Seven years have passed since the signing of a five year plan to accomplish peace between the Palestinian people and Israel. 

So how did the current trouble start?

• The Palestinian people do not have basic human rights in their homeland.
• There are five million Palestinian refugees currently living outside Palestine; these people would like to return home, but are barred from doing so by Israel.
• At the same time, the re-settlement of Jews from around the world remains unhindered.
• In order to resettle the Jews, Palestinians are being moved out of their land, both by force and by economic means.

Clearly there is much injustice.

On 28th September 2000, an event occurred which sparked the current Intifada.

On this day, the streets of Jerusalem were flooded with thousands of Israeli soldiers. A siege took place around the Muslim Aqsa mosque (the third holiest mosque in Islam). 

The Israeli soldiers prohibited the entry of any Muslim to the mosque. The Jerusalemites wondered what was happening in their town and to their mosque. 

The siege at the Mosque was led by the Israeli general, Ariel Sharon.

This was an act of extreme provocation to the Palestinians....Sharoon the man who led an attack on the village of Qibya which resulted in a civilian massacre. His troops were heavily involved in the lynching of unarmed Egyptian POWs. In 1982, he surrounded two refugee camps, at Sabra and Shatiela, and led the killing of the civilians there. This resulted in thousands of deaths - women and children were not spared.

Indeed, Sharon has even been reprimanded by an Israeli court for his latest act.
 
 

Quite simply, this was too much for the Palestinian people - indeed, it is fair to say that this would be too much for any human - and rioting ensued.
 

 When a riot occurs in the West, police use water cannon, tear gas and in more volatile situations, they may use plastic bullets. The aim is to stop the riot with no loss of life.

Not in Palestine...

In Palestine, the demonstrators, who had been provoked in the first place, were faced with real bullets and real missiles, from the fourth strongest army in the world.

The demonstrators had stones, rocks and other missiles; many were teenagers and some were even children.

When four demonstrators were killed in Jerusalem, anger swept the whole of Palestine. 

More demonstrations followed, Israel reaction to them was even harsher.

From that it became clear to all, that Israel oppression will not stop unless a massive united people movement stood to face that tyrany. All the Palestinian people were under aggression, so all of them were to resist. with what ever means at their disposal.

That was the start of the Intifada. Palestinians are still resisting. And the fight will go on until the oppressive, racist regime in Israel will fall. When the rights of all Palestinians will be restored with no exceptions or any delay.

We pray to God that our difficult days will pass.
 

Click here to read about Gamal's story..