ABSTRACT
The Arabs had to be deprived of the "sense of power" they had acquired as a result of their protests during the first fortnight of the uprising. As the uprising gathered momentum, increasing numbers of Palestinians refused to make the daily trek to Israeli construction sites, orange groves, street cleaning details, and factory assembly lines. Therefore, policymakers for the territories believed it prudent to undermine or weaken these communal organizations before they acquired the strength to challenge Israel's supremacy. The Tunis operation again underscored the differences within the Israeli government and public over the appropriate measures for dealing with the uprising. The members constituted a cross-section of the Palestinian community and represented a principal bulwark of the uprising. Although the Israeli Defense Force had inflicted severe damage on the inhabitants and economy of the West Bank and Gaza, it failed either to end the uprising or to eliminate the grassroots Palestinian leadership.
