1987: First Intifada

Arabs emerge from the Nusseirat refugee camp during the Palestinian uprising of 1987

Arabs emerge from the Nusseirat refugee camp during the uprising

ISRAEL TIMELINE

Overview

1948: The State of Israel is founded

1956: The Sinai campaign

1967: The Six-Day War

1973: October War

1977-1979: Egyptian-Israeli peace

1982: Lebanon invasion

1987: First Intifada

1993: Oslo agreement

2000: Second intifada

2005: Gaza withdrawal

2006: Lebanon war

2008: Israel now

In the 20 years since the war of 1967, the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza had not reconciled itself to Israeli rule. Open revolt broke out in November 1987, with the intifada, or uprising.

The Palestinians were largely unarmed, so the enduring picture of the intifada is one of young men and boys throwing stones and rocks at Israeli troops.

The intifada was a reminder to Israelis of what their first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion had said in 1938: "A people which fights against the usurpation of its land will not tire so easily."

However, the Israeli settlements continued to spread out across the territories occupied in 1967. Some were settled by visionaries quoting Biblical justification, some by families wanting less expensive housing and some by those who wanted Isarel to keep a buffer zone west of the River Jordan.

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