Rebellion with A Cause

The intifadeh lives. Last week, eight months after the Palestinian uprising first exploded in the occupied territories, yet another two-day general strike shut down businesses in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Curfews were again clamped on restive towns and refugee camps, accompanied by more roadblocks, stonings, riots and tear gas. Another ten Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers, raising the count of total dead since last December to more than 230.

While Middle East experts argue over the implications of King Hussein's abdication of responsibility for the West Bank, the Palestinians who live in the occupied lands remain as determined as ever to shake off Israeli rule. They have adopted a strategy of making the occupation as expensive as possible for Israel, even at great cost to themselves. The Israeli government is replying with collective punishment -- curfews, mass arrests, demolition of homes, destruction of crops, deportations -- but has so far failed to crush the rebellion. In the process, the intifadeh has been transformed from a test of muscle into one of will. "This is a war of attrition," says "Mahmoud," a Palestinian activist, explaining the growing use of fire bombs against the / Israeli military. "We know a few Molotovs are not going to liberate Palestine. But with them we can exhaust the Israelis before they can exhaust us."

With the intifadeh running in a lower gear, large-scale demonstrations and riots have given way to smaller, though just as lethal, clashes between Palestinian activists and Israeli army patrols across the West Bank and Gaza. Some of the confrontations are initiated by "striking forces," groups of young men organized in nearly every Palestinian community. Instead of waiting for spontaneous outbursts, they mount hit-and-run raids designed to keep Israeli soldiers on edge. Other confrontations result from provocations by the army and by the Israeli policy of harsh reaction to the slightest sign of rebellion. Says a senior officer in Gaza: "The soldiers must run to every tire burning and stone throwing and chase the perpetrators, even if the chances of catching them are not high."

Street clashes may mark the front line of the uprising, but at the heart of the resistance lies a passive refusal to cooperate with the occupation. The intifadeh has become a tug of war for economic and psychological advantage. The pervasive commercial strike under which Arab shops open for only three hours a day remains one of the most palpable symbols of Palestinian solidarity. The army has given up trying to break this form of protest.