During the 1980s a number of mainstream Israeli politicians referred to policies of transferring the Palestinian population out of the territories leading to Palestinian fears that Israel planned to evict them . Public statements calling for transfer of the Palestinian population were made by Deputy Defense minister Michael Dekel , Cabinet Minister Mordechai Tzipori and government Minister Yosef Shapira among others . Describing the causes of the Intifada , Benny Morris refers to the " all-pervading element of humiliation " , caused by the protracted occupation which he says was " always a brutal and mortifying experience for the occupied " and was " founded on brute force , repression and fear , collaboration and treachery , beatings and torture chambers , and daily intimidation , humiliation , and manipulation " While the immediate cause for the First Intifada is generally dated to a truck incident involving several Palestinian fatalities at the Erez Crossing in December 1987 , Mazin Qumsiyeh argues , against Donald Neff , that it began with multiple youth demonstrations earlier in the preceding month . Some sources consider that the perceived IDF failure in late November 1987 to stop a Palestinian guerrilla operation , the Night of the Gliders , in which six Israeli soldiers were killed , helped catalyze local Palestinians to rebel
Night of the Gliders
Night of the Gliders
First Intifada