Knives Intifada refers to violent incidents and events (demonstrations with the throwing of stones and small explosive objects, repression with tear gas and rubber bullets, assassinations or attempted assassinations of Israelis with firearms or knives, extrajudicial neutralization of Palestinian aggressors using lethal force, shooting at Palestinian anti-settlement protesters, or using trucks or cars to run over and murder Israeli citizens, destruction of Palestinian homes and homes) between Palestinians and Israelis from September 2015 until the present.
Summary
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- 1 Differences with the two previous Intifadas
- 2 Characteristics of an Intifada
- 3 Duration
- 4 Sources
Differences with the two previous Intifadas
There is a clear difference between the previous Intifadas and what some call the “Intifada of the knives” or the Third Intifada. It’s about the number of victims; Logically, the two recognized Intifadas lasted for years (1987-1990 and 2000-2005), but from the beginning their numbers were notably higher, between three and four times higher. In total, 8,000 people died between attacks, armed offensives and repression.
Characteristics of an Intifada
Some believe that these events should not be classified under that term because their characteristics differ from the two previous Intifadas, the Argentine-Israeli political analyst Gabriel Ben Tasgal, says that there are three elements that can define what an Intifada is or is not:
- that there are multiple acts of violence against civilians
- the backing of major Palestinian institutions and
- a certain level of cooperation between the different factions is found, from the Palestinian administration to armed groups such as Hamas or the Islamic Jihad.
Reviewing the three, one could perhaps speak of “anteroom”, he maintains, but not of Intifada as such at this moment.
- There is no commitment to violence – which Palestine categorically rejected in the Oslo Accords and which the former rais, Yasser Arafat, came to justify on specific occasions in the last intifada as legitimate defense –
- no active cells in the West Bank or East Jerusalem
- there is no closeness between the government and the Islamists, there is no unity of action
In fact, stabbing, running over or shooting by Palestinians are cases that the Israeli Police itself recognizes as the work of “lone wolves”.
Duration
Demonstration incorrectly called Intifada of the knives or third Intifada
Between October 1, 2015 and August 4, 2017 there have been more than 300 attacks carried out by lone wolves, most of them without political affiliation or mugshot.
