ABSTRACT
Israel was called on to provide the inhabitants of the occupied territories with protection "guaranteed civilians in time of war under international conventions." The European Parliament joined the chorus of criticism when it called on Israel to halt reprisals against Palestinian protestors and an executive of the European Economic Community accused it of "scandalous" acts of repression. Relations between Israel and several of its European friends also began to unravel within the first months of the Intifada. Several important American Jews, much concerned about the Intifada, concluded that contact with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was a prerequisite to ending unrest in the territories. The PLO charged in a pamphlet distributed at the meeting that Arab officialdom was derelict in its duty to the Intifada. Israel's society was becoming polarized between advocates of greater force versus those urging political compromise as the way to end the Intifada.
