, also known in Palestinian history as the “stone intifada,” has secured its place in collective memory as a mass popular movement. The effectiveness of civil resistance methods and the strengthening of social solidarity and national identity are among its defining characteristics.

Moreover, the Intifada played a decisive role in the political socialization of the Palestinian youth generation and became a reference point for the shaping of the Second Intifada and subsequent Palestinian political movements.