March 1982 Palestinian general strike

March 1982 Palestinian general strike
Part of Israeli–Palestinian conflict
Date	18 March 1982 (1982-03-18) – 30 March 1982 (1982-03-30)
Location	Occupied Palestinian Territories, Israel
Methods	Strike action, general strike, protest, stone throwing
Parties
Palestinian citizens Palestinian mayors Palestinian Liberation Organisation Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine Government of Israel Israeli Civil Administration Israel Defense Forces Israeli settlers
Lead figures
Ibrahim Tawil Bassam Shakaa Karim Khalaf Menachem Begin Ariel Sharon Menahem Milson
Casualties and losses
5 dead 1 dead

The March 1982 Palestinian general strike was a general strike and wave of protests in Palestine and Israel in March 1982, in opposition to the forced dismissals of Palestinian city councils and mayors.

On 18 March 1982, the Israeli government ordered the city council of Al-Bireh, a city in the West Bank, forcibly disbanded and its mayor dismissed, claiming that the council supported the Palestine Liberation Organization and had refused to cooperate with the Israeli Civil Administration. Two more Palestinian mayors, Bassam Shakaa of Nablus and Karim Khalaf of Ramallah were forcibly dismissed a week later. In response, a general strike and widespread protests broke out across the Palestinian Territories, with some protests being held in Israel in solidarity and to mark Land Day. The Israeli government attempted to crack down on the general strike, resulting in the deaths of at least five Palestinian protestors and one Israeli soldier.

The strike was one of the largest outbreaks of Palestinian unrest since the start of the Israeli occupation in 1967, and was marked by fears that Israel was moving towards annexation of the Palestinian Territories and that Israel was attempting to undermine elected local leadership. The Israel government, led by Menachem Begin argued that peace would not be possible as long as the PLO continued to dominate Palestinian politics, and claimed that many Palestinian mayors played key organising roles within the PLO. The strike was also marked by an increase in Israeli settler violence. The Israeli disbandments and response to the strike were widely condemned internationally, and resulted in the Israeli government nearly losing a vote of no-confidence in the Knesset.

Background

See also: Israeli–Palestinian conflict and Israeli occupation of the West Bank

After Israel's victory in the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel has occupied the Palestinian territories, including the West Bank. The occupation has been controversial, with Israel accused of violating international law, as well as committing human rights abuses and apartheid against Palestinians. The Israeli government has also actively promoted the creation and growth of Israeli settlements in Palestine. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), an umbrella group representing the most prominent armed Palestinian nationalist paramilitaries in the second half of the 20th century, has also been accused of a number of human rights violations and of waging a terrorist campaign against Israelis.

Prelude

In November and December 1981, a significant wave of protests broke out across Palestine following the Israeli government's announcement that it would re-organise the body overseeing the occupation of the Palestinian Territories from the Israeli Military Governorate into the Israeli Civil Administration, a nominally civilian-led department of the Israeli Ministry of Defence. The re-organisation was viewed as a cosmetic change at best, and at worst as an attempt to divide and rule by undermining the local Palestinian city councils, after the 1976 West Bank local elections saw significant victories by younger, more nationalist candidates, mostly linked to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Fuelling suspicion that Israel wished to undermine the elected local councils was Israeli support for the creation and arming of the Palestinian Village Leagues, associations based on primarily rural traditional societal structures that Israel saw as more amenable to Israeli interests. Many Palestinians, however, considered the Village Leagues to be inauthentic and collaborators. On 11 March, the Civil Administration banned the Palestinian National Guidance Committee. On 12 March 1982, shots were fired at the home of a Village League leader in Beitunia.

Also contributing to tensions was the significant increase in Israeli settlers in Palestine following the election of the Menachem Begin-led government in the late 1970s, who took a more active role in encouraging settlement. As well, following the Egypt–Israel peace treaty in the late-1970s, Israel gradually withdrew its occupation of the Sinai Peninsula, including dismantling many of its settlements in the Sinai, a withdrawal that was opposed by many settlers in the West Bank. In early March 1982, some settlers blockaded roads in the West Bank in protest over the withdrawal. Israeli Minister of Defence Ariel Sharon, however, pledged that West Bank settlements would not be dismantled, saying that "we would never agree to their removal. Half a million Israelis would stream into the region to stop it."

Late February and early March 1982 also saw a small outbreak of protests following the Civil Administration's decision to forcibly close Birzeit University for two months after a group of students clashed with an Israeli official visiting the campus who wore clothing similar to that worn by far-right Gush Emunim movement. Early 1982 also saw talks of war between Israel and Lebanon, as well as a significant general strike by the Golan Heights Druze protesting against Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights. The first two months of 1982, however, also brought some hopes of peace, with the United States attempting to restart the Palestinian autonomy talks, the PLO accepting the Saudi-proposed Fahd Plan for peace, and two Palestinian mayors, Elias Freij of Bethlehem and Rashad al-Shawwa of Gaza City, making statements calling for the PLO to officially recognise the State of Israel.

Events

Forced disbanding of the Al-Bireh city council

On 18 March 1982, the Israeli Civil Administration ordered the elected city council of Al-Bireh, a Palestinian city in the central West Bank, to be immediately disbanded and Al-Bireh mayor Ibrahim Tawil immediately removed from his post. In their place, the Israeli Civil Administration announced that it would install a committee of Israelis led by a former Israeli military officer. The order, signed by Civil Administration head Menahem Milson, justified itself by accusing the city council and mayor of refusing to cooperate with the Civil Administration. Minister of Defence Ariel Sharon claimed the city council had "preferred an extraneous political consideration to the well-being of their city and its inhabitants," accusing the council of having "cut off all contact with the civil administration whose main function is to make possible normal life." The order marked the first time in the Israeli occupation that Israel moved to completely dismantle an elected Palestinian city council.

The order was met with widespread shock in Al-Bireh. After being escorted by soldiers out of the Al-Bireh city hall, Tawil met the press and accused Israel of attempting to impose the Civil Administration on Palestine and described the order as "a revenge action against the council of El Bireh because they refused on principle to meet with Milson," saying that he would not recognise the order as valid. Protests gathered outside the city hall and soon spread through the city, with several protestors being arrested after throwing stones at an Israeli military bus.

General strike

As news of the order spread through Palestine, protests began to break out across the country, including general strikes in Al-Bireh, Bethlehem, and Ramallah. Mayor of Nablus Bassam Shakaa announced that the Nablus municipality would go on a three-day strike and would not cooperate with the Civil Administration.

On 19 March, the general strikes spread to the entirety of the West Bank. The Israeli military moved to suppress the protests, confiscating the editions of three Palestinian newspapers published in East Jerusalem before they could be distributed, claiming that the newspapers had not presented their articles to the Israeli Military Censor for approval before publishing.

On Saturday 20 March, Israeli soldiers surrounded the Nablus city hall to prevent a demonstration called for by Shakaa and ordered a curfew over the Cave of the Patriarchs after a clash between protestors and settlers from Kiryat Arba. In Al-Bireh that day, Israeli soldiers used tear gas to forcibly disperse a woman's protest outside the city hall and later opened fire with live ammunition on a protest in the city's main square after the protestors threw stones, injuring two protestors and killing one, a 17-year-old named Ibrahim Ali Darwish. The body of another 17-year-old Palestinian, Mohammed Abdullah Youssef Suhweil, was also discovered in the Israeli settlement of Shilo, with one settler being arrested for murder, and several local Palestinians claiming that the settlers had been kidnapping and beating Palestinian youth.

On 21 March, the Israeli military ordered Damiyah Bridge and Allenby Bridge, the main crossing points between the West Bank and Jordan. Israeli forces also impose blockades on the cities of Nablus, Ramallah, and Al-Bireh, not allowing anyone in or out of the cities during daylight hours, and imposed a curfew on the refugees camps Askar Camp and Balata Camp. That day, five Palestinians were injured after being shot by Israeli soldiers, and two Israeli soldiers were injured by thrown stones.

On 22 March, a second Palestinian youth protestor was shot and killed by Israeli forces in the Deir 'Ammar Camp and three others wounded, with the Israeli military saying that they had been throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. Israeli forces also attempted to prevent shopkeepers in several Palestinian cities from joining the strike by visiting the shopkeepers' homes in the early morning and forcibly escorting them to open their shops. The general strike, originally intended to last for three days, was extended.

By 23 March, the protests had spread to the Gaza Strip, with a general strike being declared in Rafah. Three Palestinians were killed on 24 March, bringing the death toll to five, and at least nine injured. One was killed by an Israeli settler in Bani Na'im, one killed in Jenin after trying to stab an Israeli police officer, and one being shot by Israeli forces trying to disperse a demonstration in Khan Yunis. The stabbed Israeli police officer was seriously injured. Several hundred Palestinians were arrested by Israeli forces that day.

Knesset no-confidence motions

The disbandments and the Israeli government's response to the general strike as well as its response to the simultaneously ongoing 1982 Golan Heights Druze general strike almost caused a political crisis in Israel. The centre-left Labor Alignment, far-left Hadash, and centrist Shinui parties all proposed no confidence motions in the government led by Prime Minister Menachem Begin and the right-wing Likud party. During the heated five-hour debate in the Knesset, Labor leader Shimon Peres accused Begin of trying to create a "Palestinian ghetto" and accused Minister of Defence Ariel Sharon of "incitement and demagogy." Sharon stated that it was "not possible to implement any plan, our autonomy plan or any other plan as long as the PLO rules on the West Bank," saying that "this is the struggle for Eretz Israel" and accusing the Labor Party of the "responsibility for the rise to power of the PLO." The vote of no-confidence resulted in a draw, with 58 MKs voting in favour and 58 voting against. As the votes in favour did not win a majority, the motion failed.

Motion of no-confidence
Ballot →		23 March 1982
Result →		Motion failed N
	Votes in favour	58 / 120
	Against	58 / 120
	Abstentions	4 / 120
Source

Begin had initially declared that he would resign if the no-confidence vote resulted in a draw, and convened an emergency meeting of the cabinet following the vote. During the cabinet meeting, Minister of Welfare and Social Affairs and Tami leader Aharon Abuhatzira spoke against Begin's resignation, and the minor coalition parties Agudat Yisrael and the National Religious Party both stated that they might be willing to seek a coalition with Labor to prevent early elections. Begin ultimately chose to remain as Prime Minister after the Israeli cabinet voted 12 to 6 for him to continue. He afterwards told the press that he expected an early general election "within a year."

Further mayoral expulsions and protests

On 25 March, the Israeli Civil Administration ordered Mayor of Nablus Bassam Shakaa and Mayor of Ramallah Karim Khalaf immediately expelled from their positions and replaced with Israeli officials, accusing them of being "extreme and uncompromising" and of "general agitation, nonrecognition of the Israeli civil administration, and repeated attempts to disrupt public order." Shakaa and Khalaf were notified of the order early in the morning, when Israeli soldiers visited their homes to wake them up and told them to sign a document recognising the dismissal, which Shakaa and Khalaf refused to do. When Khalaf and Shakaa spoke to the press afterwards, having been blocked from entering their offices by Israeli soldiers, Khalaf called the forced dismissal an "arbitrary action," claiming it was "another step toward annexing the West Bank and Gaza Strip," while Shakaa accused the soldiers of having called him "half a human," mocking him over the loss of his legs in the June 1980 West Bank bombings.

The additional expulsions inflamed the general strike. That day saw an Israeli soldier being killed and three wounded in the Gaza Strip when grenades were thrown at their vehicle, the first Israeli death since the beginning of the general strike. Responsibility for the grenade attack was claimed by the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who stated it had been carried out "in response to the actions being carried out by the Israeli aggressors inside occupied Palestine." Follow the grenade attack, the Israel Defence Forces deployed elite paratrooper units to patrol the Palestinian Territories.

One Palestinian was injured on 26 March in Halhul, after Israeli soldiers fired warning shots to disperse a demonstration. Israeli soldiers also moved to confiscate several Palestinian newspapers and forced residents of Bethlehem in the middle of the night to dismantle barricades that had been built by protestors. That day, Civil Administration head Milson called a press conference to defend the Israeli government's actions, where he stated that Israel could not allow the PLO to have control over Palestinian politics, additionally claiming that the 1976 West Bank local elections had been undemocratic and that the PLO controlled at least 10 city councils across the West Bank.

On 27 March, one Israeli soldier was injured in Nablus as protestors and Israeli forces clashed, with several dozen protestors being arrested. In East Jerusalem that day, 50 shopkeepers were arrested after refusing Israeli orders to open their shops. Palestinians also claimed that the Israeli military had carried out a mass arrest of all men in the Ein Beit al-Ma' refugee camp that night.

The next day, one Palestinian was injured in Hebron when a settler whose car had been hit by stones fired at a demonstration blocking the road. Palestinians claimed that 35 Palestinian Christians were arrested in Beit Sahour that day and forced to spit on a Palestinian flag, when a protest after church services clashed with Israeli forces, claims that the Israeli military denied. As well, three members of the Nablus city council were arrested that day. The Israeli cabinet also released a statement that day after holding a special meeting to discuss the ongoing protests, stating that it would "continue undaunted" its Palestinian policy, saying that it would "ensure peace and give all possible help to Arab residents of Judaea, Samaria and Gaza who keep the low and maintain the peace. No acts of violence or breaches of the peace, of any kind whatsoever, will be tolerated."

On 29 March, four Palestinians were injured in Ya'bad while clashing with Israeli soldiers when a group of Civil Administration staff attempted to visit the village.

Land Day

As the protests continued, they coincided with Land Day, the annual day of protests held by Palestinians to mark the anniversary of a significant wave of protests that broke out in 1976 over a move by the Israeli government to confiscate Palestinian land. In preparation for Land Day, the Israeli military ordered its soldiers to be on higher alert. A demonstration that day was also by Al Fajr journalists in protest against Israeli censorship, resulting in 15 of the journalists being arrested after they refused to voluntarily disperse.

Land Day protests also saw widespread participation by Arab citizens of Israel, despite most councils of Arab towns inside Israel choosing not to join a general strike over fears that their participation would worsen tensions. One demonstration in Jaljulia developed into a serious clash with Israeli police, resulting in at least five protestors and six police officers being injured. In Nazareth, the mayor's wife and office director were arrested.

Following the Land Day protests, the wave of protests largely subsided.

Reactions

In Palestine

Deputy Mayor of Ramallah Reverend Audeh Rantisi stated that "This control by force and fear cannot continue. The people will not cooperate with any Israeli committees that try to run the government." Mayor of Hebron Mustafa Natshe claimed that "the occupation authorities choose the worst in every respect," adding that "the settlers come - they are the worst of Israel, so they push the Arabs to be more extremist. The type of settlers in the area are the worst, so nobody in the city can speak with them. They give a bad face to the Jews. Who didn't know the other Jews in Israel, they would think these are the Jews." Mayor of Nablus Bassam Shakaa, who had been forcibly dismissed on 25 March, claimed that "no one respects" the Israeli occupation administration, saying that "they want the land and they don't want the people."

An anonymous Palestinian interviewed by the Australian Associated Press claimed that "whenever a leader or spokesman emerges the Israeli authority clamps down," adding that Palestinian commercial strikes "really only hurts us because the Jewish settlers here do not shop in our town, but it is one of our few means of protest — we are not armed." Ellen Cantarow of The Village Voice wrote that the Palestinians she talked to in the months after the protests "besiege me with stories from last spring - deaths, curfews, woundings, mass midnight round-ups of all the men in entire village," saying that they " were as angry as they were bereaved," and quoting a Palestinian peasant from Sa'ir as exclaiming "They are doing these things to make us leave the country. But we shall die here! We shall never leave our country, our village. Never!"

In Israel

Minister of Defence Ariel Sharon described the events as a "power struggle with the Palestine Liberation Organization," a sentiment echoed by Israeli Civil Administration head Menahem Milson, who called it "perhaps the most significant battle since 1948." In an interview with British newspaper The Guardian, Milson further claimed that "pro-PLO municipalities have to use all sorts of repression and intimidation" to convince the Palestinian population to boycott the Civil Administration, saying that he was prepared to forcibly disband more Palestinian councils "if necessary" and that "the situation is like a car going downhill without brakes: we ought to stop it in order to save the car and all the people in it, Jews and Arabs. We’re going to do it by putting it into first gear. There’s going to be a lot of screeching, a lot of noise, and some of the gears may get broken, but we’ll save the car." Prime Minister Menachem Begin echoed Sharon's claim that the Labor Party had "invited" the PLO into power and denounced protests within Israel against the government's Palestinian policies, asking "What are we coming to? To what terrible denial of the bases of Judaism and Zionism and the faith for which our sons fought and died?"

Israeli Labor Party General Secretary Haim Bar-Lev accused the Israeli government of governing the Palestinian Territories "based on force," saying that "as long as the government is interested in annexing the West Bank, it can expect such deterioration." Labor MK Abba Eban stated that "I can't think of anything more grotesque, to use a weak word, than a government which professes to aspire to full autonomy for the Palestinians on a national scale canceling the limited municipal autonomy that already exists and then denouncing those who brought that limited autonomy into existence." Eban also called for the Israeli government to publish the list of books that it had banned in the West Bank, which he claimed included George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Alan Moorehead's books on the search for the source of the Nile, and called for the establishment of a parliamentary committee to oversee the government's Palestinian policy.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, the former military governor of the West Bank, warned that Palestinians saw the Israeli government's moves as "a step toward annexation" and stated that he did not believe the PLO had incited the protests. A Peace Now demonstration in Tel Aviv against the disbandments saw attendance of 15 000, with some clashes with the police after the police seized a Palestinian flag that had been unfurled by some of the demonstrators. The Jerusalem Post published an editorial warning of a "spiral of repression," saying that "to talk about the need to resume negotiations on Palestine autonomy, while young boys in the West Bank are wounded, and in one case killed by Israeli soldiers, as if there were no other ways to control stone-throwing crowds, is sheer self-delusion." On 28 March, the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) broadcast an interview with Shakaa and Khalaf after the IBA's staff threatened to go on strike if the interview was not shown. In response, the Israeli cabinet condemned the IBA, with Cabinet Secretary Arye Naor accusing the IBA of "incitement against the State."

Internationally

American White House Press Secretary Larry Speakes stated that "we deplore the loss of life over there, and we are hopeful that all parties will show restraint." Spokesperson for the United States Department of State Dean E. Fischer stated that the United States was "increasingly concerned" over the "heightened level of tension, demonstrations and especially the use of lethal force against demonstrators." A second statement by Fischer stated that the United States "always regarded the Israeli decision to permit municipal elections as a progressive and helpful policy. Consistent with this position we regret — as we have made clear previously — the removal of elected municipal officials on the West Bank."

Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Kamal Hassan Ali stated that the Israeli response was "an obstacle in the way of possible Palestinian participation in the autonomy elections." Government of Kuwait spokesperson Abdel Aziz Hussein stated that the disbandments "constitutes an escalation of the suppression" and called for "practical steps to halt the atrocities of Israel." The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement calling for Israel to reverse the disbandments "immediately." King Hussein of Jordan claimed that the United States was losing its influence over Israel, saying that Israel was "now much more bellicose than in the past. The attitudes of extremism seem to have hardened: they do not seem to have any more compassion or understanding." King Hussein also claimed that there was a risk of growing Islamic fundamentalism paralleling the Israel hardening, particularly if nationalist movements failed to secure Palestinian self-determination, saying that "America must realise that her interests in this region are in jeopardy. Do they want to see this entire area erupt with devastating effects on world peace? Is the current instability that is leading us in this direction really in Western interests?"

The ten heads of government of the European Economic Community issued a joint statement expressing "deep concern" and "particularly denounced the repression imposed on the Palestinian population." French Secretary for the Presidency Pierre Bérégovoy released a statement warning against "unilateral measures imposed an any state or people" and called for all parties involved "to respect democratic freedoms so as to halt the chain of violence and repression." The British Foreign Office released a statement saying that "we deplore the dismissal by the Israeli military authorities of the democratically elected mayors" and called for "an end to the violence which can only harm the prospects for a settlement."

Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Tony Street stated that "recent events have not helped what we regard as the solution to the Palestinian problem." In Canada, a dinner for federal MPs organised by the Canada-Israel Committee saw debates between MPs over the disbandment of the Palestinian city councils, with former Minister of Foreign Affairs Flora MacDonald calling it "a step which has discouraged friends of Israel, true friends of Israel, because we see this not only as a step away from the Camp David road, but a step that threatens all the gains so far made."

The National Association of Arab-Americans accused Israel of "a total disregard of the most basic human rights of the Palestinians," saying that "we greatly fear that the terrible Israeli repression is gong to completely drive the Christian presence from the Holy Land." French newspaper Le Monde published a front-page editorial warning that Israel's response to the general strike might harm the peace process with Egypt. Australian newspaper The Canberra Times published an editorial asking "whether the current Israeli severity is actually meant to make negotiations impossible." The Australian Jewish News, on the other hand, wrote that "constant pressures and aggravation against Israel are forgotten," additionally claiming that the PLO was reacting to a loss of influence due to the rise of the Village Leagues and that it and the Arab governments that supported it wished "to sabotage Israel’s endeavours" towards peace.

United Nations

In late-March, the United Nations Security Council convened to debate the situation in Palestine, with a group of Arab diplomats presenting a draft motion condemning Israel and calling for it to rescind the city council disbandments and for sanctions to be placed if it did not. Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations Hazem Nuseibeh accused Israel of "wonton, inhuman and indiscriminate use of fire arms." In response, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations Yehuda Zvi Blum accused the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and Jordan of "conspiring to destroy" the "framework for the peaceful coexistence between Jew and Arab" that Israel was creating. Voting on the motion was delayed as Security Council diplomats attempted to redraft the motion towards a consensus.

United States Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick, then serving as Presidenct of the Security Council, refused to meet Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Zuhdi Labib Terzi during the debates, although he was able to address the Security Council.

On 2 April, the vote on the motion was held. The final draft contained six provisions, including denouncing the Israeli response to the protests and to the ongoing general strike in the Golan Heights, calling for Israel to rescind the disbandment, and to apply the Geneva Conventions to the Palestinian Territories. Thirteen of the fifteen countries represented on the Security Council voted in favour, with Zaire abstaining, and the United States voting against, using its veto power.

Later in April, the United Nations General Assembly approved resolution A/RES/ES-7/4, condemning Israel for the disbandments and for its policies towards Palestine. Eighty-six countries voted in favour, with twenty voting against, thirty-six abstaining, and fifteen not present for the vote.

Analysis

Contemporary assessments

According to William Claiborne of the Washington Post: "coupled with the deportation in 1980 of two other pro-PLO mayors and the imposition of "town arrest" travel restrictions on several other outspokenly nationalistic Arab leaders, the recent actions have stripped the West Bank of most of the leaders elected six years ago in what Israel then hailed as the first truly free elections Palestinians had ever enjoyed." Claiborne further stated that it was surprising that "the Israeli campaign was begun at a time of relative calm in the West Bank - a calm that has been shattered." Arthur Hagopian of The Canberra Times warned that the relative calm that returned following the end of the strike was "deceptive, for beyond every shop window larks the shadow of an Israeli police man, truncheon in hand, helmet thrown back," and that Palestinian "seething discontent" had "by no means run its course." Hagopian also warned that "neither side seems so far to have heard of the word 'compromise.'"

John Drysdale of The Straits Times called the violence that erupted during the strike "ominious [sic?] in the extreme." According to Drysdale, Israeli government operated on the assumptions that the Palestinian mayors were being threatened by the PLO into a radical nationalist stance, that the Palestinian Village Leagues more accurately represented the majority views of Palestinians, that radicalised Palestinians feared a loss of influence if partial autonomy was granted to the Palestinian Territories under the Camp David Accords, and that peace in the Palestinian Territories would have to include both Palestinians and Israeli settlers. According to James MacManus of The Guardian, the Israeli government aimed to "undercut the radical, pro-PLO mayors who dominated West Bank politics and foster a moderate alternative" and that the Israeli Civil Administration under Milson had a programme of "exploiting the levers of patronage, the granting or witholding [sic?] of funds and favours, to paralyse the municipalities, and to nurture the network of village leagues." Christopher Hitchens wrote in The Spectator wrote that settler extremism could no longer be considered a fringe element within Israeli politics and that Israel would be facing increasing international scepticism of its treatment of Palestinians, also saying that "you can easily meet Palestinians who coexist or even cooperate with the occupation. You cannot find anybody who actually supports it. If there was a real moderate alternative, the last 15 years of trying would have discovered it."

David K. Shipler of The New York Times stated that the Israeli government's response to the strike revealed "some new dynamics of Begin policy," which "carried implications for Israel's near future," namely that Begin was "deeply unsatisfied with his strength in the Knesset and wants more authority and leverage" and was "also not satisfied with his strength in the West Bank."

Historical assessments

In 1986, University of North Texas historian Emile Sahliyeh wrote that the pro-Jordanian elite that had dominated Palestinian politics in the 1960s lost most of their influence in the 1970s with the ascent of the PLO, whose members were younger, more educated, more urban, and more strongly nationalist. As a result, Sahliyeh wrote, Israeli policies became significantly more restrictive through the late-1970s and early 1980s, adopting an "iron fist" policy of suppressing Palestinian nationalism, while increasing censorship of Palestinian newspapers, regularly closing Palestinian universities that were hotbeds of nationalist sentiment, blocking approval and funding for Palestinian municipal projects, and eventually disbanding nationalist Palestinian councils. Ultimately, according to Sahliyeh, "although Israel's policy of creating a rural-based altemative [sic?] Palestinian leadership had failed, it nevertheless undermined the political power of the West Bank nationalist elite."

In 1995, Rex Brynen of McGill University wrote that, as a result of the loss of influence over city councils and its bases in Lebanon in 1982, the PLO turned towards grassroots organising as the 1980s continued, resulting in "the level of popular organisation grew dramatically in the form of student, trade union, and women's organizations. Such organisation (and the diffuse local leaderships they spawned) proved far more resistant to Israeli countermeasures than the earlier reliance on a relatively small number of public nationalist figures," and which would ultimately "provide much of the organisational underpining for the Intifada."

Aftermath

The first half of 1982 would continue to be a violent period in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and Arab–Israeli conflict. In mid-April, an Israeli reservist would kill two Palestinians in a shooting at the Dome of the Rock. In early June, Palestinian militant group the Abu Nidal Organization attempted to assassinate Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom Shlomo Argov. Israel would subsequently invade Lebanon, aiming to end the Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon and install a pro-Israel government in Lebanon, beginning the 1982 Lebanon War. Ze'ev Schiff of Haaretz wrote that the invasion of Lebanon was in part motivated "by the belief that quiet on the West Bank cannot be achieved merely by dismissing Shakaa and Khalef (both permanently maimed two years ago in car-bombing assassination attempts and both ousted from office last spring by Begin's West Bank civilian Governor Menahem Milson), but rather by the destruction of the PLO in Lebanon."

The Israeli government would continue to forcibly disband Palestinian city councils and their mayors over the course of 1982. On 30 April, the Israeli government ordered the dismissal of Anabta Mayor Wahid Hamdallah, citing alleged security violations. On 15 June, it ordered the disbanding of the Nablus and Dura city councils, accusing the councils of supporting the PLO. On 6 July, Mayor of Jenin Shawki Mahmoud, citing a refusal to meet with Civil Administration head Menahem Milson. On 9 July, Mayor of Gaza City Rashad al-Shawwa. Al-Shawwa, widely considered a moderate, and the Gaza City council had refused to work in the city hall since the general strike, working from home instead in a symbolic protest, and had refused to sign an order from the Israeli military forbidding them from making political statements. On 14 July, Mayor of Deir Dibwan Rashid Hijazi, the eighth Palestinian mayor to be forcibly dismissed in five months, with Israeli officials claiming that Hijazi had led a work slowdown since the general strike.

See also

• Timeline of strikes in 1982
• List of strikes in Palestine