The Palestinian Intifada

It is very obvious that the Palestinian intifada was unsuccessful in achieving its goal of ending Israeli occupation. However, the movement was also successful in other regards. In my opinion, the most significant contribution the intifada made was changing the perception of the Palestinian independence struggle. The contrast of these non-violent Palestinian protesters against armed Israeli security forces, spoke volumes. As Dajani puts it, these scenes helped "change the image of Palestinians from `terrorists' to a people with a legitimate national cause. (59, Dajani) This shifting in perception affected not only regional actors but the entire world viewed the Palestinian struggle through new eyes. There were a few joint movements that came out of this, positive developments but unfortunately nothing intensely concrete.

The intifada movement also had significant impact on both Palestinian and Israeli society. To start with, in Palestine the movement acted as a important unification tool. Palestinian society banded together in this movement, large-scale strikes were organized whose success depended on widespread participation.While initially successful in gaining support, the movement evolved over time. Due to the situation, the Palestinian resistors constantly needed to change their approach in order to most effectively resist the latest challenges. While this encouraged innovative approaches, it also was a major source of frustration and demoralization for participants. With the situation constantly changing, it also made it far more difficult to determine if any progress was being made in protesting the Israeli occupation. Naturally, this can cause a curb in motivation for the everyday resistor. The intifada was a marathon movement and sustaining it for such a long time period proved problematic.

Palestine's non-violent approach to Israel's occupation created a difficult set of circumstances for Israeli government and military officials. Firstly, armed troops against peaceful protesters automatically portrayed Israel in a negative light. Secondly, without the obvious motivator Palestinian violence, it was much more difficult to explain Israel's use of force and for it to justify itself the the global community. Individual Israeli soldiers requested being placed in different duty stations other than the Occupied Territories in order to avoid the situation there and its moral implications. Initially, the intifada also had the positive effect of polarizing Israeli society into supporters of Palestinian protesters and those against, but over time, this effect has dissipated. As mentioned earlier, cross-border groups sprung out of the intifada but there was little sizable impact.

The most significant contribution of the intifada is its success in altering global perception of the Israeli occupation and the oppressed Palestinian population. This is an ongoing struggle which will continue to play out on the world stage with international effects.