Intifada

Intifada (انتفاضة intifāḍah) is an Arabic word literally meaning, as a noun, "tremor", "shivering", "shuddering".^[1][2] It is derived from an Arabic term nafada meaning "to shake", "shake off", "get rid of",^[1] as a dog might shrug off water, or as one might shake off sleep,^[3] or dirt from one's sandals,^[4] and is a key concept in contemporary Arabic usage referring to a legitimate uprising against oppression.^[5] It is often rendered into English as "uprising", "resistance", or "rebellion". In the Palestinian context, with which it is particularly associated, the word refers to attempts to "shake off" the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories in the First and Second Intifadas,^[5][6] where it was originally chosen to connote "aggressive nonviolent resistance",^[1] 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.^[4]

Intifada may be used to refer to these events:

• October Revolution, a series of strikes, riots, and demonstrations in Sudan, that ended with the dissolution of the Abbud military regime and the beginning of second civilian rule in 1964
• March Intifada, a leftist uprising against the British colonial presence in Bahrain in March 1965
• Zemla Intifada, against Spanish colonial rule in then Spanish Sahara, in June 1970
• In the Israeli-Palestine conflict:
  • First Intifada, a Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation lasting from December 1987 to 1993
  • Second Intifada, a period of intensified Israeli-Palestinian violence, which began in late September 2000 and ended around 2005
  • Silent Intifada, a series of violent acts and attacks in Jerusalem in 2014 sometimes referred to as the "Third Intifada"
  • "Al-Quds Intifada" or "Jerusalem Intifada" or "Knife Intifada"^[7] - 2015 escalation in Israeli-Palestinian conflict, sometimes referred as the "Third Intifada"
• 1990s uprising in Bahrain, an uprising demanding a return to democratic rule, also known as the 1990s Intifada
• 1991 uprisings in Iraq against Saddam Hussein
• In the Western Sahara conflict:
  • First Sahrawi Intifada, protests by Sahrawi activists in the Western Sahara, south of Morocco (1999-2004)
  • Independence Intifada (Western Sahara) or Second Sahrawi Intifada, demonstrations and riots in Western Sahara, south of Morocco, beginning in May 2005
  • Gdeim Izik protests, also referred as Third Sahrawi Intifada or simply Third Inifada
• Cedar Revolution or "Intifada of Independence", the events in Lebanon after Rafic Hariri's 2005 assassination
• Arab Spring, a revolutionary wave which began on 18 December 2010 in Tunisia:
  • Tunisian Revolution, or Tunisian Intifada
  • Yemeni Revolution, or Yemeni Intifada
  • Egyptian Revolution of 2011, or Egyptian Intifada
  • Protests in Sudan (2011–13), or Sudanese Intifada

See also

• The Electronic Intifada, an online publication which covers the Israeli–Palestinian conflict from a Palestinian perspective
• Andrew Hussey, book 'The French Intifada: how the Arab banlieues are fighting the French state,' The Guardian 23 February 2014

References

1. Mary K.Roberson, 'Birth, Transformation, and Death of Refugee Identity: Women and Girls of the Intifada,' in Ellen Cole,Esther D Rothblum,Oliva M Espin (eds.) Refugee Women and Their Mental Health: Shattered Societies, Shattered Lives, Routledge, 2013 p.42.
2. Ellen Canterow, 'Beita,' in Zachary Lockman, Joel Beinin, (eds), Intifada: The Palestinian Uprising Against Israeli Occupation, South End Press, 1989 pp.81-98 p.81
3. David Pratt, Intifada, Casemate Publishers, 2009 p.20
4. Mary Elizabeth King, A Quiet Revolution: The First Palestinian Intifada and Nonviolent Resistance, Nation Books 2007 p.208
5. Ute Meinel, Die Intifada im Ölscheichtum Bahrain: Hintergründe des Aufbegehrens von 1994-1998, LIT Verlag Münster, 2003 p.10: 'Der Begriff der Intifada, der die Vorstellung eines legitimen Ausbebegehrens gegen Unterdrückung enthält, ist gegenwärtig ein Schlüsselbegriff in der arabischen Welt, von dem eine grosse emotionale Anziehungskraft ausgeht.'
6. Sharif Kanana, 'Women in the Legends of the Intifada,' in Suha Sabbagh (ed.), Palestinian Women of Gaza and the West Bank, Indiana University Press, 1998 p.114.
7. NGO: Israeli army has killed 49 children since October. MEMO, 17 February 2016