Intifada is an Arabic word for a rebellion or uprising, or a resistance movement. It can be used to refer to an uprising against oppression. The word intifada was first used in modern times in 1952, when Iraqi parties took to the streets to protest their monarchy, which was known as the Iraqi Intifada. Other later examples include the Western Sahara's Zemla Intifada, the First Sahrawi Intifada, and the Second Sahrawi Intifada. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict context, it refers to uprising by Palestinian people against Israeli occupation or Israel, involving both violent and nonviolent methods of resistance, including the First Intifada (1987–1993) and the Second Intifada (2000–2005). In English-language usage, the word primarily refers to Palestinian uprisings against Israeli occupation. In Arabic-language usage, any uprising can be referred to as an intifada, including the 1916 Easter Rising, the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and the 1949 Jeju uprising.

Etymology

Intifada is an Arabic word literally meaning, as a noun, "tremor", "shivering", "shuddering". It is derived from an Arabic term nafada meaning "to shake", "shake off", "get rid of", as a dog might shrug off water, or as one might shake off sleep, or dirt from one's sandals.

History

In the Palestinian context, the word refers to attempts to "shake off" the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the First and Second Intifadas, where it was originally chosen to connote "aggressive nonviolent resistance", a meaning it bore among Palestinian students in struggles in the 1980s and which they adopted as less confrontational than terms in earlier militant rhetoric since it bore no nuance of violence. The First Intifada was characterized by protests, general strikes, economic boycotts, and riots, including the widespread throwing of stones and Molotov cocktails at the Israeli army and its infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza. The Second Intifada was characterized by a period of heightened violence. The suicide bombings carried out by Palestinian assailants became one of the more prominent features of the Second Intifada and mainly targeted Israeli civilians, contrasting with the relatively less violent nature of the First Intifada.

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

The term Intifada, in context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict refers to major Palestinian uprisings against Israeli control, with the First Intifada occurring between 1987 and 1993 and the Second Intifada between 2000 and 2005, both involving numerous attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces. The phrase "Globalize the Intifada" is a slogan used to promote worldwide activism in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance. The chant and its associated chants have caused controversy, particularly concerning their impact and connotations. Critics claimed it encourages widespread violence or terrorism.

List of events named Intifada

In Arabic texts, uprisings anywhere can be referred to using the Arabic word "intifada", including, for example, the 1916 Easter Rising, the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising , and the 1949 Jeju uprising. In English, the word may refer to these events, overwhelmingly in the Arabic-speaking world: