Intifada: The Palestinian Uprising--Israel's Third Front

by Ze'ev Schiff

Book Overview

A day-by-day account of the spontaneous violence that erupted in Gaza and the West Bank in 1987, and developed into an organized revolt. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671675303
• ISBN13: 9780671675301
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Excellent and Detailed Account of a Historical Turning Point

This is an interesting and detailed account of the 1st Palestinian Intifada against the Israeli occupation, written by one of Israel's leading investigative reporters. Though written primarily from an Israeli perspective and though it is not free from bias, "Intifada" does a reasonably good job of analyzing the structure and working of the Palestinian leadership of the Intifada. Few other books discuss in such detail how the "Unified National Leadership" operated, how its communiqués were written and distributed, etc. It also has detailed descriptions and analyses of all the major events, and particularly, the first sparks of the Intifada in Gaza and the series of events leading up to it in 1987. The book accurately grasps the surprise of both the PLO and Israeli leaderships at the eruption of this uprising. What this book fails in is estimating the underlying causes of the Intifada, especially long-term assessments. For those factors, I recommend complementing this book with either "Intifada: The Palestinian Uprising", by Don Peretz, or "The Intifada: Causes and Effects", by Aryeh Shalev.

Excellent and Detailed Account of a Historical Turning Point

This is an interesting and detailed account of the 1st Palestinian Intifada against the Israeli occupation, written by one of Israel's leading investigative reporters. Though written primarily from an Israeli perspective and though it is not free from bias, "Intifada" does a reasonably good job of analyzing the structure and working of the Palestinian leadership of the Intifada. Few other books discuss in such detail how the "Unified National Leadership" operated, how its communiqués were written and distributed, etc. It also has detailed descriptions and analyses of all the major events, and particularly, the first sparks of the Intifada in Gaza and the series of events leading up to it in 1987. The book accurately grasps the surprise of both the PLO and Israeli leaderships at the eruption of this uprising. What this book fails in is estimating the underlying causes of the Intifada, especially long-term assessments. For those factors, I recommend complementing this book with either "Intifada: The Palestinian Uprising", by Don Peretz, or "The Intifada: Causes and Effects", by Aryeh Shalev.

A thoughtful critique of Israeli and Palestinian leadership.

The writing (or translating) in this book is forceful, evocative, concise and superb. The criticisms of both Israeli leadership (Labor and Likud), and Palestinian leadership (the PLO and Hamas), during the intifada, are sharp razors of analysis. The book is somewhat out-of-date, and I would love to see an update--not only on the subsequent course of events, but also on what more is known (if anything) about the time period covered by the book (1987-1991). It is, however, enlightening to view the current "peace process" in the light of the authors' predictions, especially that Israel would soon be casting about for someone--anyone--to take the business of micro-governing Gaza and the West Bank off its hands.

Powerful and bleak.

This book is a must for an upsetting and deep look into the Intifada. The authors are unsparing in the details and deeply perceptive in the social framework that lead to the revolt.