The Palestinian people, every now and then, survives crucial incidents. The Israeli occupation, since its establishment in 1948, has tried all methods to merge the Palestinian people into the Israeli community, but it failed.
Intifadat Al-Hijara:
The first stage of development in the Palestinian situation that forced the Israeli government to change its plans of terminating the Palestinian cause was the First Palestinian Intifada in 1987, which was called Intifadat Al-Masajid (the Mosques’ Intifada), for several reasons that will be addressed in other articles; and Intifadat Al-Hijara, because the Palestinian people used only stones and Molotov in resisting the occupation .
Nevertheless, the First Intifada was not as successful as the Second one, mainly because the Palestine Liberation Organization changed its ideology from believing in armed resistance to recognizing ‘Israel’ as a legitimate state established in Palestine. The PLO started believing in peaceful negotiations with the occupation in order to liberate Palestine, so it signed the Oslo Accords with the Israeli occupation in 1993; which put an end to the First Palestinian Intifada.
The coordination between the Palestinian security bodies and the Israeli occupation’s soldiers resulted in hunting down armed resistance. That, however, did not prevent the Intifada from erupting again, because the people refused injustice and corrupts, and could not live in humiliation. In addition, a people which believes in its just cause and that Palestine is the land of Islam and heavenly creed cannot accept an alien expanding there.
Intifadat Al-Aqsa
The beginning of the 21st century was painful to the occupation and a turning point for the Palestinian resistance. The Second Palestinian Intifada started on September 28, 2000, when Ariel Sharon, Head of the Likud at the time, broke into Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa along with hundreds of settlers and under the protection of Ehud Barak, the Prime Minister back then. This incident incited the Palestinian Intifada hence the name ‘Intifadat Al-Aqsa’.
In this Intifada, the Palestinian resistance had notably improved. The resistance fighters turned from throwing stones to setting ambushes in the streets to cause greater casualties. The resistance also developed explosives that horrified the Israeli soldiers and prevented them from entering the Palestinian areas; the soldiers knew they could no longer protect themselves.
The Palestinian resistance managed to set a plan whose purpose was to spread fear among the Zionists. The settlers stopped feeling safe on the streets, and were afraid of being stabbed at any moment. The Israeli soldiers felt less secured in their tanks because of the fear of explosives, which would blast the tanks called ‘god’ by the soldiers. The buses, restaurants and other institutions were no longer safe for the settlers because the Palestinian fighters would wear explosives that could tear them apart. Finally, the resistance started manufacturing local rockets which would be fired at the surrounding settlements of the Gaza Strip, making the Israeli community panic.
Failure of Assassinations:
As a result to the development in the fight between the Palestinian resistance and the Israeli occupation in the Second Intifada, the Minister of War, serving at the time, decided to initiate a series of assassinations of Palestinian leaders. Abu-Ali Mustafa, Secretary General of the Popular Front, was first assassinated; then Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of Hamas and father-figure of the Palestinian people; and Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian Authority, who unleashed the resistance sometime before his death. The occupation also arrested Ahmed Sa’adat and Marwan Al-Barghouthi along with other Palestinian leaders.
Despite all the occupation’s attempts, Salah Shehada’s predictions came true. He was the Chief of Staff of Al-Qassam Brigades, and he predicted that the Second Intifada would end after the occupation is completely expelled from the Gaza Strip. Indeed, only after Sharon’s decision to withdraw from the Strip had the Intifada ended.
Despite the importance of ‘Netzarim’ settlement, as Sharon used to compare it to Tel Aviv, the occupation withdrew from the area. Although the occupation and the PA signed an agreement in Sharm Al-Sheikh Conference in 2005, the Intifada truly ended when the occupation left the Gaza Strip. As to why they left, the resistance had executed major operations inside the Strip against the Israeli community.