The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
plement the solution for the terri<strong>to</strong>ries it had promised under the peace<br />
agreement signed with Egypt in 1977; negotiations came <strong>to</strong> nothing.<br />
Jordan washed its h<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> the Palestinian terri<strong>to</strong>ries in 1987 by relinquishing<br />
all claims <strong>to</strong> sovereignty over the West Bank, so that its moderating<br />
influence was lost there. <strong>The</strong> PLO failed <strong>to</strong> achieve anything for<br />
the Palestinians.<br />
Palestinians felt ab<strong>and</strong>oned by their Arab allies. On the one h<strong>and</strong>, the<br />
PLO had failed <strong>to</strong> destroy Israel <strong>and</strong> establish a Palestinian state in its<br />
place as they promised. To many Palestinians it seemed they were prob -<br />
ably doomed <strong>to</strong> remain politically impotent forever unless they <strong>to</strong>ok their<br />
fate in<strong>to</strong> their own h<strong>and</strong>s.<br />
It is hard <strong>to</strong> specify the <strong>of</strong>ficial date <strong>of</strong> the beginning <strong>of</strong> the Intifada. <strong>The</strong><br />
stabbing <strong>of</strong> an Israeli by a Palestinian in Gaza, <strong>and</strong> an incident in which<br />
four Palestinian workers were killed by an Israel car, rumoured <strong>to</strong> have<br />
been deliberate revenge for the stabbing, are <strong>of</strong>ten cited. <strong>The</strong>n, a seventeen-year-old<br />
threw a Molo<strong>to</strong>v cocktail at an army patrol <strong>and</strong> was killed<br />
by an Israeli soldier. His death supposedly became the trigger for<br />
large-scale riots that engulfed the West Bank, Gaza <strong>and</strong> Jerusalem. Unlike<br />
the Second Intifada, the First Intifada was evidently unplanned, <strong>and</strong><br />
there was less violence. <strong>The</strong> PLO was relatively weak in the occupied<br />
terri<strong>to</strong>ries. It was headquartered in Tunis, <strong>and</strong> was concerned with the<br />
survival <strong>of</strong> its organization, after having been expelled from Lebanon.<br />
<strong>The</strong> First Intifada was characterized largely by leafleting <strong>and</strong> rock throw -<br />
ing, primarily because Palestinians did not have many weapons.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Israeli reaction <strong>to</strong> the First Intifada: <strong>The</strong> collapse <strong>of</strong> the false<br />
notion <strong>of</strong> the “enlightened occupation”<br />
Given the non-dramatic nature <strong>of</strong> Palestinian challenge, the Israeli reaction<br />
is <strong>to</strong>tally inexplicable. Israel killed a large number <strong>of</strong> Palestinians in<br />
the initial part <strong>of</strong> the Intifada, most <strong>of</strong> them apparently in demonstrations<br />
<strong>and</strong> riots. It is easy <strong>to</strong> claim it was due <strong>to</strong> brutality or insensitivity, but<br />
most aspects <strong>of</strong> the policy were actually counter-productive. Brutalization<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Palestinians <strong>and</strong> mass arrests could only sow the seeds <strong>of</strong><br />
the next Intifada.<br />
176