Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

INTIFADA • 279Despite the apparent spontaneity of the outbreak of the first intifada,the Palestine Liberation Organization and other non-PLOgroups, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad of Palestine, coordinatedmost of the leading events of the original intifada. The majority ofthe activities carried out in the name of the first intifada were notterrorist acts, and even such acts as stone throwing or attacks on Israelisoldiers could arguably be viewed as political violence distinctfrom terrorism as such. Within the Palestinian community, however,reprisals, including murders, perpetrated against Palestinians viewedas Israeli collaborators or informers have become increasingly commonwith groups such as the Black Panthers on the West Bank, whokill those viewed as lacking zeal for their cause. Given al Fatah’sgoverning role in the original intifada through the Unified NationalLeadership (UNL), a PLO front group established to coordinateintifada activities, and its past record of using its covert operationsand internal enforcement organ, Force 17, either within Israeli territoryor against Palestinians viewed as enemies of al Fatah, there is areasonable basis for viewing the bloodletting among Palestinians asconstituting a terrorist campaign.Most internationally voiced concerns about terrorism and theintifada centered instead on alleged Israeli state terror perpetratedagainst Palestinian demonstrators and activists. Israeli soldiers sometimesretaliated against stone-throwing youths by breaking the armsof the offenders, while the Israeli government’s bulldozing of homesof activists and deportation of selected Palestinian leaders of the intifadaled to denunciations of Israel both internationally and withinthe United States. In February 1989 the U.S. Department of State’sannual report on human rights charged Israel with causing “manyavoidable deaths and injuries” and with violations of Palestinians’human rights due to Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) actions againstPalestinian protestors.The first intifada appeared to lose momentum in late 1990 and forall practical purposes had ceased by the signing of the Oslo Accordsin 1993. By that time an estimated 1,162 Palestinians and 160 Israelishad died in the violence. Israeli sources allege that large numbers ofPalestinians were killed by the various Palestinian armed groups onsuspicion of having been collaborators or informants for Israel.On 28 September 2000 the second intifada broke out in protestagainst the visit by Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon to the Temple