newspalestine-Besieged Gaza

Palestinians are celebrating on Sunday the 20th anniversary of the First Intifada, the popular uprising that put the Palestinian cause back on the world agenda.
The Intifada (literally “shaking off” in Arabic) began with mass protests in Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on December 9, 1987 after an Israeli military vehicle ran over a group of Palestinian workers at Erez checkpoint.
Israeli forces killed more than 1,500 Palestinians during the uprising, and left thousands of others injured or disabled.
This year the anniversary comes during an unprecedented state of division in Palestinian society with Hamas in control of Gaza Strip, and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in charge of the West Bank. Efforts by other Palestinian factions to repair the divisions have failed so far.
Meanwhile, Palestinian resistance groups, especially in the Gaza Strip, are using homemade projectiles in the place of the stones which were the symbol of the First Intifada.
Palestinian political factions issued statements marking the 20th anniversary of the Intifada by calling on Hamas to relinquish control of the Gaza Strip, and calling on Fatah to accept dialogue with Hamas. Many of these statements were unusually shy to condemn the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip.
Fatah asserted that it had been the spine of the First Intifada, claiming that 60% of those killed, the injured and the detained during the Intifada were Fatah-affiliated.
Hamas’ statement said that resistance will continue to be its strategy to liberate the Palestinian lands. They described the peace agreements with the Israel as schemes which will remain on the paper, achieving nothing in reality.
The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) described the first Intifada as a slap to the Israeli occupation, reaffirming that they will use resistance as the strategic choice of the Palestinian people.
PRC spokesperson Abu Mujahid said: “The first Intifada came as extension of earlier Palestinian revolutions and uprisings which erupted since the beginning of the Palestinian question. It came to affirm that the … only [way] to get rid of occupation was resistance. It was led by all sectors of the Palestinian population, and developed to become a nightmare for the Israelis who tried to bring it to and end by any means. However, the spirit of the Intifada and resistance remained in the Palestinian hearts.”
For its part, the Arab Palestinian Front called on Hamas to forfeit control of Gaza Strip, and turn over the security headquarters to the Palestinian Authority and resume “comprehensive and serious dialogue” aimed at dealing with all intra-Palestinian disagreements.