Throughout the history of Palestinian struggle, the Intifada has stood as a unifying popular choice expressing the will of the masses. During Intifada Week (September 22–28), Palestinians recall two pivotal uprisings: the First Intifada (1987) and the Al–Aqsa Intifada (2000)—both marked by broad civil action and a firm moral stance against the usurping entity.
The First Intifada erupted in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp in 1987 and quickly spread to the West Bank, Al-Quds, and Palestinian communities inside the occupied territories. Crowds rallied to calls for boycotts, tax refusal, and general strikes, raising the banned Palestinian flag. Labor unions, students, and grassroots committees led a decentralized movement that strengthened community initiatives. Beit Sahour became a model of popular steadfastness: mass tax refusal and local production projects reduced dependency on the economy of the usurping entity. Closed schools turned into secret classrooms, and education itself became an act of resistance. Women were on the frontlines in organization and sacrifice, reinforcing their political and social presence and sustaining a self-reliant society under siege.
When the Al-Aqsa Intifada broke out in 2000 after the provocative invasion of Al-Aqsa Mosque, global attention was seized by the tragic image of young Mohammed al-Durra, whose killing resonated worldwide. Massive protests and strikes swept across Palestine and the wider Arab world. Despite harsher repression, civil demonstrations and community initiatives maintained the core of the uprising as a moral movement. At the same time, youth confronted soldiers with stones, stood defiantly before tanks, and engaged in direct clashes and armed resistance against military positions, reviving the image of the “children of stones” challenging bulldozers and armored vehicles.
Today, as genocide unfolds in Gaza, the legacy of these two uprisings proves that the people’s choice cannot be crushed. Scenes of bombardment, displacement, and starvation revive memories of stones, barricades, and mass strikes, igniting a global wave of solidarity that grows by the day—from the streets of Europe and the Americas to squares across the Arab world and Africa. Just as the Intifadas once united generations and nations, that same spirit now drives marches of support, economic boycotts, and political pressure to halt the crimes of the usurping entity.
This affirms that the Intifada is not merely a historical memory but a living choice that renews itself whenever doors are closed and rights denied, embodying the belief that popular struggle—peaceful and defiant alike—can shake the structures of oppression, and that freedom and return remain rights safeguarded by will and steadfastness, generation after generation.
