Structured Response #2

The First Intifada that started in 1987 and went on through the 90’s was a massive uprising that, unlike earlier Palestinian movement, was not organized by the PLO but by grassroots efforts. It is commonly agreed that the Intifada failed, however a number of positives emerged from the effort and, as the PLO had very limited expectations, it can even be argued if it truly was a failure as they did not expect to achieve much to begin with.

First and foremost, Palestinians previously had always been guilty of seeking and being dependent on the aid of Neighboring Arab States making them seem weak and of little consequence in addition to being proxy warriors and pawns of other states. By engaging Israel directly, without foreign assistance, Palestinians established themselves as a true united nation capable of self-determination and therefore their consequence to the Israelis increases and they were finally taking seriously in their own right and not as the guerilla forces of the various Arab States who did not want to enter into direct conflict but were more than happy to provide covert aid. The Intifada also served to break the image of Jerusalem as a united Israeli city, it remade Jerusalem into a divided city. A city that was not solely Israelis but also Palestinian; in other words a city representative of the “civil war” clash between Israelis and Palestinians and how the borders of Israel and the occupied territories were not true borders as Israelis and Palestinians meshed even in the heart of the Israeli State.

Secondly, it forced Israel to concede the failure of its “Iron Fist” Policy which also caused Israel’s international image to deteriorate as they started as more of an aggressor now. It also led to Jordan cutting legal and administrative ties to the West Bank in order to remove itself from the Intifada and appear more neutral than previously and, lastly, it caused the US to acknowledge the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people, qualified to negotiate on their behalf which, in essence, forced Yitzhak Rabin, Israel’s Prime Minister, to pursue an end to the violence and the beginning of peace talks through negotiation and dialogue with the PLO. This almost led to lasting peace, unfortunately the peace-seeking PM was assassinated in 1995 by right-wing radical Yigal Amir who was furious over Rabin signing the Oslo Accords.

Lastly, the most important consequences of the Intifada were political. They gave the PLO and Yasser Arafat the confidence to moderate their political program (not unlike the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt) and therefore make it more palatable to the International community they sought to gained the support of. It also exposed the 2 sides of the Israeli-Palestinian which had not really occurred previously and led to the EU becoming a major economic contributor to the PLO and journalists worldwide criticizing Israel in a way they had never done before. The moderation of the PLO’s message which led to the Oslo Accords and the vigorous peace talks with Yitzhak Rabin was the fact that Arafat won by a majority the historic decision to recognized Israel’s legitimacy which was a huge compromise that gave the Israeli’s reason to believe that unlike previous peace talks these could be genuine and lead to long-lasting peace, it also reinforced support for the PLO’s efforts by the International community who now saw them as more non-violent than previously thought.

In conclusion, the Intifada while not a booming success was an important step forward in the Peace Process, and, perhaps had Rabin not been assassinate we may not even be talking of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict nowadays. However, it did happen and Israeli’s and Palestinians are still at an impasse. Perhaps the current regimes of Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas should look at the intifada’s consequences and subsequent compromises as a blueprint towards achieving some kind of peace. This war will continue going on until both sides agree to compromises, it cannot be one way nor should either side expect to gain all that they want. It is a sad situation that needs urgent resolution.