Intifada << ihn tih FAH dah >> is the Arabic term used to refer to two Palestinian uprisings against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The term intifada means shaking off. The first intifada began in December 1987 and lasted until 1993. The second intifada ran from September 2000 to 2005. Israeli forces had captured the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, two Palestinian territories, in June 1967, during an Arab-Israeli war.
The first intifada consisted mainly of strikes, marches, boycotts, and other nonviolent resistance. Some Palestinians threw stones and gasoline bombs at Israeli soldiers and police. Israel responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, and live ammunition. The first intifada ended in 1993, when Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, which represents the Palestinians, signed the first of two agreements called the Oslo accords.
The second intifada was more violent. Palestinians carried out many attacks, including suicide bombings, against Israeli soldiers and civilians. Israel repeatedly bombed the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and reoccupied areas in the territories that it had vacated in the mid-1990’s as part of the Oslo accords. The second intifada ended in 2005 after Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip. Violence by both sides killed hundreds of Israelis and thousands of Palestinians.
See also Arab-Israeli conflict.
