An intifada (Arabic: انتفاضة intifāḍah) is a rebellion or uprising, or a resistance movement. It is a key concept in contemporary Arabic usage referring to a uprising against oppression.^[1]

Etymology

Intifada is an Arabic word literally meaning, as a noun, "tremor", "shivering", "shuddering".^[2][3] It is derived from an Arabic term nafada meaning "to shake", "shake off", "get rid of",^[2] as a dog might shrug off water, or as one might shake off sleep,^[4] or dirt from one's sandals.^[5]

History

The concept of intifada was first used in modern times in 1952 within the Kingdom of Iraq, when socialist and communist parties took to the streets to protest the Hashemite monarchy, with inspiration of the 1952 Egyptian Revolution.

The concept was adopted in Western Sahara, with the gradual withdrawal of Spanish forces in the 1970s as the Zemla Intifada, but was essentially rooted into the Western Sahara conflict with the First Sahrawi Intifada – protests by Sahrawi activists in the Western Saharan Southern Provinces (1999–2004), Second Sahrawi Intifada or Independence Intifada and finally the Gdeim Izik protest camp in 2011.

In the Palestinian context, the word refers to attempts to "shake off" the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the First and Second Intifadas,^[1][6] where it was originally chosen to connote "aggressive nonviolent resistance",^[2] 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.^[5] The First Intifada was characterized by protests and violent riots, especially stone-throwing, while the Second Intifada was characterized by a period of heightened violence. The suicide bombings carried out by Palestinian assailants became one of the more prominent features of the Second Intifada and mainly targeted Israeli civilians, contrasting with the relatively less violent nature of the First Intifada.

Globalize the Intifada

The phrase "Globalize the Intifada" is a slogan that promotes worldwide activism in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance. This slogan is composed of "Intifada" which denotes the Palestinian uprisings against Israeli control. "Globalize" calls for an expansion of these uprisings from a regional scope to a global movement.^[7][8]

The chant and its associated chants have caused controversy, particularly concerning their impact and connotations. Critics, particularly from Jewish groups, have condemned the slogan for encouraging widespread violence or terrorism.^[9][10][11] Some interpretations view it as a rallying call to harm Jews.^[12][13]

List of events named Intifada

Intifada may refer to these events:

• Iraqi Intifada, a series of strikes and riots in Iraq in 1952, aimed against the Hashemite monarchy rule
• 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 Lebanese internal conflicts:
  • February 6 Intifada (1984), during the Lebanese Civil War
  • Cedar Revolution or "Intifada of Independence", the events in Lebanon after Rafic Hariri's 2005 assassination
• The 1984 Egyptian intifada, (October 1, 1984 - October 2, 1984), a bloody uprising and civil resistance movement^[14]
• In the Israeli–Palestinian conflict:
  • First Intifada, a Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation lasting from December 1987 to 1993
  • Second Intifada, also called Al-Aqsa Intifada, a period of intensified Israeli-Palestinian violence, which began in late September 2000 and ended around 2005
  • 2014 Jerusalem unrest, a series of violent acts and attacks in Jerusalem in 2014 sometimes referred to as "Intifada"
  • 2015–2016 wave of violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict – 2015 escalation in Israeli–Palestinian conflict, sometimes referred to as "Al-Quds Intifada" or "Jerusalem Intifada" or "Knife Intifada"^[15]
  • 2023 Israel–Hamas war, referred to by some commentators as the Third Intifada^[16]
• 1990s uprising in Bahrain, an uprising demanding a return to democratic rule, also known as the "1990s Intifada"
• 1991 Iraqi uprisings, an armed uprising against Saddam Hussein in Iraq, also known as "Iraqi Intifada of 1991"
• In the Western Sahara conflict:
  • First Sahrawi Intifada, protests by Sahrawi activists in the Western Sahara, south of Morocco (1999–2004)
  • Second Sahrawi Intifada or Independence Intifada, demonstrations and riots in Western Sahara, south of Morocco, beginning in May 2005
  • Gdeim Izik protest camp, also referred as Third Sahrawi Intifada or simply Third Inifada
• 2005 French riots often referred as "French Intifada"
• Arab Spring, a revolutionary wave which began on 18 December 2010 in Tunisia, sometimes referred to as "Intifada":
  • Tunisian Revolution, or Tunisian Intifada
  • Yemeni Revolution, or Yemeni Intifada
  • 2011 Egyptian revolution, or Egyptian Intifada
  • 2011–2013 Sudanese protests, or Sudanese Intifada
• Second Arab Spring, a series of anti-government protests in several Arab countries, also known as "Arab Spring 2.0":
  • 17 October Revolution, nicknamed the Tax Intifada
  • 2019–2021 Iraqi protests, nicknamed Iraqi Intifada

See also

• The Electronic Intifada, an online publication which covers the Israeli–Palestinian conflict from a Palestinian perspective
• Globalize the Intifada, slogan that has been used for advocating for global activism in support of Palestinian resistance
• Serhildan, sometimes considered the Kurdish equivalent to "intifada".^[17]

References

External links

Look up intifada in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Andrew Hussey, book 'The French Intifada: how the Arab banlieues are fighting the French state,' The Guardian 23 February 2014