Remembering the First Intifada and the birth of Hamas
Palestinian women confront Israeli troops during the first intifada in December 1987 [Robert Croma / maryscullyreports.com]
MEMO
The Palestinian First Intifada started on 7 December, 1987, marked by mass demonstrations, first in Gaza before spreading to the entire Palestinian occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Frustrated, angry and dispossessed Palestinians from all ages and all walks of Life took to the streets, throwing stones at the Israeli occupation forces. Their targets then, as they are today: independence, end of occupation and, above all, living in dignity after decades of Israeli brutality the outside world can only imagine.
Fully controlling all Palestinian territories (land occupied after 1967), Israeli forces shrouded the crimes they were committing in complete secrecy, making it difficult for the outside world to know what was really happening. Unlike today with social media and the internet, getting information was indeed a difficult task. But, like today in Gaza, all journalists are banned from entering the enclave while those already inside are being targeted by Israeli soldiers, drones and snipers with over 217 already killed.
In the background of the First Intifada, Ḥarakat Al-Muqāwamah Al-ʾIslāmiyyah (Islamic Resistance Movement), appeared by first distributing leaflets announcing its goals, explaining itself and familiarising the public with its shorthand name: Hamas—that name would persist as always to mean resistance. While in its infant days, Hamas did not play a significant role in the First Intifada compared to well-established other Palestinian movements; however, it was noted as a new player yet to be considered to have any major impact on the wider resistance movement inside Palestine.
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Hamas went on to represent zeal, determination and strong self-belief. Years on, and the movement has transformed itself from what it was then to what it has become today: a prominent player in Palestinian politics, Israeli internal politics, regional player and, above all, an essential partner for peace and war. Despite decades of Israeli dehumanisation and propaganda, aided by regional countries who do not share Hamas’ views, the movement established itself in Gaza and beyond. Without any glorification or sharing its ideology, any objective observer has to recognise Hamas’ role today.
However, the First Intifada went beyond being a platform for Hamas to announce itself; it predominantly alters the equation of the Palestinian struggle in many ways. First, it gave the simple Palestinian person under occupation self-confidence that unarmed mass protests are the easiest way of rejecting occupation. The yield might be below expectations but that is part of the nature of resistance countering colonisation which is bent on expanding through policies of land-annexations creating a new status-quo forced upon the occupied.
Secondly, the Intifada was not an isolated one-time event but was the trigger for more uprisings that depended entirely on the active participation of the masses, without whose sacrifices colonisation would become a new reality its victims have to accept as part of life. As Israeli forces resorted to a heavy handed approach to quell the mass demonstrations, they committed heinous crimes including murder and mass arrests. Amnesty International in its report, six months into the Intifada estimated that more than 5,000 Palestinians were in administrative detention usually, indefinitely, extended. Over 1,100 killed, with the majority being children. The same policy is being repeated in the continuing Gaza genocide where 70 per cent of the estimated 170,000 dead, injured and missing are women and children.
Then, like today, the Israeli policy of terrorising the civilian population exposed it to more international scrutiny and focusing rights groups on the Palestinian issue after decades of avoiding it. More importantly, it created pro-Palestinian international public opinion just like it did since 7 October, 2023 in which condemnation of Israel became the norm.
Third, and probably the most important impact of the first Intifada, is making the Israeli public opinion aware on such a large scale, maybe for the first time, that Palestinians under occupation cannot be pacified through brutal force and terror. The more iron fist policy, land theft and ever expanding settlements will only bring more resistance.
Fourth, the First Intifada, which ended in 1993, forced the United States, the financier and protector of Israel, to do more to revive the so called peace process, eventually leading to the signing of the Oslo Accords between the PLO and Israel. Indeed, the Accords failed to end the occupation or to make people’s lives any better, thanks to Israel’s backtracking on its side of the bargain, but it created an international momentum that Palestine does exist and the issue here is more than a dispute over some land here or there; it is about the eradication of colonisation, once and for all. It is about living safely, with dignity and peacefully of the entire Palestinian population, with the right of return for the millions abroad.
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Fifth, and as the critical outcome of the Intifada took the struggle down to the people, making resistance real grassroots movement with its own narrative centred on the idea of non-stop resistance to which ordinary Palestinians can contribute. It also highlighted and created a simpler and focused national unified narrative that simply says: the Palestinians want freedom just like every other nation on earth; they demand their stolen land back and want their own state.
The fact that Hamas became the beacon of grassroots resistance, without denying other Palestinian movements, was and will always be associated with the First Intifada when it was born. While the movement might have been weakened and could also be on the brink of collapse altogether, that does not mean the end of what it stood for and what it represented to the individual Palestinian inside Palestine and in the Diaspora. Whenever the First Intifada is debated, Hamas will be part of the debate, not as bunch of terrorists as some would like to define it but as a grassroots movement that came into being because of the brutality of occupation that is doomed and will eventually fail.
Israel might end up controlling Gaza when its current genocide ends but it must realise that controlling Gaza is not only the wrong policy but it is prerequisite to create more resistance in more creative ways yet to be known.
The First Intifada erupted when Israel was still controlling Gaza and following the same policy will produce the same outcome; more Hamas(s) will be born out of the apartheid occupation.
Palestinian-wise, and in light of what has been going on over the last 15 months, no Palestinian Authority collaborating with Israel and helping, however indirectly, the occupation can survive the will of the people. Maybe martyred Palestinian leaders like the late Ahmed Yassin, Yasser Arafat and the hundreds of others Israel murdered did not envision any of this, but there is always someone who does, and that someone is likely to come around and lead just like the late Sinwar did.
In a final note, the word “Intifada” has become standard in many languages without the need for any explaining footnote!
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
The Palestinian First Intifada started on 7 December, 1987, marked by mass demonstrations, first in Gaza before spreading to the entire Palestinian occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Frustrated, angry and dispossessed Palestinians from all ages and all walks of Life took to the streets, throwing stones at the Israeli occupation forces. Their targets then, as they are today: independence, end of occupation and, above all, living in dignity after decades of Israeli brutality the outside world can only imagine.
Fully controlling all Palestinian territories (land occupied after 1967), Israeli forces shrouded the crimes they were committing in complete secrecy, making it difficult for the outside world to know what was really happening. Unlike today with social media and the internet, getting information was indeed a difficult task. But, like today in Gaza, all journalists are banned from entering the enclave while those already inside are being targeted by Israeli soldiers, drones and snipers with over 217 already killed.
In the background of the First Intifada, Ḥarakat Al-Muqāwamah Al-ʾIslāmiyyah (Islamic Resistance Movement), appeared by first distributing leaflets announcing its goals, explaining itself and familiarising the public with its shorthand name: Hamas—that name would persist as always to mean resistance. While in its infant days, Hamas did not play a significant role in the First Intifada compared to well-established other Palestinian movements; however, it was noted as a new player yet to be considered to have any major impact on the wider resistance movement inside Palestine.
OPINION: EU funding for Israeli tech raises fresh concerns about complicity in genocide
Hamas went on to represent zeal, determination and strong self-belief. Years on, and the movement has transformed itself from what it was then to what it has become today: a prominent player in Palestinian politics, Israeli internal politics, regional player and, above all, an essential partner for peace and war. Despite decades of Israeli dehumanisation and propaganda, aided by regional countries who do not share Hamas’ views, the movement established itself in Gaza and beyond. Without any glorification or sharing its ideology, any objective observer has to recognise Hamas’ role today.
However, the First Intifada went beyond being a platform for Hamas to announce itself; it predominantly alters the equation of the Palestinian struggle in many ways. First, it gave the simple Palestinian person under occupation self-confidence that unarmed mass protests are the easiest way of rejecting occupation. The yield might be below expectations but that is part of the nature of resistance countering colonisation which is bent on expanding through policies of land-annexations creating a new status-quo forced upon the occupied.
Secondly, the Intifada was not an isolated one-time event but was the trigger for more uprisings that depended entirely on the active participation of the masses, without whose sacrifices colonisation would become a new reality its victims have to accept as part of life. As Israeli forces resorted to a heavy handed approach to quell the mass demonstrations, they committed heinous crimes including murder and mass arrests. Amnesty International in its report, six months into the Intifada estimated that more than 5,000 Palestinians were in administrative detention usually, indefinitely, extended. Over 1,100 killed, with the majority being children. The same policy is being repeated in the continuing Gaza genocide where 70 per cent of the estimated 170,000 dead, injured and missing are women and children.
Then, like today, the Israeli policy of terrorising the civilian population exposed it to more international scrutiny and focusing rights groups on the Palestinian issue after decades of avoiding it. More importantly, it created pro-Palestinian international public opinion just like it did since 7 October, 2023 in which condemnation of Israel became the norm.
Third, and probably the most important impact of the first Intifada, is making the Israeli public opinion aware on such a large scale, maybe for the first time, that Palestinians under occupation cannot be pacified through brutal force and terror. The more iron fist policy, land theft and ever expanding settlements will only bring more resistance.
Fourth, the First Intifada, which ended in 1993, forced the United States, the financier and protector of Israel, to do more to revive the so called peace process, eventually leading to the signing of the Oslo Accords between the PLO and Israel. Indeed, the Accords failed to end the occupation or to make people’s lives any better, thanks to Israel’s backtracking on its side of the bargain, but it created an international momentum that Palestine does exist and the issue here is more than a dispute over some land here or there; it is about the eradication of colonisation, once and for all. It is about living safely, with dignity and peacefully of the entire Palestinian population, with the right of return for the millions abroad.
OPINION: Celebrating revolution by annihilating it is Abbas’s style
Fifth, and as the critical outcome of the Intifada took the struggle down to the people, making resistance real grassroots movement with its own narrative centred on the idea of non-stop resistance to which ordinary Palestinians can contribute. It also highlighted and created a simpler and focused national unified narrative that simply says: the Palestinians want freedom just like every other nation on earth; they demand their stolen land back and want their own state.
The fact that Hamas became the beacon of grassroots resistance, without denying other Palestinian movements, was and will always be associated with the First Intifada when it was born. While the movement might have been weakened and could also be on the brink of collapse altogether, that does not mean the end of what it stood for and what it represented to the individual Palestinian inside Palestine and in the Diaspora. Whenever the First Intifada is debated, Hamas will be part of the debate, not as bunch of terrorists as some would like to define it but as a grassroots movement that came into being because of the brutality of occupation that is doomed and will eventually fail.
Israel might end up controlling Gaza when its current genocide ends but it must realise that controlling Gaza is not only the wrong policy but it is prerequisite to create more resistance in more creative ways yet to be known.
The First Intifada erupted when Israel was still controlling Gaza and following the same policy will produce the same outcome; more Hamas(s) will be born out of the apartheid occupation.
Palestinian-wise, and in light of what has been going on over the last 15 months, no Palestinian Authority collaborating with Israel and helping, however indirectly, the occupation can survive the will of the people. Maybe martyred Palestinian leaders like the late Ahmed Yassin, Yasser Arafat and the hundreds of others Israel murdered did not envision any of this, but there is always someone who does, and that someone is likely to come around and lead just like the late Sinwar did.
In a final note, the word “Intifada” has become standard in many languages without the need for any explaining footnote!
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
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