Looking Back
From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History
accessible at www.djnfoundation.org
46 | OCTOBER 8 • 2020
The Second Intifada
N
ot all stories that
one finds in the
William Davidson
Digital Archive of Jewish
Detroit History are pleasant.
Nevertheless,
certain subjects
are still worthy
of remembrance.
A case in
point: This past
Sept. 28 marks a
21st anniversary
that Detroit’
s
Jewish com-
munity will not celebrate. It’
s
been two decades since the
onset of the Second Intifada in
Israel, the so-called “
Al-Aqsa
Intifada.” Allegedly sparked
by a visit by Israeli politician
Ariel Sharon to the Temple
Mount, this intifada, or “upris-
ing” to use the Arabic trans-
lation, was a five-year period
of extreme violence directed
against Israeli citizens, 2000-
2005. Its only accomplish-
ment appears to have been an
estimated 1,000 Israeli and
3,000 Palestinian deaths, and a
dimming of the prospects for
peace.
Violence between Jews
and Arabs has century-old
roots, of course. There was
prejudice toward and acts of
violence against Jews in the
Middle East before the 20th
century, but after the Balfour
Declaration in 1917, there was
increasing terrorism against
Jews, as well as conflicts
between Jews and Arabs. The
culmination was a massive
attack on the nation of Israel
as soon as it was established
in 1948. Israel had to defend
itself during the 1948 War of
Independence, and subsequent
major conflicts including the
1967 Six-Day War, the Yom
Kippur War of 1973 and the
War of Attrition between
those wars. Casualties from
these wars were the worst in
Israel’
s history. In sheer num-
bers, however, those of the
Second Intifada rank as the
fourth largest, the result of
suicide bombings and rampant
shootings in an extreme esca-
lation from the First Intifada,
1987-1993.
I’
ll admit that I hesitated
to write about the Second
Intifada. However, history is
important and should never be
forgotten, no matter if pleasant
or not. It informs us for the
future. Moreover, in this par-
ticular instance, I found com-
pelling stories in the Archive,
as well as continued references
to the Second Intifada.
The JN covered the First
Intifada. I found a story, “The
Rosh Hashanah Riots,” in its
Oct. 10, 2000 issue. This was
the newspaper’
s first detailed
report on the beginnings of
the Second Intifada. Another
story published in the Nov.
24, 2000, issue of the JN,
“Sleepless in Gilo,” discussed
the lives of Israelis in the
midst of daily gunfire and vio-
lence. In the March 28, 2004,
issue of JN, while the Second
Intifada still raged, there is
a review of David Horovitz’
s
book about enduring the
experience: Still Life with
Bombers: Israel in the Age of
Terrorism.
The Archive also has stories
related to the direct impact
of the Second Intifada on
Detroit Jews. For exam-
ple, Zieva Konvisser,
like many Detroiters,
visited Israel during this
era which led her to
write “Living Beyond
Terrorism,” an inquiry
into the experiences
of terrorism survivors — see
the JN from Feb. 19, 2009,
and March 2, 2014. The
Jewish Federation sponsored
trips to Israel in 2001 to help
with the flagging tourism
industry there. Allan Gale
told me how eerie it was to
be there on Sept. 11, 2001.
I also wrote this Looking
Back while thinking about
Israel’
s recent diplomat-
ic breakthroughs with the
United Arab Emirates and
Bahrain, which do bring hope
for the future.
Want to learn more? Go to the
DJN Foundation archives, available
for free at www.djnfoundation.org.
pact
on
-
s
— see
09,
e
Mike Smith
Alene and
Graham Landau
Archivist Chair
g