Palestinians reflecting, 30 years to the day after first intifada broke out

Today also happens to be the 30th anniversary of the outbreak of the first intifada.

Palestinians have been telling Chloé Benoist about their memories from that time, and what lessons can be learnt from the period, which one participant referred to as a “beautiful dream” of Palestinian unity and action.

“It was an amazing period from my point of view,” remembers Khawla al-Azraq, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council.

“It was a real struggle because it was popular, everyone was involved, there was a meaning to what we did,” she told MEE.

A Palestinian mother rescues her son from Israeli soldiers who arrested him for rock throwing in January 1988 in Al Amari refugee camp near Ramallah on the West Bank (AFP)

Several said it was time for a new uprising against the Israeli occupation.

Abu Ahmad, who was imprisoned during the first intifada, said he was hopeful that Palestinian youth could succeed where the generation of the first intifada failed.

“We had a beautiful dream at the time, but we could not compare it to the outside world, because we were not able to travel, we did not have the internet,” he said.