DayofPal- 24 years ago, the Palestinian calendar marked one of the most robust turning points in the history of the Palestinian struggle against one of the most sadistic regimes, the Israeli occupation.
On September 28th, 2000, the second Palestinian intifada, also known as Al-Aqsa Intifada, erupted, resulting in the killing of approximately 4,500 Palestinians and the injury of over 50,000.
The spark of the intifada was ignited by the desecration of Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which triggered unrest in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Hundreds of Israeli soldiers and police officers deployed throughout the mosque to secure the incursion; however, the sight was intolerable for the worshipers.
In a display of resistance, Palestinians utilized all possible means, hurling shoes at the intruders at the entrance to the southern prayer hall, leading to violent confrontations that resulted in several casualties.
On the first day of the intifada, 20 young men sustained various injuries. The following day witnessed escalated clashes after the midday prayer, culminating in the killing of six young men and leaving approximately 300 others injured.
Same Flame of Anger
In comparing the two battles, the political and contextual conditions that ignited the second intifada closely mirror the current circumstances surrounding the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation.
Both are marked by a dearth of political prospects, persistent aggression against the Palestinian people, and the relentless expansion of settlements alongside the judaization of Al-Aqsa.
While Sharon’s desecration of Al-Aqsa had ignited the second intifada in 2000, the persistent settlers’ efforts towards judaization, division, and the relentless incursions into Al-Aqsa by extremist Israeli settlers have served as the primary catalysts for the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7, 2023.
The Al-Aqsa Intifada was not perceived as a miraculous means of liberating Palestine; instead, it functioned as a vital conduit for sustaining the cause within the consciousness of its people and their advocates.
This uprising represented a profound rebuke to the unjust and fruitless negotiations that persisted for nearly a decade, failing to bring the vision of a Palestinian state to fruition.
Likewise, Al-Aqsa Flood Operation has emerged as a force for unifying the arenas of the West Bank and Gaza, revitalizing resistance fronts throughout the Arab world.
Fundamentally, it articulated a definitive response to the ongoing Arab normalization efforts with Israel, indicating that Israel is an occupying power and that the current battle has revived the Arab consciousness towards the goal of eliminating this occupation.
One aspect of the Israeli policies employed in both battles is the assassination of leaders and murdering civilians.
Assassination of Leaders
The Israeli military carried out a systematic policy of targeted assassinations via airstrikes, exemplified by the attack on a civilian vehicle in Bethlehem on November 9, 2000, which resulted in the killing of Hussein Abayat.
This act effectively unleashed a wave of further assassinations aimed at Palestinian political and military figures.
Notably, among the casualties of this military campaign were prominent leaders from the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, including Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the movement’s founder, who was assassinated on March 22, 2004.
In response to the ongoing airstrikes and the pervasive threat of targeted killings, Palestinian factions escalated their activities, conducting operations within Israeli cities.
These operations primarily targeted densely populated areas such as markets, bus stations, and cafés, reflecting a strategic shift in their resistance tactics.
Civilians in the Crosshairs
From the very beginning of the uprising, the Israeli military used armed jeeps and tanks against defenceless Palestinian demonstrators, unconcerned by targeting civilians in front of the cameras.
The image of the Palestinian child Fares Ouda, holding a stone in front of an Israeli tank, became widely circulated, and the child had become one of the icon of the Intifada after his murder.
While Palestinians relied solely on peaceful protests, throwing stones, and burning tires at points of friction with the Israeli army, the Israeli army was responding with live ammunition and shelling.
The fourth day of confrontations added fuel to the fire of Palestinian anger, as Israeli soldiers executed the 11-year-old Mohammed Al-Durra on Salah Al-Din Street in Gaza. He later became another icon and witness of Israel’s sadistic brutality against the Palestinian civilians.
During the first two weeks of confrontation, around one hundred Palestinians were killed; the other thirteen were killed in the 1948-occupied territories during clashes with Israeli police in several Palestinian towns and cities, marking the largest participation of Palestinians from 1948-occupied territories in confrontations against Israel.
The attempts to contain the escalating situation at that time, including a ceasefire agreement on October 17, 2000, were futile.
The second Intifada lasted for six years, and many analysts have believed that the current Al-Aqsa flood operation is a logical extension of the Al-Aqsa Intifada.
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