In Pictures

The first Intifada against Israel

A years-long uprising by Palestinians would end with a deal that some considered an outright surrender.

History Illustrated is a weekly series of insightful perspectives that puts news events and current affairs into historical context using graphics generated with artificial intelligence.

By 1987, frustration among Palestinians living under Israeli occupation had been growing for 20 years. People were on edge.

At the time, illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip had been spreading, while Palestinians struggled economically and endured frequent confrontations with the Israeli army. All that was needed was a spark.

It happened on December 8, 1987, when an Israeli vehicle in Gaza caused a crash that killed four Palestinians. In response, rioting broke out in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp.

With that, the first Intifada had begun, as the uprising spread to the occupied West Bank in the face of an Israeli crackdown internationally condemned for being excessively violent.

Palestinians threw rocks. Israelis fired bullets. Israeli soldiers deliberately beat protesters to break bones. They were also accused of torture. The UN Security Council would go on to condemn the Israeli government’s actions.

For almost six years, the killing didn’t stop. In total, more than 100 Israelis were killed by Palestinians during the first Intifada, while at least 1,000 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces.

The Intifada ended on September 13, 1993, when Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed the Oslo Accords, which provided a framework for peace negotiations. Israel accepted the PLO as the representative of the Palestinians, and the PLO renounced armed resistance and recognised Israel’s right to exist in peace.

But some Palestinian groups, like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, said the deal gave away the right to reclaim Palestinian land seized from them by Israel in 1948, when Israel was created.

Edward Said, a Palestinian American academic and activist, believed the Oslo Accords showed the 'truly astonishing proportions of the Palestinian capitulation'. Thirty years after the Oslo Accords, Israel is busy bombing Gaza to dust, while many people consider the peace process all but dead.