9 December in Anarchist History:
The First Intifada
On this day in anarchist history, December 9th 1987, we remember the start of the 1st Palestinian Intifada, a years long decentralized uprising of Palestinians against Israeli colonial occupation.
Sparked by an incident at the Erez Crossing in Gaza where an Israeli military vehicle crashed into a line of Palestinian civilian vehicles, the 1st Intifada quickly spread throughout Gaza and to the West Bank.
For six years, Palestinians, rallied, rioted, withheld taxes and staged armed attacks. While leadership of the Intifada was largely based within Neighbourhood Councils, the corrupt PLO used it as a bargaining chip for peace talks with Israel. While calls of the Intifada were for the total withdrawal of Israel from all Palestinian lands the PLO called for a two-state solution including the formation of a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank. The two-state solution would never come to fruition and the brutality of Israeli occupation has continued to this day.
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