The Second Palestinian Intifada

On the 28th of September, of the year 2000, the second Palestinian Intifada took place. The main reason that sparked this Intifada was the provocative visit of Ariel Sharon, the current Israeli Prime Minister, to the Haram Al Sharif. Even though the visit was what set the ground on fire, these feeling of hatred and desire to rebel had been stirring inside the Palestinians ever since the declaration of the Israeli State, on the Palestinian land, back in 1948. This Palestinian frustration is due to their lack of trust and hope in a peace process that did not yield meaningful results. After seven years of peace talks and six agreements, Palestinians realized that Israel is not serious about peace. Since 1993, Israel has doubled settlements on confiscated Palestinian land, continued to imprison Palestinian prisoners and has implemented only 8 percent of what it agreed to implement in all the signed agreements.

The Intifada, in that timing, was also fueled by the extensive and brutal Israeli use of violence. According to the West Bank leader of the Fatah movement, Marwan Barghouti, the Intifada was “a movement of people’s feelings. It is a protest, not a war, against occupation and settlements,”.

It would be very true to say that the whole Arab nation crystallized in support of the Palestinians and their cause and sufferings through the mass demonstrations that swept all the Arab states, expressing solidarity with Palestinians. Not only did the support come from Arab states, but also from many Western and European states including peoples in the USA itself.

However, the year 2000 Intifada was not the first one to occur. The first Palestinian Intifada took place on the 8th of December 1987. This was the year when the Palestinian first could gather themselves, and stand up to the Israeli forces. What triggered the intifada back then were the Israeli brutal acts against the Palestinian population. The children that have seen their homes bulldozed, their parents, brothers and sisters beaten, abused, urinated and spat upon by Israelis, virtually on a daily basis for the past twenty years- had become young men and women wanting to take their revenge. They have known nothing but occupation and the despair of dying the same prisoners they were born. They have nothing to lose; they are fearless. They suffer from none of the humiliation or degradation of their parents who were originally driven from their homes.