Jerusalem was declared the capital of Israel by Donald trump this week, a move that has been widely condemned as unnecessarily provocative. World leaders have largely condemned the move and even his own state department warned him against making such an announcement, the effects of which will be felt by Palestinians the most. The US have always supported Israel but never has a leader made a move that could damage any chance of peace within the region.
Hamas leader called for an intifada (or uprising) across the region in protest to the decision.
On Thursday and Friday, Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli police in Gaza, leaving 2 dead and over 300 injured. On Saturday saw Israeli forces bomb the Gaza Strip, killing and injuring multiple people.
30 years after the first intifada
It is rather poignant that the decision by Trump to officially recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, came on the eve of the first intifada. On the 8th December 1987, a truck ploughed into Palestinians on the Gaza Strip refugee camp of Jabalia, killing 4. This event was widely seen as a deliberate attack by the Israeli government which sparked the first intifada. This came as a shock to most people because the economic situation in Gaza was relatively good and the occupation of Gaza was more focused on revolutionary organisations, rather than ordinary citizens, as it is now.
The first intifada was largely peaceful, and the Palestinians took matters into their own hands through demonstrations, boycotts and strikes. Furthermore, in response to an Israeli crackdown on Palestinian education, the Palestinians ran underground schools and clinics. But in response to these protests, the then Israeli defence minister, Yitzhak Rabin, encouraged Israeli forces to break the bones of the protestors and that prisoners and detainees would be tortured and beaten.
The intifada lead to the Oslo agreement, which set up the Palestinian Authority (PA) but many are disillusioned with the PA because Israel have illegally expanded their settlement and Palestinians face violent persecution daily.
