Palestine · A closer look
1987
The first intifada
It began in Jabalia camp in December, after an Israeli truck killed four workers, and spread across Gaza and the West Bank: strikes, boycotts, tax refusal, stones against soldiers, neighbourhood committees. Over six years more than a thousand Palestinians were killed and tens of thousands detained. The uprising put Palestinian self-determination back on the world's agenda.
An uprising rooted in daily life
The first intifada began in Gaza in December 1987 and spread through the occupied territory. Demonstrations and confrontations were its most visible expression, but the movement also drew on years of organisation in workplaces, schools and neighbourhoods. Its scale showed that Palestinians living under occupation could initiate political action rather than wait for leaders abroad. The Arabic term intifada is commonly rendered as a shaking off.
Organisation beyond the street
Local committees coordinated supplies, health support and other activities under curfews and closures. Strikes, boycotts and refusal to cooperate with occupation authorities became part of the struggle, alongside stone-throwing and violent confrontations. Women, students and workers played important roles. The movement's history therefore includes both the repression visible in news photographs and the less visible effort to sustain communities and organise collective decisions.
A changed political landscape
The uprising increased the pressure for a political settlement and altered the relationship between local leadership and the PLO abroad. It also coincided with the emergence of Hamas as a significant movement. Subsequent regional changes, including the Gulf War and the end of the Cold War, shaped the diplomatic opening that led to Madrid and then Oslo. The intifada did not produce independence, but it changed who could be ignored in negotiations.
Source: PalQuest: First intifada and Israeli-Palestinian negotiations