Palestinians Mark 1,000 Days of Intifada

RAMALLAH, Occupied West Bank —  Palestinians held what they called a “celebration” Wednesday marking the 1,000th day of the intifada, the uprising against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The stores in this West Bank town north of Jerusalem and others in the occupied territories were allowed to remain open in the afternoon as a sign of the celebration. Normally, the intifada leadership insists that shops be shut by 1 p.m. as a way of hurting the economy. But on Wednesday afternoon, shops opened to change money, to sell furniture and shoes and a variety of West Bank fruit and vegetables.

Celebrating the anniversary was viewed as another way of focusing attention on the faltering revolt, which many Palestinians admit has lost much of its momentum and been eclipsed by the crisis in the Persian Gulf.

“The reason for marking the 1,000th day,” explained Palestinian journalist Hisham Abdullah, “is to show that the intifada has become a way of life. It is to show that we haven’t given in to the Israeli occupation.”

Declared Dr. Hanan Ashrawy, a professor of English at Bir Zeit University here, which has been closed down by the Israeli authorities: “Today’s action was a symbol of resistance and a tribute to Palestinian endurance.”

She added: “I think this marks a new phase of the struggle.”

Leaders of the 1.7 million Palestinians in the occupied territories would like to see new developments in the long search for independence and that, they say, is why many at first supported Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in his takeover of Kuwait.

That move was seen by many observers as harming the Palestinian cause--in the eyes of the world--and giving the Israeli government further reasons for refusing to recognize or negotiate with the Palestine Liberation Organization.

But Ashrawy insists that the world media distorted the Palestinian reaction.

“Not a single Palestinian leader supported the invasion as such,” she said. “They opposed the introduction of American troops into Saudi Arabia as a colonialist gesture and asked that the problem should be settled diplomatically by Arabs themselves.”

The professor said that the shake-up in the Arab world brought about by the invasion might lead to a political reorganization that eventually could bring pressure to bear for the creation of a Palestinian state.

According to figures tabulated by the Associated Press, since the uprising began 728 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers, while 255 have been killed by fellow Arabs. Forty-seven Israelis have died.

Israeli officials point out that last month there was only one Palestinian death attributed to the Israeli army in the West Bank and Gaza, the lowest monthly fatality figure since the uprising began in December, 1987.

And under the go-easy policy of Defense Minister Moshe Arens, the number of casualties and incidents has dropped markedly in the past summer, leading some observers to suggest that Israel has found a way to successfully handle the intifada .

This view was disputed Wednesday by Saeb Erakat, an activist political science professor at an-Najah University in Nablus, who declared:

“I think the media have falsified the intifada to make it look like only demonstrations--but it is about transformations that are occurring within the Palestinian community economically, politically, socially, psychologically, and religiously.”