March 1982 Palestinian general strike

{{see also|Israeli–Palestinian conflict|Israeli occupation of the West Bank}}

After Israel's victory in the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel has occupied the Palestinian territories, including the West Bank.{{cite web|date=19 July 2024|title=UN top court says Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjerjzxlpvdo|author-last=Berg|author-first=Raffi|access-date=26 December 2024|work=BBC News}} The occupation has been controversial, with Israel accused of violating international law, as well as committing human rights abuses and apartheid against Palestinians.{{cite web|date=1 February 2022|title=Israel's apartheid against Palestinians|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2022/02/israels-system-of-apartheid/|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=26 December 2024|work=Amnesty International}} The Israeli government has also actively promoted the creation and growth of Israeli settlements in Palestine.{{cite web|date=29 December 2016|title=7 Things To Know About Israeli Settlements|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/12/29/507377617/seven-things-to-know-about-israeli-settlements|author-last=Myre|author-first=Greg|access-date=26 December 2024|work=NPR}} The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), an umbrella group representing the most prominent armed Palestinian nationalist paramilitaries in the second half of the 20th century, has also been accused of a number of human rights violations and of waging a terrorist campaign against Israelis.{{cite web|date=14 May 2018|title=What is the Palestinian Liberation Organization? How about Fatah and the Palestinian Authority?|url=https://www.vox.com/2018/11/20/18080054/plo-palestinian-liberation-organization-israel-conflict|author-last=Beauchamp|author-first=Zack|access-date=26 December 2024|work=Vox}}

In 1976, the Israeli government, then led by the Israeli Labor Party, allowed local elections to be held throughout the West Bank, thinking that conservative, pro-Jordanian candidates would win. Instead, the 1976 West Bank local elections saw major victories by candidates linked to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), bringing a cohort of younger, more nationalist, and more outspoken figures to the forefront of Palestinian politics.Aronson, Geoffrey. Israel, Palestinians and the Intifada: Creating Facts on the West Bank. Routledge, 1990. Chapter 9. The election results shocked the Israeli government, who subsequently expelled the mayors of Hebron and Halhul, and tried to expell the Mayor of Nablus, in 1979 and announced that it would indefinitely block further local elections from being held in Palestine, claiming that further elections would "cause damage to the peace process."{{cite web|date=23 July 1980|title=Municipal Elections on the West Bank Postponed Indefinitely|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/municipal-elections-on-the-west-bank-postponed-indefinitely|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=14 October 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} Tensions surrounding Palestinian mayors were amplifed when Israeli settlers attempted to murder several of the mayors in June 1980.

Also adding to the tensions were suspicions among Palestinians that the Israeli government wished to undermine the independence of Palestinian city councils and local Palestinian institutions, and extend its control over the Palestinian population and land.Hartley, Cathy & Paul Cossali. Survey of Arab-Israeli Relations. Taylor & Francis, 2004. Page 90. One key factor in these suspicions was Israeli support for the creation and arming of the Palestinian Village Leagues, associations based on primarily rural traditional societal structures that Israel saw as more amenable to Israeli interests.{{cite web|date=24 December 2023|title=The obsession that led to war with Hamas|url=https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-the-obsession-that-led-to-war-with-hamas-1001465970|author-last=Karny|author-first=Yoav|access-date=26 December 2024|work=Globes}}{{cite web|date=13 September 2016|title=The Story Of The Palestinian Village Leagues|url=https://www.memri.org/reports/story-palestinian-village-leagues|author-last=Carmon|author-first=Yigal|access-date=26 December 2024|work=Middle East Media Research Institute}}{{cite news|date=17 August 1982|title=West Bank Village Leagues Hope to Gain Power From PLO Defeat|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/08/18/west-bank-village-leagues-hope-to-gain-power-from-plo-defeat/ce3b6dba-d78f-455d-8268-d364dc4bf1b7/|author-last=Walsh|author-first=Edward|access-date=28 December 2024|newspaper=Washington Post}} Many Palestinians, however, considered the Village Leagues to be inauthentic and collaborators.{{cite web|date=30 August 1982|title=West Bank, Gaza Village Leagues Termed As Israeli 'collaborators'|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/west-bank-gaza-village-leagues-termed-as-israeli-collaborators|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

Also contributing to tensions was the significant increase in Israeli settlers in Palestine following the election of the Menachem Begin-led government in the late 1970s, who took a more active role in encouraging settlement.{{cite web|date=19 March 1982|title=Israelis rush to buy land on the West Bank|url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19820319-1.2.17.1|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Straits Times}}{{cite web|date=5 October 1981|title=News Brief|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/the-world-zionist-organization-settlement-department-intends-to|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=26 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} As well, following the Egypt–Israel peace treaty in the late-1970s, Israel gradually withdrew its occupation of the Sinai Peninsula, including dismantling many of its settlements in the Sinai, a withdrawal that was opposed by many settlers in the West Bank. In early March 1982, some settlers blockaded roads in the West Bank in protest over the withdrawal.{{cite web|date=8 March 1982|title=W. Bank settlers put up road blocks in protest|url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19820308-1.2.21.1|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Straits Times}} Israeli Minister of Defence Ariel Sharon, however, pledged that West Bank settlements would not be dismantled, saying that "we would never agree to their removal. Half a million Israelis would stream into the region to stop it."{{cite web|date=26 March 1982|title=Israeli battles Israeli in Sinai as Egyptians watch and wait|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19820326.2.89.1|author-last=Blundy|author-first=David|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Sunday Times}}

In November and December 1981, a significant wave of protests broke out across Palestine following the Israeli government's announcement that it would re-organise the body overseeing the occupation of the Palestinian Territories from the Israeli Military Governorate into the Israeli Civil Administration, a nominally civilian-led department of the Israeli Ministry of Defence.{{cite news|date=11 November 1981|title=Crackdown on West Bank Activists Underscores Israeli Warning|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1981/11/12/crackdown-on-west-bank-activists-underscores-israeli-warning/f7a1b183-30f3-49ff-b595-1943573925bf/|author-last=Claiborne|author-first=William|access-date=25 December 2024|newspaper=Washington Post}}{{cite news|date=8 December 1981|title=General Strike in Gaza|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1981/12/08/general-strike-in-gaza/9b018380-5dbc-4e8f-a5aa-46d613eee3d5/|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=25 December 2024|newspaper=Washington Post}} The re-organisation was viewed as a cosmetic change at best, and at worst as a prelude to annexation.{{cite web|date=6 October 1981|title=New plan for West Bank|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19811006.2.51.10|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=26 December 2024|work=The Press}}{{cite web|date=18 November 1981|title=General Sharon's strategy for West Bank runs into radical roadblocks|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1981/1118/111831.html|author-last=Temko|author-first=Ned|access-date=26 December 2024|work=The Christian Science Monitor}}

Late February and early March 1982 also saw a small outbreak of protests following the Civil Administration's decision to forcibly close Birzeit University for two months after a group of students attacked an Israeli official visiting the campus to try and enforce Israeli Military Order No. 854, which gave the Civil Administration greater control over Palestinian universities.{{cite web|date=18 February 1982|title=Israeli Authorities Shut Down Bir Zeit University for Two Months|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/israeli-authorities-shut-down-bir-zeit-university-for-two-months|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}{{cite web|date=8 March 1982|title=Israeli Soldiers, Trying to Stop Stone-throwing Demonstration, Wound Two High School Students|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/israeli-soldiers-trying-to-stop-stone-throwing-demonstration-wound-two-high-school-students|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} Early 1982 also saw rumours of war between Israel and Lebanon, as well as a significant general strike by the Golan Heights Druze protesting against Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights.{{cite web|date=19 February 1982|title=Great Decisions '82; The Palestinians: history, politics, and conflict|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1982/0219/021935.html|author-last=Yemma|author-first=Joh|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Christian Science Monitor}} In early March 1982, the Civil Administration banned the Palestinian National Guidance Committee, which regrouped many of the Palestinian mayors and other figures such as labour union leaders.{{cite encyclopedia|date=|title=Popular Resistance and Israeli Measures in West Bank|url=https://www.palquest.org/en/overallchronology?sideid=5100|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|encyclopedia=Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question}} On 12 March 1982, shots were fired by Palestinian militants at the home of a Village League leader in Beitunia.{{cite web|date=15 March 1982|title=Tension Heightens on the West Bank|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/tension-heightens-on-the-west-bank|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

The first two months of 1982, however, also brought some hopes of peace, with the United States attempting to restart the Palestinian autonomy talks, the PLO accepting the Saudi-proposed Fahd Plan for peace, and two Palestinian mayors, Elias Freij of Bethlehem and Rashad al-Shawwa of Gaza City, making statements calling for the PLO to officially recognise the State of Israel.{{cite web|date=26 January 1982|title=Gaza Mayor Joins Freij on Calling on the PLO to Recognize Israel|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/gaza-mayor-joins-freij-on-calling-on-the-plo-to-recognize-israel|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

On 18 March 1982, the Israeli Civil Administration ordered the elected city council of Al-Bireh, a Palestinian city in the central West Bank, to be immediately disbanded and Al-Bireh mayor Ibrahim Tawil immediately removed from his post. In their place, the Israeli Civil Administration announced that it would install a committee of Israelis led by a former Israeli military officer.{{cite web|date=18 March 1982|title=The West Bank military government, in an unprecedented move...|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/18/The-West-Bank-military-government-in-an-unprecedented-move/7658385275600/|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}} The order, signed by Civil Administration head Menahem Milson, justified itself by accusing the city council and mayor of refusing to cooperate with the Civil Administration.{{cite web|date=19 March 1982|title=Israeli Civilian Government in West Bank Orders Removal of El Bireh's Elected Mayor, City Council|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/israeli-civilian-government-in-west-bank-orders-removal-of-el-birehs-elected-mayor-city-council|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} Minister of Defence Ariel Sharon claimed the city council had "preferred an extraneous political consideration to the well-being of their city and its inhabitants," accusing the council of having "cut off all contact with the civil administration whose main function is to make possible normal life." The order marked the first time in the Israeli occupation that Israel moved to completely dismantle an elected Palestinian city council.

The order was met with widespread shock in Al-Bireh. After being escorted by soldiers out of the Al-Bireh city hall, Tawil met the press and accused Israel of attempting to impose the Civil Administration on Palestine and described the order as "a revenge action against the council of El Bireh because they refused on principle to meet with Milson," saying that he would not recognise the order as valid.{{cite web|date=19 March 1982|title=Mayor Is Ousted in the West Bank|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/19/world/mayor-is-ousted-in-the-west-bank.html|author-last=Shipler|author-first=David K.|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The New York Times}} Protests gathered outside the city hall and soon spread through the city, with several protestors being arrested after throwing stones at an Israeli military bus.

As news of the order spread through Palestine, protests began to break out across the country, including general strikes in Al-Bireh, Bethlehem, and Ramallah.{{cite web|date=19 March 1982|title=Strikes spread across the occupied West Bank Friday, shutting...|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/19/Strikes-spread-across-the-occupied-West-Bank-Friday-shutting/5473385362000/|author-last=Nadler|author-first=Gerald|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}} Mayor of Nablus Bassam Shakaa announced that the Nablus municipality would go on a three-day strike and would not cooperate with the Civil Administration.

On 19 March, the general strikes spread to the entirety of the West Bank.{{cite web|date=20 March 1982|title=Around the World; West Bank Arabs Strike Over Mayor's Dismissal|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/20/world/around-the-world-west-bank-arabs-strike-over-mayor-s-dismissal.html|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The New York Times}} The Israeli military moved to suppress the protests, confiscating the editions of three Palestinian newspapers published in East Jerusalem before they could be distributed, claiming that the newspapers had not presented their articles to the Israeli Military Censor for approval before publishing.{{cite web|date=19 March 1982|title=Israeli officials seized Arab newspapers in the occupied West...|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/19/Israeli-officials-seized-Arab-newspapers-in-the-occupied-West/3775385362000/|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}}

On Saturday 20 March, Israeli soldiers surrounded the Nablus city hall to prevent a demonstration called for by Shakaa and ordered a curfew over the Cave of the Patriarchs after a clash between protestors and settlers from Kiryat Arba.{{cite web|date=20 March 1982|title=Israeli troops shot to death a 17-year-old Palestinian and...|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/20/Israeli-troops-shot-to-death-a-17-year-old-Palestinian-and/1469385448400/|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}} In Al-Bireh that day, Israeli soldiers used tear gas to forcibly disperse a woman's protest outside the city hall and later opened fire with live ammunition on a protest in the city's main square after the protestors threw stones, injuring two protestors and killing one, a 17-year-old named Ibrahim Ali Darwish.{{cite web|date=21 March 1982|title=West Bank Boy Dies as Israeli Forces Fire on Arab Protesters|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/21/world/west-bank-boy-dies-as-israeli-forces-fire-on-arab-protesters.html|author-last=Shipler|author-first=David K.|access-date=29 December 2024|work=The New York Times}} The body of another 17-year-old Palestinian, Mohammed Abdullah Youssef Suhweil, was also discovered in the Israeli settlement of Shilo, with one settler being arrested for murder, and several local Palestinians claiming that the settlers had been kidnapping and beating Palestinian youth.{{cite web|date=29 March 1982|title=Jewish Settler Released on Bail|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/jewish-settler-released-on-bail|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}{{cite web|date=22 March 1982|title=No Headline|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/22/world/no-headline-009658.html|author-last=Shipler|author-first=David K.|access-date=29 December 2024|work=The New York Times}}

On 21 March, the Israeli military ordered Damiyah Bridge and Allenby Bridge, the main crossing points between the West Bank and Jordan, closed. Israeli forces also imposed blockades on the cities of Nablus, Ramallah, and Al-Bireh, not allowing anyone in or out of the cities during daylight hours, and imposed a curfew on the refugees camps Askar Camp and Balata Camp.{{cite web|date=22 March 1982|title=Israel Moves to Quell Continuing Violent Demonstrations on West Bank|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/israel-moves-to-quell-continuing-violent-demonstrations-on-west-bank|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} That day, five Palestinians were injured after being shot by Israeli soldiers, and two Israeli soldiers were injured by thrown stones.{{cite web|date=21 March 1982|title=Soldiers wounded five Palestinians Sunday during anti-Israel demonstrations in...|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/21/Soldiers-wounded-five-Palestinians-Sunday-during-anti-Israel-demonstrations-in/5419385534800/|author-last=Heller|author-first=Jeffrey|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}}

On 22 March, a second Palestinian youth protestor was shot and killed by Israeli forces in the Deir 'Ammar Camp and three others wounded, with the Israeli military saying that they had been throwing stones at Israeli soldiers.{{cite web|date=22 March 1982|title=Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian youth and...|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/22/Israeli-troops-shot-and-killed-a-Palestinian-youth-and/1797385621200/|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}} Israeli forces also attempted to prevent shopkeepers in several Palestinian cities from joining the strike by visiting the shopkeepers' homes in the early morning and forcibly escorting them to open their shops.{{cite web|date=23 March 1982|title=General Strike Paralyzes West Bank|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/general-strike-paralyzes-west-bank|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} The general strike, originally intended to last for three days, was extended.{{cite web|date=23 March 1982|title=Israelis fear violence as Arabs extend strike|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19820323.2.69|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Press}}

By 23 March, the protests had spread to the Gaza Strip, with a general strike being declared in Rafah.{{cite web|date=23 March 1982|title=Protests against Israeli actions in the occupied West Bank...|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/23/Protests-against-Israeli-actions-in-the-occupied-West-Bank/8896385707600/|author-last=Nadler|author-first=Gerald|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}}{{cite web|date=24 March 1982|title=West Bank Remains Tense|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/west-bank-remains-tense|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} Three Palestinians were killed on 24 March, bringing the death toll to five, and at least nine injured. One was killed by an Israeli settler in Bani Na'im, one killed in Jenin after trying to stab an Israeli police officer, and one being shot by Israeli forces trying to disperse a demonstration in Khan Yunis.{{cite web|date=24 March 1982|title=Three Palestinian youths were shot dead on the occupied...|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/24/Three-Palestinian-youths-were-shot-dead-on-the-occupied/8573385794000/|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}} The stabbed Israeli police officer was seriously injured.{{cite news|date=24 March 1982|title=3 Palestinians Die In Fresh Clashes in West Bank, Gaza|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/03/25/3-palestinians-die-in-fresh-clashes-in-west-bank-gaza/849678b3-2548-4208-9b69-efc6484c5ef1/|author-last=Claiborne|author-first=William|access-date=28 December 2024|newspaper=Washington Post}} Several hundred Palestinians were arrested by Israeli forces that day.

The disbandments and the Israeli government's response to the general strike as well as its response to the simultaneously ongoing 1982 Golan Heights Druze general strike almost caused a political crisis in Israel. The centre-left Labor Alignment, far-left Hadash, and centrist Shinui parties all proposed no confidence motions in the government led by Prime Minister Menachem Begin and the right-wing Likud party.{{cite web|date=24 March 1982|title=Challenge to PM over West Bank|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126911892|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Canberra Times}} During the heated five-hour debate in the Knesset, Labor leader Shimon Peres accused Begin of trying to create a "Palestinian ghetto"{{cite web|date=23 March 1982|title=Menachem Begin's beleaguered coalition tied crucial no-confidence votes in...|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/23/Menachem-Begins-beleaguered-coalition-tied-crucial-no-confidence-votes-in/5225385707600/|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}} and accused Minister of Defence Ariel Sharon of "incitement and demagogy."{{cite web|date=24 March 1982|title=Israel Government Defends Its Policies on the West Bank|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/israel-government-defends-its-policies-on-the-west-bank|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} Sharon stated that it was "not possible to implement any plan, our autonomy plan or any other plan as long as the PLO rules on the West Bank," saying that "this is the struggle for Eretz Israel" and accusing the Labor Party of the "responsibility for the rise to power of the PLO." The vote of no-confidence resulted in a draw, with 58 MKs voting in favour and 58 voting against. As the votes in favour did not win a majority, the motion failed.

Begin had initially declared that he would resign if the no-confidence vote resulted in a draw, and convened an emergency meeting of the cabinet following the vote.{{cite web|date=24 March 1982|title=Begin Pondering Whether to Resign Following a Tie Vote in the Knesset on a No-confidence Motion|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/begin-pondering-whether-to-resign-following-a-tie-vote-in-the-knesset-on-a-no-confidence-motion-by-l|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=29 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} During the cabinet meeting, Minister of Welfare and Social Affairs and Tami leader Aharon Abuhatzira spoke against Begin's resignation, and the minor coalition parties Agudat Yisrael and the National Religious Party both stated that they might be willing to seek a coalition with Labor to prevent early elections.{{cite web|date=25 March 1982|title=Special Analysis a Dramatic Cabinet Meeting|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/special-analysis-a-dramatic-cabinet-meeting|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} Begin ultimately chose to remain as Prime Minister after the Israeli cabinet voted 12 to 6 for him to continue.{{cite web|date=25 March 1982|title=Begin coalition clings to power|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19820325.2.62.1|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Press}} He afterwards told the press that he expected an early general election "within a year."{{cite web|date=25 March 1982|title=Begin: Early Elections Unavoidable|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/begin-early-elections-unavoidable|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=29 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

On 25 March, the Israeli Civil Administration ordered Mayor of Nablus Bassam Shakaa and Mayor of Ramallah Karim Khalaf immediately expelled from their positions and replaced with Israeli officials, accusing them of being "extreme and uncompromising" and of "general agitation, nonrecognition of the Israeli civil administration, and repeated attempts to disrupt public order."{{cite news|date=26 March 1982|title=Israel Fires 2 Mayors in West Bank|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/03/26/israel-fires-2-mayors-in-west-bank/4a0a4a47-3d85-4977-ae89-93879b290d13/|author-last=Claiborne|author-first=William|access-date=7 October 2024|newspaper=The Washington Post}} Shakaa and Khalaf were notified of the order early in the morning, when Israeli soldiers visited their homes to wake them up and told them to sign a document recognising the dismissal, which Shakaa and Khalaf refused to do.{{cite web|date=26 March 1982|title=Two More West Bank Mayors Ousted; I Israeli Soldier Killed, 3 Other Soldiers and 3 Local Civilians Wounded|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/two-more-west-bank-mayors-ousted-i-israeli-soldier-killed-3-other-soldiers-and-3-local-civilians-w|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} When Khalaf and Shakaa spoke to the press afterwards, having been blocked from entering their offices by Israeli soldiers, Khalaf called the forced dismissal an "arbitrary action," claiming it was "another step toward annexing the West Bank and Gaza Strip," while Shakaa accused the soldiers of having called him "half a human," mocking him over the loss of his legs in the June 1980 West Bank bombings.

The additional expulsions inflamed the general strike.{{cite web|date=25 March 1982|title=Grenade-hurling Palestinians killed an Israeli soldier Thursday and Israel...|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/25/Grenade-hurling-Palestinians-killed-an-Israeli-soldier-Thursday-and-Israel/7934385880400/|author-last=Nadler|author-first=Gerald|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}} That day saw an Israeli soldier being killed and three wounded in the Gaza Strip when grenades were thrown at their vehicle, the first Israeli death since the beginning of the general strike. Responsibility for the grenade attack was claimed by the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who stated it had been carried out "in response to the actions being carried out by the Israeli aggressors inside occupied Palestine."{{cite web|date=25 March 1982|title=An Israeli soldier was killed in a grenade attack...|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/25/An-Israeli-soldier-was-killed-in-a-grenade-attack/3242385880400/|author-last=Nadler|author-first=Gerald|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}} Follow the grenade attack, the Israel Defence Forces deployed elite paratrooper units to patrol the Palestinian Territories.{{cite web|date=27 March 1982|title=Tough combat units patrol West Bank and Gaza Strip|url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19820327-1.2.22.5|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Straits Times}}

One Palestinian was injured on 26 March in Halhul, after Israeli soldiers fired warning shots to disperse a demonstration. Israeli soldiers also moved to confiscate several Palestinian newspapers and forced residents of Bethlehem in the middle of the night to dismantle barricades that had been built by protestors.{{cite web|date=26 March 1982|title=A West Bank Arab was wounded by Israeli gunfire...|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/26/A-West-Bank-Arab-was-wounded-by-Israeli-gunfire/4449385966800/|author-last=Nadler|author-first=Gerald|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}} That day, Civil Administration head Milson called a press conference to defend the Israeli government's actions, where he stated that Israel could not allow the PLO to have control over Palestinian politics, additionally claiming that the 1976 West Bank local elections had been undemocratic and that the PLO controlled at least 10 city councils across the West Bank.{{cite news|date=27 March 1982|title=Israeli Says West Bank Election Awaits End of PLO Influence|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/03/27/israeli-says-west-bank-election-awaits-end-of-plo-influence/c125588b-c94e-48f9-8690-b147151caf4a/|author-last=Claiborne|author-first=William|access-date=28 December 2024|newspaper=Washington Post}}

On 27 March, one Israeli soldier was injured in Nablus as protestors and Israeli forces clashed, with several dozen protestors being arrested. In East Jerusalem that day, 50 shopkeepers were arrested after refusing Israeli orders to open their shops.{{cite web|date=29 March 1982|title=Arabs in continued rioting on West Bank|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126912927|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Canberra Times}} Palestinians also claimed that the Israeli military had carried out a mass arrest of all men in the Ein Beit al-Ma' refugee camp that night.{{cite web|date=29 March 1982|title=Israeli Cabinet Affirms Policies on Arab Protest|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/29/world/israeli-cabinet-affirms-policies-on-arab-protest.html|author-last=Shipler|author-first=David K.|access-date=29 December 2024|work=The New York Times}}

The next day, one Palestinian was injured in Hebron when a settler whose car had been hit by stones fired at a demonstration blocking the road.{{cite web|date=29 March 1982|title=An Israeli West Bank settler shot and wounded a...|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/29/An-Israeli-West-Bank-settler-shot-and-wounded-a/6909386226000/|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}}{{cite web|date=29 March 1982|title=Israeli Cabinet briefed on W.Bank violence|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19820329.2.70.11|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Press}} Palestinians claimed that 35 Palestinian Christians were arrested in Beit Sahour that day and forced to spit on a Palestinian flag, when a protest after church services clashed with Israeli forces, claims that the Israeli military denied. As well, three members of the Nablus city council were arrested that day. The Israeli cabinet also released a statement that day after holding a special meeting to discuss the ongoing protests, stating that it would "continue undaunted" its Palestinian policy, saying that it would "ensure peace and give all possible help to Arab residents of Judaea, Samaria and Gaza who keep the low and maintain the peace. No acts of violence or breaches of the peace, of any kind whatsoever, will be tolerated."{{cite web|date=29 March 1982|title=Cabinet Says Israel Would 'continue Undaunted' Its West Bank Policies|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/cabinet-says-israel-would-continue-undaunted-its-west-bank-policies|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

On 29 March, four Palestinians were injured in Ya'bad while clashing with Israeli soldiers when a group of Civil Administration staff attempted to visit the village.{{cite web|date=30 March 1982|title=Arabs shot in clash on West Bank|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19820330.2.68.5|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Press}}

As the protests continued, they coincided with Land Day, the annual day of protests held by Palestinians to mark the anniversary of a significant wave of protests that broke out in 1976 over a move by the Israeli government to confiscate Palestinian land.{{cite web|date=March 1982|title=Dar Al Jaleel Poster Booklet - 3|url=https://www.palestineposterproject.org/posters/dar-al-jaleel-poster-booklet-3|author-last=Nicola|author-first=Kamal|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Palestine Poster Project Archives}} In preparation for Land Day, the Israeli military ordered its soldiers to be on higher alert.{{cite web|date=31 March 1982|title=Alert on West Bank|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19820331.2.71.9|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Press}} A demonstration that day was also by Al Fajr journalists in protest against Israeli censorship, resulting in 15 of the journalists being arrested after they refused to voluntarily disperse.{{cite web|date=31 March 1982|title=Land Day General Strike a Major Success in the Territories but Only Partially Successful in Israel|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/land-day-general-strike-a-major-success-in-the-territories-but-only-partially-successful-in-israel|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

Land Day protests also saw widespread participation by Arab citizens of Israel, despite most councils of Arab towns inside Israel choosing not to join a general strike over fears that their participation would worsen tensions.{{cite web|date=30 March 1982|title=Majority of Arab, Druze Mayors in Israel Say They Will Not Join Strike Tuesday to Mark Land Day|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/majority-of-arab-druze-mayors-in-israel-say-they-will-not-join-strike-tuesday-to-mark-land-day|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} One demonstration in Jaljulia developed into a serious clash with Israeli police, resulting in at least five protestors and six police officers being injured. In Nazareth, the mayor's wife and office director were arrested.{{cite web|date=30 March 1982|title=Israeli police clashed with Arabs in protests inside Israel...|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/30/Israeli-police-clashed-with-Arabs-in-protests-inside-Israel/1265386312400/|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}}

Following the Land Day protests, the wave of protests largely subsided.{{cite web|date=2 April 1982|title=West Bank tensions ease|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126913985|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Canberra Times}}

Deputy Mayor of Ramallah Reverend Audeh Rantisi stated that "This control by force and fear cannot continue. The people will not cooperate with any Israeli committees that try to run the government." Mayor of Hebron Mustafa Natshe claimed that "the occupation authorities choose the worst in every respect," adding that "the settlers come - they are the worst of Israel, so they push the Arabs to be more extremist. The type of settlers in the area are the worst, so nobody in the city can speak with them. They give a bad face to the Jews. Who didn't know the other Jews in Israel, they would think these are the Jews."{{cite web|date=31 March 1982|title=Two West Banks Mayors Call Israel Policy Doomed|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/31/world/two-west-bank-mayors-call-israel-policy-doomed.html|author-last=Shipler|author-first=David K.|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The New York Times}} Mayor of Nablus Bassam Shakaa, who had been forcibly dismissed on 25 March, claimed that "no one respects" the Israeli occupation administration, saying that "they want the land and they don't want the people."{{cite web|date=25 March 1982|title=West Bank mayor: 'Basam Shaka is everything here'|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/25/West-Bank-mayor-Basam-Shaka-is-everything-here/9406385880400/|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}}

An anonymous Palestinian interviewed by the Australian Associated Press claimed that "whenever a leader or spokesman emerges the Israeli authority clamps down," adding that Palestinian commercial strikes "really only hurts us because the Jewish settlers here do not shop in our town, but it is one of our few means of protest — we are not armed."{{cite web|date=29 March 1982|title=Palestinian leaders fear annexation by Israelis|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126913057|author-last=Eyre|author-first=Jane|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Canberra Times}} Ellen Cantarow of The Village Voice wrote that the Palestinians she talked to in the months after the protests "besiege me with stories from last spring - deaths, curfews, woundings, mass midnight round-ups of all the men in entire village," saying that they " were as angry as they were bereaved," and quoting a Palestinian peasant from Sa'ir as exclaiming "They are doing these things to make us leave the country. But we shall die here! We shall never leave our country, our village. Never!"

Minister of Defence Ariel Sharon described the events as a "power struggle with the Palestine Liberation Organization," a sentiment echoed by Israeli Civil Administration head Menahem Milson, who called it "perhaps the most significant battle since 1948." In an interview with British newspaper The Guardian, Milson further claimed that "pro-PLO municipalities have to use all sorts of repression and intimidation" to convince the Palestinian population to boycott the Civil Administration, saying that he was prepared to forcibly disband more Palestinian councils "if necessary" and that "the situation is like a car going downhill without brakes: we ought to stop it in order to save the car and all the people in it, Jews and Arabs. We're going to do it by putting it into first gear. There's going to be a lot of screeching, a lot of noise, and some of the gears may get broken, but we'll save the car."{{cite web|date=2 April 1982|title=How political theory meets West Bank test|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19820402.2.75.5|author-last=Silver|author-first=Eric|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Guardian}} Prime Minister Menachem Begin echoed Sharon's claim that the Labor Party had "invited" the PLO into power and denounced protests within Israel against the government's Palestinian policies, asking "What are we coming to? To what terrible denial of the bases of Judaism and Zionism and the faith for which our sons fought and died?"

Israeli Labor Party General Secretary Haim Bar-Lev accused the Israeli government of governing the Palestinian Territories "based on force," saying that "as long as the government is interested in annexing the West Bank, it can expect such deterioration." Labor MK Abba Eban stated that "I can't think of anything more grotesque, to use a weak word, than a government which professes to aspire to full autonomy for the Palestinians on a national scale canceling the limited municipal autonomy that already exists and then denouncing those who brought that limited autonomy into existence." Eban also called for the Israeli government to publish the list of books that it had banned in the West Bank, which he claimed included George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Alan Moorehead's books on the search for the source of the Nile, and called for the establishment of a parliamentary committee to oversee the government's Palestinian policy.{{cite web|date=23 March 1982|title=Eban Says Israel Has Banned Some 2,000 Books on the West Bank|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/eban-says-israel-has-banned-some-2000-books-on-the-west-bank|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=29 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, the former military governor of the West Bank, warned that Palestinians saw the Israeli government's moves as "a step toward annexation" and stated that he did not believe the PLO had incited the protests.{{cite web|date=28 March 1982|title=Former Israeli official links Begin to West Bank violence|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/28/Former-Israeli-official-links-Begin-to-West-Bank-violence/5571386139600/|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}} A Peace Now demonstration in Tel Aviv against the disbandments saw attendance of 15 000, with some clashes with the police after the police seized a Palestinian flag that had been unfurled by some of the demonstrators.{{cite web|date=27 March 1982|title=Thousands of Israelis demonstrating in support of West Bank...|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/27/Thousands-of-Israelis-demonstrating-in-support-of-West-Bank/9750386053200/|author-last=Nadler|author-first=Gerald|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}} The Jerusalem Post published an editorial warning of a "spiral of repression," saying that "to talk about the need to resume negotiations on Palestine autonomy, while young boys in the West Bank are wounded, and in one case killed by Israeli soldiers, as if there were no other ways to control stone-throwing crowds, is sheer self-delusion."{{cite web|date=8 April 1982|title=Untimely Return|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126915265|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Canberra Times}} On 28 March, the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) broadcast an interview with Shakaa and Khalaf after the IBA's staff threatened to go on strike if the interview was not shown. In response, the Israeli cabinet condemned the IBA, with Cabinet Secretary Arye Naor accusing the IBA of "incitement against the State."{{cite web|date=29 March 1982|title=Cabinet Raps IBA for Interviews with Two Ousted West Bank Mayors|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/cabinet-raps-iba-for-interviews-with-two-ousted-west-bank-mayors|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

American White House Press Secretary Larry Speakes stated that "we deplore the loss of life over there, and we are hopeful that all parties will show restraint."{{cite news|date=24 March 1982|title=U.S. Asks Restraint by All on West Bank|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/03/25/us-asks-restraint-by-all-on-west-bank/3cf52170-4067-41e0-9c10-5a9d5f8e5360/|author-last=Oberdorfer|author-first=Don|access-date=28 December 2024|newspaper=Washington Post}} Spokesperson for the United States Department of State Dean E. Fischer stated that the United States was "increasingly concerned" over the "heightened level of tension, demonstrations and especially the use of lethal force against demonstrators."{{cite web|date=24 March 1982|title=U.S. Expressing Increased Concern over Violence on the West Bank|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/u-s-expressing-increased-concern-over-violence-on-the-west-bank|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} A second statement by Fischer stated that the United States "always regarded the Israeli decision to permit municipal elections as a progressive and helpful policy. Consistent with this position we regret — as we have made clear previously — the removal of elected municipal officials on the West Bank."{{cite web|date=26 March 1982|title=Statement Reiterates Profound Concern over West Bank Violence|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/statement-reiterates-profound-concern-over-west-bank-violence|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Kamal Hassan Ali stated that the Israeli response was "an obstacle in the way of possible Palestinian participation in the autonomy elections." Government of Kuwait spokesperson Abdel Aziz Hussein stated that the disbandments "constitutes an escalation of the suppression" and called for "practical steps to halt the atrocities of Israel." The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement calling for Israel to reverse the disbandments "immediately." King Hussein of Jordan claimed that the United States was losing its influence over Israel, saying that Israel was "now much more bellicose than in the past. The attitudes of extremism seem to have hardened: they do not seem to have any more compassion or understanding."{{cite web|date=2 April 1982|title=King in the middle of another Mid-East crisis|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19820402.2.75.1|author-last=MacManus|author-first=James|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Guardian}} King Hussein also claimed that there was a risk of growing Islamic fundamentalism paralleling the Israel hardening, particularly if nationalist movements failed to secure Palestinian self-determination, saying that "America must realise that her interests in this region are in jeopardy. Do they want to see this entire area erupt with devastating effects on world peace? Is the current instability that is leading us in this direction really in Western interests?"

The ten heads of government of the European Economic Community issued a joint statement expressing "deep concern" and "particularly denounced the repression imposed on the Palestinian population."{{cite web|date=31 March 1982|title=10 EEC Leaders Denounce Israeli Measures on the West Bank, Gaza|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/10-eec-leaders-denounce-israeli-measures-on-the-west-bank-gaza|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} French Secretary for the Presidency Pierre Bérégovoy released a statement warning against "unilateral measures imposed an any state or people" and called for all parties involved "to respect democratic freedoms so as to halt the chain of violence and repression."{{cite web|date=26 March 1982|title=France Calls for End to Violence in the Middle East|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/france-calls-for-end-to-violence-in-the-middle-east|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} The British Foreign Office released a statement saying that "we deplore the dismissal by the Israeli military authorities of the democratically elected mayors" and called for "an end to the violence which can only harm the prospects for a settlement."{{cite web|date=25 March 1982|title=Israel's firing of three Palestinian mayors in the Israeli-occupied...|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/25/Israels-firing-of-three-Palestinian-mayors-in-the-Israeli-occupied/5580385880400/|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}}

Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Tony Street stated that "recent events have not helped what we regard as the solution to the Palestinian problem."{{cite web|date=31 March 1982|title=Palestinian limited self-rule only hope for now: Street|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126913490|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Canberra Times}} In Canada, a dinner for federal MPs organised by the Canada-Israel Committee saw debates between MPs over the disbandment of the Palestinian city councils, with former Minister of Foreign Affairs Flora MacDonald calling it "a step which has discouraged friends of Israel, true friends of Israel, because we see this not only as a step away from the Camp David road, but a step that threatens all the gains so far made."{{cite web|date=5 April 1982|title=Dinner for Members of Parliament Turns into a Debate over Canada's Policy in the Middle East|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/dinner-for-members-of-parliament-turns-into-a-debate-over-canadas-policy-in-the-middle-east|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

The National Association of Arab-Americans accused Israel of "a total disregard of the most basic human rights of the Palestinians," saying that "we greatly fear that the terrible Israeli repression is gong to completely drive the Christian presence from the Holy Land."{{cite web|date=25 March 1982|title=The head of a group of Arab-Americans Thursday called...|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/25/The-head-of-a-group-of-Arab-Americans-Thursday-called/2905385880400/|author-last=Anderson|author-first=Jim|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}} French newspaper Le Monde published a front-page editorial warning that Israel's response to the general strike might harm the peace process with Egypt.{{cite web|date=24 March 1982|title=West Bank Violence Widely Reported on in French Media|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/west-bank-violence-widely-reported-on-in-french-media|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} Australian newspaper The Canberra Times published an editorial asking "whether the current Israeli severity is actually meant to make negotiations impossible." The Australian Jewish News, on the other hand, wrote that "constant pressures and aggravation against Israel are forgotten," additionally claiming that the PLO was reacting to a loss of influence due to the rise of the Village Leagues and that it and the Arab governments that supported it wished "to sabotage Israel's endeavours" towards peace.{{cite web|date=2 April 1982|title=Measures for Stability|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/262759940|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Australian Jewish News}}

In late-March, the United Nations Security Council convened to debate the situation in Palestine, with a group of Arab diplomats presenting a draft motion condemning Israel and calling for it to rescind the city council disbandments and for sanctions to be placed if it did not. Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations Hazem Nuseibeh accused Israel of "wonton, inhuman and indiscriminate use of fire arms."{{cite web|date=26 March 1982|title=UN Begins Debate on Current Unrest on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/un-begins-debate-on-current-unrest-on-the-west-bank-and-the-gaza-strip|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} In response, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations Yehuda Zvi Blum accused the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and Jordan of "conspiring to destroy" the "framework for the peaceful coexistence between Jew and Arab" that Israel was creating. Voting on the motion was delayed as Security Council diplomats attempted to redraft the motion towards a consensus.{{cite web|date=26 March 1982|title=Security Council resumes West Bank debate|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/26/Security-Council-resumes-West-Bank-debate/4609385966800/|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}}{{cite web|date=30 March 1982|title=UN to Resume Debate on West Bank|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/un-to-resume-debate-on-west-bank|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

United States Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick, then serving as Presidenct of the Security Council, refused to meet Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Zuhdi Labib Terzi during the debates, although he was able to address the Security Council.{{cite web|date=31 March 1982|title=Kirkpatrick Refuses to Meet with the PLO Representative at the UN|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/kirkpatrick-refuses-to-meet-with-the-plo-representative-at-the-un|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

On 2 April, the vote on the motion was held. The final draft contained six provisions, including denouncing the Israeli response to the protests and to the ongoing general strike in the Golan Heights, calling for Israel to rescind the disbandment, and to apply the Geneva Conventions to the Palestinian Territories.{{cite encyclopedia|date=1 April 1982|title=Draft of UNSC Resolution 14943|url=https://www.palquest.org/en/historictext/10069/draft-unsc-resolution-14943|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|encyclopedia=Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question}} Thirteen of the fifteen countries represented on the Security Council voted in favour, with Zaire abstaining, and the United States voting against, using its veto power.{{cite web|date=4 April 1982|title=Two US vetoes in an hour|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126914438|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Canberra Times}}

Later in April, the United Nations General Assembly approved resolution A/RES/ES-7/4, condemning Israel for the disbandments and for its policies towards Palestine. Eighty-six countries voted in favour, with twenty voting against, thirty-six abstaining, and fifteen not present for the vote.{{cite web|date=28 April 1982|title=Palestine question : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly|url=https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/613049|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Nations Digital Library}}

According to William Claiborne of the Washington Post: "coupled with the deportation in 1980 of two other pro-PLO mayors and the imposition of "town arrest" travel restrictions on several other outspokenly nationalistic Arab leaders, the recent actions have stripped the West Bank of most of the leaders elected six years ago in what Israel then hailed as the first truly free elections Palestinians had ever enjoyed."{{cite news|date=27 March 1982|title=Israeli Campaign Marks Turning Point in West Bank Relations|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/03/28/israeli-campaign-marks-turning-point-in-west-bank-relations/a48b189d-0b91-4b56-998d-6e31439b3f83/|author-last=Claiborne|author-first=William|access-date=7 October 2024|newspaper=The Washington Post}} Claiborne further stated that it was surprising that "the Israeli campaign was begun at a time of relative calm in the West Bank - a calm that has been shattered." Arthur Hagopian of The Canberra Times warned that the relative calm that returned following the end of the strike was "deceptive, for beyond every shop window larks the shadow of an Israeli police man, truncheon in hand, helmet thrown back," and that Palestinian "seething discontent" had "by no means run its course."{{cite web|date=31 March 1982|title=Behind every shop window lurks a policeman - West Bank: peace arguments ignored|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126913571|author-last=Hagopian|author-first=Arthur|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Canberra Times}} Hagopian also warned that "neither side seems so far to have heard of the word 'compromise.'"

John Drysdale of The Straits Times called the violence that erupted during the strike "{{sic|?|ominious}} in the extreme."{{cite web|date=27 March 1982|title=Israelis in a colonial bind|url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19820327-1.2.69|author-last=Drysdale|author-first=John|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The Straits Times}} According to Drysdale, Israeli government operated on the assumptions that the Palestinian mayors were being threatened by the PLO into a radical nationalist stance, that the Palestinian Village Leagues more accurately represented the majority views of Palestinians, that radicalised Palestinians feared a loss of influence if partial autonomy was granted to the Palestinian Territories under the Camp David Accords, and that peace in the Palestinian Territories would have to include both Palestinians and Israeli settlers. According to James MacManus of The Guardian, the Israeli government aimed to "undercut the radical, pro-PLO mayors who dominated West Bank politics and foster a moderate alternative" and that the Israeli Civil Administration under Milson had a programme of "exploiting the levers of patronage, the granting or {{sic|?|witholding}} of funds and favours, to paralyse the municipalities, and to nurture the network of village leagues." Christopher Hitchens wrote in The Spectator wrote that settler extremism could no longer be considered a fringe element within Israeli politics and that Israel would be facing increasing international scepticism of its treatment of Palestinians, also saying that "you can easily meet Palestinians who coexist or even cooperate with the occupation. You cannot find anybody who actually supports it. If there was a real moderate alternative, the last 15 years of trying would have discovered it."{{cite web|date=5 June 1982|title=Israel: the death of liberalism|url=https://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/5th-june-1982/12/israel-the-death-of-liberalism|author-last=Hitchens|author-first=Christopher|access-date=29 December 2024|work=The Spectator}}

David K. Shipler of The New York Times stated that the Israeli government's response to the strike revealed "some new dynamics of Begin policy," which "carried implications for Israel's near future," namely that Begin was "deeply unsatisfied with his strength in the Knesset and wants more authority and leverage" and was "also not satisfied with his strength in the West Bank."{{cite web|date=28 March 1982|title=The West Bank Occupation Now Resembles Annexation|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/28/weekinreview/the-west-bank-occupation-now-resembles-annexation.html|author-last=Shipler|author-first=David K.|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The New York Times}}

In 1986, University of North Texas historian Emile Sahliyeh wrote that the pro-Jordanian elite that had dominated Palestinian politics in the 1960s lost most of their influence in the 1970s with the ascent of the PLO, whose members were younger, more educated, more urban, and more strongly nationalist. As a result, Sahliyeh wrote, Israeli policies became significantly more restrictive through the late-1970s and early 1980s, adopting an "iron fist" policy of suppressing Palestinian nationalism, while increasing censorship of Palestinian newspapers, regularly closing Palestinian universities that were hotbeds of nationalist sentiment, blocking approval and funding for Palestinian municipal projects, and eventually disbanding nationalist Palestinian councils. Ultimately, according to Sahliyeh, "although Israel's policy of creating a rural-based {{sic|?|altemative}} Palestinian leadership had failed, it nevertheless undermined the political power of the West Bank nationalist elite."{{cite journal|date=1 June 1986|title=The West Bank Pragmatic Elite: The Uncertain Future|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2536610|author-last=Sahliyeh|author-first=Emile|access-date=29 December 2024|journal=Journal of Palestine Studies|volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=34–45 |doi=10.2307/2536610 |jstor=2536610|url-access=subscription}}

In 1995, Rex Brynen of McGill University wrote that, as a result of the loss of influence over city councils and its bases in Lebanon in 1982, the PLO turned towards grassroots organising as the 1980s continued, resulting in "the level of popular organisation grew dramatically in the form of student, trade union, and women's organizations. Such organisation (and the diffuse local leaderships they spawned) proved far more resistant to Israeli countermeasures than the earlier reliance on a relatively small number of public nationalist figures," and which would ultimately "provide much of the organisational underpining for the Intifada."{{cite journal|date=1 April 1995|title=The Dynamics of Palestinian Elite Formation|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2537878|author-last=Brynen|author-first=Rex|access-date=29 December 2024|journal=Journal of Palestine Studies|volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=31–43 |doi=10.2307/2537878 |jstor=2537878|url-access=subscription}}

In 2009, Mark Tessler of the University of Michigan argued that, although Begin's government stated that its actions against the Palestinian mayors was "designed to correct an error of the previous Labor government in permitting these individuals to be elected in the first place," the actions were primarily motivated by "the growing resistance to occupation" in the territories.Tessler, Mark. A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Second Edition. Indiana University Press, 2009. Pages 565-569.

The first half of 1982 would continue to be a violent period in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and Arab–Israeli conflict.{{cite web|date=1 April 1982|title=Booby-trap Device in Jures West Bank Leader Who Cooperates with Israel|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/booby-trap-device-in-jures-west-bank-leader-who-cooperates-with-israel|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}{{cite web|date=4 April 1982|title=Israeli soldier and six civilians wounded in ambush|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/04/04/Israeli-soldier-and-six-civilians-wounded-in-ambush/8152386744400/|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}}{{cite web|date=8 April 1982|title=An Arab woman was shot and killed in {{not a typo |an}}...|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/04/08/An-Arab-woman-was-shot-and-killed-in-an/2238387090000/|author-last=Laynter|author-first=Mel|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}} In mid-April, an Israeli reservist would kill two Palestinians in a shooting at the Dome of the Rock.{{cite web|date=19 April 1982|title=Middle East: Attack at the Dome of the Rock|url=https://time.com/archive/6883727/middle-east-attack-at-the-dome-of-the-rock/|author-last=Smith|author-first=William E.|access-date=7 October 2024|work=Time Magazine}} In early June, Palestinian militant group the Abu Nidal Organization attempted to assassinate Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom Shlomo Argov.{{cite web|date=25 February 2003|title=Shlomo Argov, 73, Ex-Israeli Envoy; His Shooting Prompted an Invasion|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/25/world/shlomo-argov-73-ex-israeli-envoy-his-shooting-prompted-an-invasion.html|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=29 December 2024|work=The New York Times}} Israel would subsequently invade Lebanon, aiming to end the Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon and install a pro-Israel government in Lebanon, beginning the 1982 Lebanon War.{{cite web|date=25 September 2024|title=What happened when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982?|url=https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/0925/1471773-israel-lebanon-invasion-1982-operation-peace-for-the-galilee/|author-last=Rebeiz|author-first=Mireille|access-date=29 December 2024|work=RTÉ}} Ze'ev Schiff of Haaretz wrote that the invasion of Lebanon was in part motivated "by the belief that quiet on the West Bank cannot be achieved merely by dismissing Shakaa and Khalef (both permanently maimed two years ago in car-bombing assassination attempts and both ousted from office last spring by Begin's West Bank civilian Governor Menahem Milson), but rather by the destruction of the PLO in Lebanon."{{cite journal|date=1 September 1982|title=The War for the West Bank|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2307/2538371|author-last=Cantarow|author-first=Ellen|access-date=29 December 2024|journal=Journal of Palestine Studies|volume=11/12 |pages=263–268 |doi=10.2307/2538371 |jstor=2538371|url-access=subscription}} Roger Friedland and Richard Hecht that the expulsion of the mayors and the invasion of Lebanon "were of a piece... Israel's war in Lebanon was really a war for the West Bank. It was a war Israel and the PLO both lost."Friedland, Roger and Richard Hecht. To Rule Jerusalem. University of California Press, 2000. Pages 262-264.

The Israeli government would continue to forcibly disband Palestinian city councils and their mayors over the course of 1982. On 30 April, the Israeli government ordered the dismissal of Anabta Mayor Wahid Hamdallah, citing alleged security violations.{{cite web|date=3 May 1982|title=Arab Woman Wounded in Shooting Incident: Another West Bank Mayor is Removed from Office|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/arab-woman-wounded-in-shooting-incident-another-west-bank-mayor-is-removed-from-office|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} On 15 June, it ordered the disbanding of the Nablus and Dura city councils, accusing the councils of supporting the PLO.{{cite web|date=16 June 1982|title=Israel disbands two West Bank city councils|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/06/16/Israel-disbands-two-West-Bank-city-councils/6491393048000/|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=United Press International}} On 6 July, Mayor of Jenin Shawki Mahmoud, citing a refusal to meet with Civil Administration head Menahem Milson.{{cite web|date=7 July 1982|title=West Bank Mayor Ousted by Israelis|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/07/world/west-bank-mayor-ousted-by-israelis.html|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=The New York Times}} On 9 July, Mayor of Gaza City Rashad al-Shawwa. Al-Shawwa, widely considered a moderate, and the Gaza City council had refused to work in the city hall since the general strike, working from home instead in a symbolic protest, and had refused to sign an order from the Israeli military forbidding them from making political statements.{{cite web|date=10 July 1982|title=Palestinian Mayor of Gaza Is Dismissed by the Israelis|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/10/world/palestinian-mayor-of-gaza-is-dismissed-by-the-israelis.html|author-last=Shipler|author-first=David K.|website=The New York Times |access-date=28 December 2024}} On 14 July, Mayor of Deir Dibwan Rashid Hijazi, the eighth Palestinian mayor to be forcibly dismissed in five months, with Israeli officials claiming that Hijazi had led a work slowdown since the general strike.{{cite web|date=15 July 1982|title=50 Palestinian Students Arrested|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/50-palestinian-students-arrested|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=28 December 2024|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}

• Timeline of strikes in 1982
• List of strikes in Palestine

{{reflist}}

Category:1982 labor disputes and strikes

Category:General strikes in Asia

Category:Protests in Palestine

Category:1982 in Palestine

Category:1982 in Israel

Category:Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Category:Israeli occupation of the West Bank

Category:Israeli Civil Administration

Category:Politics of Palestine

Category:1982 protests

Category:March 1982 in Asia

Category:Israeli–Palestinian conflict