Today in Labor History December 9, 1987: The First Intifada began in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. It was series of protests, civil disobedience and riots carried out by Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories and within the state of Israel against Israeli repression including beatings, shootings, killings, house demolitions, uprooting of trees, deportations, extended imprisonments, and detentions without trial. It lasted over 5 years, until September 1993, ultimately being suppressed by Israeli military force. Up to 200 Israelis and nearly 2,000 Palestinians died. Both the Oslo and Madrid conferences and Peace Accords stemmed from the First Intifada, as well as the PLO’s recognition of the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state. Another result of these accords was the creation of the the collaborationist Palestinian Authority (PA), which currently controls the West Bank, and which had controlled the Gaza Strip, until being ousted by Hamas in the 2006 elections. The PA, which is heavily funded by the U.S. and the E.U.
