First Intifada, Objectives and Achievements

The man was Ahmed Yassin, whose name was later splashed across the front pages of newspapers worldwide alongside the names of the groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The men who encircled Ahmad Yassin in order to hear his opinion and take heed of his fatwa (religious ruling) were Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, Ismail Abu Shanab, Mahmoud al-Zahar, Yahya Abu Ayyash, and Ismael Abu Hania, who later formed the core of the Hamas movement.

Due to the fact that Iraq's violent attack on Iran attracted international attention for approximately 8 years, the issue of Palestine remained unnoticed.

During that period, the Palestinian combatants felt that the time had come to save Palestine from stagnation through a political and popular movement.

They chose Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as the spiritual leader of the Islamic Hamas movement and vowed to never disobey his orders.

A month later, on December 9, 1987, the world observed an uprising by the Palestinian youth, young adults, and children, who attacked Israeli tanks and personnel carriers with stones.

This beautiful and original movement of the Palestinian nation attracted worldwide attention because it was the first time anyone had ever seen children and youth armed only with stones fighting with troops armed with modern military equipment.

This movement totally surprised Zionist regime officials. The Israeli cabinet headed by Yitzhak Shamir immediately held an emergency session to study possible ways to counter the popular movement.

The ministers of Shamir's cabinet all agreed that the movement should be dealt with severely in order to prevent it from expanding.

The Israeli troops and the Shin Bet intelligence agency began their program of repression by tracking down and subduing Palestinian youth and children who carried stones as their only weapon against the Israelis.

The world will not forget the painful scenes broadcast live on foreign television channels showing several Palestinian youth whose bones were broken by Israeli soldiers.

At the time, Rabin, who later signed the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians, was Israel's defense minister. He directly monitored the suppression operation of the first Intifada known as the Stone Intifada.

The Intifada was meant to attract international attention to the fate of a nation which had been forgotten for more than four decades.

When the Iran-Iraq war ended in 1988, the Intifada became an international issue and resulted in Israel’s political isolation.

During the first Intifada, although the Palestinian youth fought with Israeli tanks with stones, the Israeli troops violently attacked them with modern military equipment. However, the Zionist regime's suppressive policy was not able to weaken the will of nation determined to regain its legitimate rights.

In 1989, high-ranking officials of the Arab League held an emergency session in Algeria in which they announced their support of the Intifada and recognized an independent Palestinian government in exile headed by Yasser Arafat.

The attempts made by the Arab world and the international community to recognize the Palestinian government were neutralized by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The attack divided the Arab world into two groups, one which approved of the invasion of Kuwait and another which was opposed to the action. The negative effects of the disputes directly influenced the Palestinians.

In 1991, U.S. President George Bush, as the victor of the Persian Gulf War, sponsored the Madrid conference in order to take advantage of the Arabs’ weak points.

Saddam Hussein's betrayal (the invasion of Kuwait) influenced the process of the first Intifada, a popular movement which seemed like it was headed for success. Thus, Palestine's compromising leaders used the opportunity to accept the Oslo Accords.

In 1993, Arafat and Rabin signed the Oslo Accords. The Palestinian Authority (PA) was established one year later. However the PA, as an unauthorized government, was not able to achieve the Palestinian goals and Palestine has suffered greatly over the years.

Palestine is currently in a sensitive situation because Zionist Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is attempting to use the international circumstances and the approach of the U.S. presidential elections as a means to extract further concessions from the PA.

Thus, the only alternative left for Palestine is to continue the Intifada and reject compromise plans like the road map and the Geneva peace plan. Palestine can only be saved by relying on its limited indigenous resources, although it will be a long and difficult path. Palestine has seen many peace plans over the past 55 years, but they have all gone nowhere.   

HL/HG

End

MNA