In my view, the Palestinian Intifada in 1990s was a turning
point in the Palestinian liberation movement. After decades of armed struggles
that involved not only a lot of causalities but also political sacrifices. This
Intifada has bring the Palestinian Issue once again to the forefront of the
world politics. But before trying to recognize the outcomes of this brave
movement, we should also realize the regional and the international political
realities.
I think there was three main elements that helped in the break out of the
Intifada; first after decades of armed struggle the Palestinians found themselves
losing more land to Israel due to the huge imbalance of power. It is worth
noticing that, the armed struggle has been always coming from outside and
therefore subject to all the vicissitudes of the regional political
calculations. Palestinian have paid very high price in regards to their leaders
calculations (or more precisely miscalculations) when it comes to use force
against the Israelis. Massacres happened in Jordon in 1970 and in Lebanon in
the Lebanese civil war. Second, the
regional political landscape has changed dramatically in the Middle East after
the Iraqi invasion to Kuwait and the backlash that caused on the Palestinian
people and the Palestinian issue. There
was a shift in the Arab politics as result to the rift that the invasion caused.
Consequently, the Palestinian Issue lost its position as the central issues of
all Arabs from the Gulf to the Atlantic. Third, the decade of the 1990s started
with the fall of Berlin wall and the disintegration of the Soviet Union with
all its ramifications and implications on the Arab world. The US has come out
of the Cold War as the singular world super power. Undoubtedly, all those
factors played an important role in mobilizing the people who suffered the most
under the Israeli occupation towards the uprising and demanding by themselves their
legitimate rights of self-government and elimination of the 5 decades long of occupation.
The Palestinian Intifada has succeeded tremendously in achieving
the Oslo accords. Nevertheless, the consequent reconciliation itself was not up
to the aspirations of Palestinians nor their legitimate rights. Which leaded to
the establishment of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the declining
of the influence of the PLO.
I think you're right that the First Intifada was a precursor to the Oslo Accords. But it was largely nonviolent, unlike the Second Intifada, which was much more violent. And that one didn't result in a peace process. What was the difference that made the first one seemingly more successful by your measure?
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