The Palestinian uprising that began in Gaza and the West Bank in 1987 was called the Intifada, more specifically the First Intifada. The Arabic word intifada is commonly translated as “shaking off” or “uprising.”
The revolt began in December 1987 in Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, amid deep Palestinian anger over Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip since 1967. Protests quickly spread through Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. The immediate trigger was a traffic collision that killed four Palestinian workers, although tensions had been building for years.
The First Intifada included demonstrations, general strikes, boycotts, tax resistance, civil disobedience, stone throwing, and armed attacks. It was not a single centrally controlled event, though the Unified National Leadership of the Uprising helped coordinate much of the popular resistance.
The uprising is generally dated from 1987 to 1991, when the Madrid Conference began, or to 1993, when the Oslo Accords were signed. The term is sometimes confused with the Second Intifada, which began in 2000.