The Unity Intifada and the May War on Gaza

In April and May 2021, during Ramadan, tensions in occupied East Jerusalem converged: Israeli police barred Palestinians from gathering at the Damascus Gate steps, far-right groups marched through the city chanting against Arabs, and a long-running campaign by settler organizations to evict Palestinian families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah approached a Supreme Court ruling. When police repeatedly stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the holy month’s final days — injuring hundreds of worshippers with tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber-coated bullets — protests spread across the city.

What followed was unusual in its geography. Demonstrations spread through the West Bank, and inside Israel Palestinian citizens held their largest protests in years, culminating in a general strike on 18 May observed on both sides of the Green Line — a display of unity that gave the moment its name. The unrest also brought intercommunal violence to Israel’s mixed cities, as Jewish and Arab mobs attacked people and property in Lod, Acre, Haifa, and elsewhere.

On 10 May, after Hamas issued an ultimatum demanding Israel withdraw its security forces from Al-Aqsa and Sheikh Jarrah, armed groups in Gaza began firing rockets toward Jerusalem and Israeli cities; Israel answered with air and artillery strikes. The escalation lasted eleven days. According to the United Nations, Israeli attacks killed 260 Palestinians in Gaza, including at least 129 civilians, 66 of them children; rockets and mortars fired from Gaza killed 13 people in Israel, 12 of them civilians. Human Rights Watch later found that attacks by both sides apparently amounted to war crimes. A ceasefire took effect on 21 May.