ISRAELI OCUPATION AND INITIFADA

1. Israeli Occupation

On the 5th of June 1967, Israeli forces occupiedthe rest of Palestine which then became known as the Occupied Palestinian Territories or OPT (West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem). Israeli policies and practices under various governments over the past four decades have been characterized by a) Confiscation of land); b) Construction of settlements and movement of settlers into the OPT; c) Crushing of Palestinian resistance movements- politically and military; d) Violation of human rights and internationallaw; e) Annexation of Jerusalem in order to establish it as the capital of the Israeli state.

Palestinian society has been through several phases of resistance under this occupation which can be broadly categorizedas follows:

a) Non cooperation

This first phase of Palestinian reaction to the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem between 1967 and 1970, was exemplified by a strategy of "noncooperation". This was based on the shock of defeat, fearof the unknown and affected by the fact that the leadership atthat time were traditional local "notables" withoutauthority who had an unsteady relationship with the newly establishedPLO (1965) and with Jordan. Palestinians, both inside and outside,put all their hopes on the 1967 Arab summit in Khartoum whichaddressed the necessity for "the elimination of all traces of aggression" with no recognition negotiation or settlement with Israel, and on UN Security Council resolution 242 of 1967which was hoped would provide would provide the solution to the1967 problem - the occupied Arab Territories.

This strategy of non cooperation led to the crippling of Palestinian society as schools, universities and courts wereclosed, contracting and services collapsed and there were continuousgeneral strikes among professionals and the business network.The hope was that the occupation would be short (as in Gaza, 1955-56) and that the call for "rectifying" the Jordanian-Palestinian relationship would be heard.

b) Steadfastness

The second phase of Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation was between 1970 and 1982 and took two different tracks.On the local level it was the strategy of sumud or stead fastness.This meant a maintenance of the status quo while doggedly waiting for a solution to come from outside, either internationally (thesuperpowers or the UN), or regionally (the Arab states or thePLO). The second track was Palestinian resistance which saw military confrontation with Israelis in the Jordan valley in 1968/9, amilitary struggle for power in Jordan during the 70s and the establishment of a strong base in Lebanon in the late 70s. The evolution ofthe local leadership during this period was characterized by thedemise of local notables with close ties to Amman, the rise ofa national front (orchestrated mostly by adherents by leftistideology), the formation of the National Guidance Committee (which combined all nationalist groups) and finally the rise of the PLO factions with the Fatah movement being the most dominant.

c) Isolation

During phase three, between 1982 and 1988, the Palestinian military resistance movement made its exodus from Lebanon. Afteralmost ten years of military confrontation with Israel the wholestructure of the Palestinian mini-state in Lebanon was destroyed and anything that could be salvaged from its institutions therewas transferred to Tunis.

Meanwhile, inside the OPT, were three external elements,each with very different interpretations and each of whom worked intensively to shape and implement an "autonomy plan".

The first of these was the United States, and bearingin mind the background of Camp David, people in the US state departmentpromoted the theme of "improving the quality of life".The second element was Jordan and it's interest was in promotinga controlled regional development plan for the West Bank, withthe intention of replacing the local PLO leadership with thosewho had control over the local economy and a strong business network.The autonomy plans of the third element, Israel, in this phase,were based on the "Jordanian option" i.e. that Palestiniansin the OPT were Jordanian citizens with their government in Amman.

Throughout these three phases, Israel had total controlover the land (land confiscation, settlement construction, controlover natural resources, particularly water); the people (denial of human rights and discrimination amounting to an apartheid typepolicy); and the authority to govern without any respect for international law, appeals by the West or Palestinian cries for freedom.

According to Israeli scholar, Meron Benvenisti the message Israeli wanted to convey was that "occupation isirreversible".

Throughout this period there was considerable confusionamong Palestinians as to what their priorities actually were whichwas not helped by the competition between the inside and outside leadership and among their organizations and institutions.

d) Intifada

In Phase four, between 1987 and 1990, Palestiniansinitiated a new chapter of their resistance under the bannersof the Intifada. This meant to change the status quo (ending Israelioccupation) and to build a new society (freedom and independence) on national soil without waiting for a solution to come from outside.The Intifada succeeded in:

a) Palestinianizing and promoting national unityof the society;

b) Starkly reminding the world of the Palestiniancause and gaining a renewed recognition and sympathy;

c) demonstrating that the green line was a definitiveborder line, which the Israelis were reluctant to cross into theOPT and Palestinians were not allowed to cross into Israel. "Palestinian stones Kept Israelis away from the OPT and Palestinian knives kept Palestinians away from Israel".

In terms of leadership, the well organized factionsformed the United Leadership of the Uprising (UNLU) in the firstyear of the Intifada and actually governed the OPT, continuously confronting the Israelis and maintaining strong connections with the PLO headquarters in Tunis. This period witnessed a revolutionary change in the traditional fabric of the society affecting the functioning of the economy, education and health services, family structure and the women who active in the initiatives to bring about social change.

e) Negotiations

Phase five, 1990 to 1993, witnessed the Gulf crisis,a divided Arab world, a PLO in a state of siege in Tunis, thefall of the Soviet Union and Eastern European bloc, and an American agenda promoting a "Land for Peace" formula, Resolutions242 and 338 and Palestinian leadership in a divided Arab house,accepted the challenges and went under a joint umbrella with Jordanto Madrid in October 1991 and then to subsequent negotiationsin separate teams to Washington. There was no change in Israeli policies and practices vis-a-vis the land and its people and the intention was to bring the Palestinians to agree to the old autonomy plan. The Palestinians, after 22 months of negotiations, deliveredthe Palestinian Interim Self Governing Authority (PISGA) plan.The PLO in Tunis opened five different additional channels ofnegotiation, one of which led to the Oslo agreement and the signing of the D.O.P. in Washington on 13th September 1993.

2. Israeli Military Administration and Annexation

Israeli officials generally use the term "administered areas" on the grounds that Israel did not capture them fromtheir sovereign rules and in line with Israel's refusal to acknowledge that the West Bank and Gaza Strip are occupied territory. In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, legislative, judicial and executive powers are exercised through military commanders. Palestinians and international bodies have repeatedly demanded that Israeluphold international law related to military occupation, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, and have called for international protection for Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.

In November 1981, Israel established the Civil Administration.This partly differentiated the functions of governing the Palestinianunder occupation from moperations. The initiative was in linewith Israel's autonomy proposals of the 1979 Camp David Agreement.Still subordinate to the Israeli military command, with all legislative and judicial power vested in the Military Commanders, and ultimately accountable to the Ministry of Defense, the Civil Administrationcontrols various aspects of Palestinian life such as health education,agriculture, construction, planning and other departments. Itcollects taxes, enforces residency laws, and operates a systemof permits for travel, business, construction and so on. In establishing the Civil Administration, Israel aimed to separate a realm ofoverall powers which would remain with Israel even if Palestinianswere granted autonomy. Palestinians therefore refused to extend legitimacy to it. This was an important factor in Israel's 1982 decision to dismiss municipal councils in the Occupied Territories.Taxes imposed on Palestinians formed 88% of the Civilian Administration income in 1992.