Today marks the 24th anniversary of the outbreak of the First Palestinian Intifada, which was ignited on December 8, 1987 when four Palestinians were killed by IDF forces at the Erez crossing in Gaza. To commemorate the anniversary, a group of Palestinian youth sent out the following call:

We are also calling out to all the Palestinian bloggers in Palestine and in exile to dedicate their blogs on the 9th of December to honor the people of the First Intifada through writing stories from the Intifada or conducting interviews with the heroes, publishing videos or photos etc. We also call on Palestinian artists for a dedication in honor of the Intifada.

Ziad Hmaidan, activist, former political prisoner, legal researcher at the Al Haq human rights organization, and analyst for the Alternative Information Center said in an interview that the First Intifada was a unique example of a truly popular struggle "involving…people from every social and cultural strata and of every political background…as equal actors."

According to Sonja Karkar of the Electronic Intifada, "There was no doubt that this national movement gave every Palestinian a sense of empowerment, even though there were very few gains on the ground…The question that should weigh heavily on our consciences is — how many intifadas must be fought before justice for the Palestinians finally prevails?"

In an article titled, "Toward a true paradigm shift in Palestine," Ramzy Baroud examines how Palestinians today must continue their resistance that began over two decades ago. He states, "In the case of Palestine, a new beginning requires the total mobilization of all aspects of Palestinian society...The allegiance must not lie with any particular faction, but to Palestine itself, and the only unifying slogan should be 'Freedom.'"

The hashtag #Intifada1 has been created on Twitter to commemorate the anniversary as Palestinian bloggers and online activists unite under the same nationwide campaign of popular resistance. One blogger and activist tweeted, "24 Years after #intifada1, people still die for a free #Palestine, I salute The Martyrs of Occupation 2011"

Click here to see the First Intifada in pictures, here to see graffiti in Ramallah marking the anniversary, and here to see revolutionary posters from the Intifada.

Image credit: REUTERS/Jim Hollander. An Israeli soldier takes aim as a Palestinian woman hurls a rock at him from close range during a demonstration in the First Intifada. February 29,1988.

Palestinians rejoiced today in Gaza and the West Bank as 477 prisoners were released in the first phase of the exchange deal for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. But in an op-ed titled "Thousands Are Left Behind by the Shalit Prisoner Exchange," the general director of al-Haq, Shawan Jabarin, warned that the release of 1,000 should not mean forgetting the 6,000 political prisoners still languishing behind bars.

The release of a total 1,027 Palestinian prisoners will be completed within two months. However, 163 detainees will be exiled to Gaza and another 40 will be deported from their homeland to Turkey, Syria, Qatar and Jordan.

For detainees staying behind, worsening conditions in Israeli prisons had pushed over 2,000 Palestinian prisoners to take part in a three-week hunger strike to protest the poor conditions and lack of basic rights. According to Amnesty International, "consistent allegations of torture and other ill-treatment, including of children, were frequently reported. Among the most commonly cited methods were beatings, threats to the detainee or their family, sleep deprivation, and being subjected to painful stress positions for long periods. Confessions allegedly obtained under duress were accepted as evidence in Israeli military and civilian courts."

In an article titled "How Israel takes its revenge on boys who throw stones," Catrina Stewart offers a glimpse into the brutal treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli jails. She reports that children as young as 12 are taken from their homes at night, deprived of food and sleep, physically and psychologically abused, and forced to sign a confession they often can't even read. The article states that "Israel's policy has been successful in one sense, sowing fear among children and deterring them from future demonstrations. But the children are left traumatised, prone to nightmares and bed-wetting." And yet Palestinian minors were excluded from the first round of the prisoners' release, leading UNICEF to appeal for the release of Palestinian child detainees.

Amidst joyous celebrations in Gaza City, one Palestinian wrote that she "didn't know whether to be happy or sad…We will never stop singing for the freedom of Palestinian detainees until the Israeli prisons are emptied."

In a May 16, 2011, op-ed published by the New York Times, de facto Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made the case for the "long overdue Palestinian state," explaining his intention to present a formal request for full UN membership for a state of Palestine based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

On September 4, a blue chair, dubbed the flying chair, started touring UN Security Council member states, before landed at the UN headquarters in New York ahead of the opening of the UN’s 66th general assembly. Citing failed peace negotiations with Israel and a right to self-determination, the Palestinian delegation's diplomatic efforts to rally votes for statehood were launched and continued unabated despite the US' threat to veto the bid and Israel's warnings of "dire consequences."

The US and Israel maintain the Palestinian Authority's unilateral move undermines negotiations towards a two-state solution, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressing for the resumptions of talks with no preconditions. On September 16, the PM's office tweeted: "When the PA will abandon its futile steps, such as going to the UN, it will find Israel as a partner for direct negotiations for peace."

The Palestinian Authority managed to unify Arab governments in support of its initiative, gathered the conditional support of a divided European Union, and the endorsement of Russia and China, but the reality is that nothing will change on the ground for Palestinians who will remain under the occupation and control of Israel as the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem continues.

Furthermore, Abbas admitted that even more "difficult times" await the Palestinians with possible financial retaliation and punitive action expected from both the US and Israel, with the latter threatening to annex parts of the West Bank.

However, state-run media across the Middle East has shied away from discussing opposition to the PA's gamble with the Palestinian people's rights but the online community has vehemently expressed its dismay at what it views as the irresponsible action of an illegitimate authority. 

The Palestinian Youth Movement issued a harsh statement against the proposal, accusing it to be "a mechanism for rescuing the faulty peace framework and depoliticizing the struggle for Palestine by removing the struggle from its historical colonial context."

On Facebook, a page titled "Palestinians against the so-called September Statehood" garnered almost 3,500 supporters while the "Palestine poster" page featured pleas to stop the "State of September," since Abbas was "going to the UN to demand [his] right and relinquish what remains of yours."

On Twitter, critics of the UN initiative lashed out using hashtag #fakestatehood. Palestinian-American journalist Ali Abunimah expressed pride for having "been one of the first to expose the Abbas PA #fakestatehood bid for the anti-Palestinian deception and fraud that it is." 

A Palestinian law student equated the occupation and its collaborators. She tweeted: "We will never end the Israeli occupation if we cannot revolt against the local authorities that enforce it. While the Alan Dershowitz parody account promised his "100,000th follower will get a relatively new blue swivel chair signifying nothing and representing no one."

Across different online platforms, the recurring theme was objection to an initiative whose content has not been disclosed to the people it impacts, likening it to the Oslo Accords that were reached without public knowledge of the agreement's terms. 

Another essential issue was raised by many, including a blogger in the UK, who used hashtag #IOpposeSeptemberBid to send the message that "Palestine is not just Gaza & the West Bank - but all those living in the 'Diaspora' & refugee camps."  This raises the question of who is entitled to represent the Palestinian people. 

A legal opinion by Oxford University professor, Guy Goodwin-Gill, challenged the legitimacy of the PA and warned that the interests of the Palestinian people are at "risk of prejudice and fragmentation."

A report from the International Crisis Group titled "Curb your enthusiam: Israel and Palestine after the UN", describes the path to the UN as "a tale of collective mismanagement," indicating that if the Palestinians "choose to rise up, it will be because of the entrenched and seemingly unmoveable realities of occupation, not because of what happens or not as a result of a UN vote," pointing to the irrelevant if not "counterproductive" bid. 

So without a unified national strategy and with pending questions about the future of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the refugees' right of return, will the PA's symbolic action jeopardize the Palestinian people's struggle and rights? And in the aftermath of the Palestine Papers that unveiled how quickly the PA is willing to simply give away its people's rights, are Abbas' political theatrics an attempt to hold on to his own chair in light of the popular intifada rocking the region?

Demonstrations and marches were held throughout Palestine on the 63rd anniversary of Israel’s founding in 1948, an event known in Arabic as the Nakba, or “catastrophe.” Clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli forces at the Beit Hanoun border crossing in the northern Gaza Strip. In Ramallah, thousands of Palestinians commemorated the Nakba amid calls to restore Palestinian rights.

In Syria, dozens of Palestinians crossed over into Majda al-Shams region of the occupied Golan Heights at the Syrian-Israeli border. Israeli sources reported that soldiers opened fire on people who entered the occupied Golan Heights region in violation of the border. Dozens were injured and killed in the clashes. Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, and Tunisia also witnessed Nakba marches in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Amnesty International has described the actions of Libya leader Muammar al-Gaddafi against Libyans as "horrifying," saying that planting mines and shelling residential areas could constitute war crimes. Meanwhile, France has expelled 14 Libyan diplomats loyal to Gaddafi’s government. The Libya Contact Group met in Rome on Thursday and decided to create a relief fund for the revolutionaries and allow them to use frozen Libyan assets for humanitarian purposes. 

In Syria, army gunfire killed six protestors during an anti-government protest in Homs. An unknown number of protestors were injured in the city of al-Tall, where the army also opened fire on anti-regime protests. Syrian state-run TV is describing the incidents as “military operations” to “remove terrorist elements.” Syrian security forces were deployed in the suburbs of Damascus as well as to cities in northern Syria in anticipation of a massive demonstration that activists are calling the "Friday of Defiance." 

Details of the U.S. operation to kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden continue to unfold days after his death. The CIA used a hideout in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad to prepare for bin Laden’s assassination and gather intelligence. Washington defended its actions, saying that it reserves the right to carry out military operations similar to the one that killed bin Laden. In response, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry warned that any unilateral military action will have “grave consequences.”

Pro- and anti-government protests continue in Yemen as  thousands of protestors gathered in several Yemeni cities to demand President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s immediate resignation. Saleh is now describing his opponents as criminals, traitors, and outlaws. The Gulf Cooperation Council is continuing its attempts to mediate the crisis and has requested that 15 regime loyalists and 15 opposition figures be sent to sign the Gulf plan.

Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki and Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh have welcomed Qatar’s mediation in the ongoing conflict between the two countries. The presidents have signed an agreement vowing to make an effort to find a solution to the countries’ border dispute. The conflict began with Eritrea's occupation of Djiboutian territories in the Rias Doumira region. Clashes escalated between Eritrea and Djibouti in the mid-1990s and the relationship between the two countries has been tense ever since.