Oct 22, 2014

In 2011, Facebook closed a page for the "Third Palestinian Intifada," less than a month after it was opened following complaints by Israeli and pro-Israeli parties. The closure came under the pretext that the page — which at the time had nearly 350,000 “likes” — was “inciting violence against the Jews,” particularly since Yuli Edelstein, Israel’s information minister at the time, demanded that Facebook close the page through an official letter on the grounds that it incited anger against Jews. This was while the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth was reporting, “The fear from a Palestinian popular uprising, similar to what happened in several Arab countries, has increased after the emergence of an ‘e-group’ calling for a popular uprising and a third intifada.”

Weeks after the page — which was actually calling for a third intifada in mid-May 2014 — was closed, the page’s administrators opened a new one that received nearly 30,000 likes on its first day. That new page was closed less than a month after opening.

Mohamed Nour Ahmed, a journalist and blogger who follows popular Internet campaigns, said that in light of the rapid changes in the traditional media, the Palestinian cause did not wait for long to join blogs and social networking sites in its national struggle. The “Third Palestinian Intifada” Page was a major milestone in the national struggle, after the outbreak of popular uprisings that become known as the Arab Spring in early 2011. The page made several calls for a million-strong march on May 15, 2011, (the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba, which commemorates those displaced by the formation of Israel), with the aim of returning Palestine.

The truth is that Facebook’s compliance with the official Israeli request, by closing the page on March 30, has given the project the stamina to continue. This was firmly established on Nakba Day, through mass marches on the Lebanese-Syrian border, which consisted of Palestinian refugees and nationals of these two countries, in addition to marchers from the Kalandia refugee camp in occupied Jerusalem. On the occupied Syrian Golan border, Palestinian youth broke through the demilitarized areas into the occupied town of Majdal Shams, where they protested with the residents of the town for hours, before returning to the Syrian side of the border.

Ahmed said the second step coincided this year with the anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba [May 15], and this time under the title of “In solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in the Israeli occupation jails.” The campaign called on Facebook users to post the same profile picture. The picture shows a blindfolded prisoner dressed in brown uniform, as imposed by the occupation forces, with the words “Israel Prison Service and Shabac” in Hebrew.