Today in History- December 9th
INTIFADA BEGINS ON GAZA STRIP:
December 9, 1987
In the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip, the first riots of the Palestinian intifada,
or "shaking off" in Arabic, begin one day after an Israeli truck crashed into a
station wagon carrying Palestinian workers in the Jabalya refugee district of
Gaza, killing four and wounding 10. Gaza Palestinians saw the incident as a
deliberate act of retaliation against the killing of a Jew in Gaza several days
before, and on December 9 they took to the streets in protest, burning tires and
throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at Israeli police and troops. At Jabalya,
an Israeli army patrol car fired on Palestinian attackers, killing a 17-year-old
and wounding 16 others. The next day, crack Israeli paratroopers were sent into
Gaza to quell the violence, and riots spread to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
December 9 marked the formal beginning of the intifada, but demonstrations,
small-scale riots, and violence directed against Israelis had been steadily
escalating for months. The year 1987 marked the 20-year anniversary of the
Israeli conquest of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the formerly Egyptian- and
Jordanian-controlled lands that the Palestinians called home. After the Six Day
War of 1967, Israel set up military administrations in the occupied territories
and permanently annexed East Jerusalem in the West Bank. With the support of the
Israeli government, Israeli settlers moved into the occupied territories,
seizing Arab land. By December 1987, 2,200 armed Jewish settlers occupied 40
percent of the Gaza Strip, while 650,000 impoverished Palestinians were crowded
into the other 60 percent, making the Palestinian portion of the tiny Gaza Strip
one of the most densely populated areas on earth. In December 1987, despair by
the Palestinians over their plight exploded in the intifada. The grassroots
uprising soon came under the control of Palestinian leaders who formed the
Unified National Command of the Uprising, which had ties to the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO). Although images of young refugee-camp
Palestinians throwing rocks at Israeli troops dominated television reports of
the intifada, the movement was widespread across Palestinian society. Affluent
Palestinians and women's groups joined militant groups in strikes, boycotts, and
other sophisticated tactics in their effort to win Palestinian self-rule.In July
1988, Jordan's King Hussein renounced all administrative responsibility for the
West Bank, thereby strengthening the Palestinian influence there. In November
1988, the PLO voted to proclaim the establishment of an independent Palestinian
state. Meanwhile, the intifada raged on, and by its first anniversary more than
300 Palestinians had been killed, more than 11,000 had been wounded, and many
more were arrested.In the final weeks of 1988, PLO leader Yasser Arafat
surprised the world by denouncing terrorism, recognizing the State of Israel's
right to exist, and authorizing the beginning of "land-for-peace" negotiations
with Israel. In 1992, Labor Party leader Yitzhak Rabin became Israeli prime
minister and vowed to move quickly on the peace process. He froze new Israeli
settlements in the occupied territory, and the intifada was called off after
five years.In 1993, secret Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in Oslo, Norway,
resulted in the signing of the historic Declaration of Principles on Interim
Self-Government Arrangements in Washington, D.C., on September 13. The accord
called for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and the West
Bank town of Jericho and the establishment of a Palestinian government that
would eventually be granted authority over much of the West Bank.Despite
attempts by extremists on both sides to sabotage the peace process with
violence, the Israelis completed their withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and
Jericho in May 1994. In July, Arafat entered Jericho amid much Palestinian
jubilation and set up his government--the Palestinian Authority. In 1994,
Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and Israeli Foreign Minister
Shimon Peres were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts at
reconciliation.In 1995, Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist at a peace
rally in Tel Aviv, and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process stalled under his
successors: Shimon Peres, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Ehud Barak. In September 2000,
the worst violence since the end of the intifada erupted between Israelis and
Palestinians after rightist Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon visited the Temple
Mount, a religious site in Jerusalem of great importance to both Jews and
Muslims, the latter of whom control it. Seeking a strong leader to suppress the
bloodshed, Israelis elected Sharon prime minister in February 2001. A permanent
cease-fire and return to the peace process remain elusive.
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COLD WAR
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ENTERTAINMENT
1929 Ginger Rogers makes Broadway debut
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LITERARY
1854 "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred Lord Tennyson is published
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OLD WEST
1835 The Texan Army captures San Antonio
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VIETNAM WAR
1965 Newspaper reports on bombing over North Vietnam
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WALL STREET
1996 Wall St. Stands Tough
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WORLD WAR I
1917 Jerusalem surrenders to British troops
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WORLD WAR II
1940 Brits launch offensive against Italians in North Africa
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