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 
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— see
09,

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Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

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