The Israeli government attempted to forcibly suppress the general strike, including through use of tear gas, rubber bullets, and live ammunition, as well as increased censorship of the press, imposition of curfews, and forcing shopkeepers to open their shops.

[3] 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.

[4] The 1976 West Bank local elections saw significant victories by candidates linked to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), bringing a cohort of younger, more nationalist figures to the forefront of Palestinian politics.

[9] 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.

[22] 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.

[25] 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.

[29] 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.

[52] 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.

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.

"[61] 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.

"[69] 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.

"[72] 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.

"[74] 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?

[75] 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.

[77] 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.

"[79] 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.

"[82] 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.

"[62] 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.

"[84] 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.

"[84] 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.

"[85] 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.

"[86] 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.

"[83] Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Tony Street stated that "recent events have not helped what we regard as the solution to the Palestinian problem.

"[88] 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.

"[89] 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.

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.

"[73] 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.

"[102] 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.

[108] In early June, Palestinian militant group the Abu Nidal Organization attempted to assassinate Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom Shlomo Argov.

[110] 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.