Palestinian Uprising Erupts in Gaza and West Bank
Mass Palestinian protests and riots begin after traffic accident in Gaza, marking the start of the First Intifada against Israeli occupation.
Widespread Palestinian riots and demonstrations erupted across the Gaza Strip and West Bank today, following a traffic accident yesterday in which an Israeli truck driver killed four Palestinian workers at the Erez checkpoint. The incident has ignited long-simmering Palestinian frustrations over 20 years of Israeli occupation.
Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets in Gaza’s Jabaliya refugee camp, throwing stones at Israeli soldiers and burning tires. The protests quickly spread to other refugee camps and towns throughout the occupied territories. Israeli forces responded with tear gas and live ammunition, killing a 17-year-old Palestinian and wounding dozens.
The scale and intensity of the demonstrations have caught Israeli authorities off guard. Unlike previous isolated incidents, these protests appear coordinated and sustained, with Palestinian youth leading confrontations against heavily armed Israeli troops using stones, Molotov cocktails, and barricades.
Palestinian leaders are calling this a “popular uprising” or “intifada” against the occupation. Leaflets distributed in refugee camps call for general strikes, boycotts of Israeli products, and continued resistance.
The uprising reflects growing Palestinian desperation over the lack of progress toward ending the occupation, deteriorating economic conditions, and the recent Arab Summit’s failure to prioritize the Palestinian issue.
Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin has ordered reinforcements to the territories and warned of harsh measures to restore order, but the spontaneous nature of the uprising presents unprecedented challenges to Israeli control.