All of these terms refer to the same long-lasting Palestinian revolt that used stones as a weapon against the Israeli occupation army's tanks and equipment: "The First Intifada," "The Stone Intifada," "The Intifada of Breaking Bones," or "The 1987 Intifada.
On December 8, 1987, the First Intifada broke out in the Gaza Strip's Jabalia neighborhood. Four Palestinian laborers were killed and seven others were injured when an Israeli military truck collided with a vehicle transporting them back to the Gaza Strip from their jobs in the occupied areas. The next morning, the Palestinian people, in all their diversity, erupted in protest and stoned Israeli soldiers as a result of this, causing a public outcry. The Palestinians used stones as their preferred weapon during what is now known as the First Intifada, which expanded to the West Bank. Coordination amongst Palestinian civilians, solidarity among all Palestinians, and cooperation among resistance forces were the hallmarks of this Intifada.
In order to subdue stone throwers, the Israeli forces used a program known as "Bone-Breaking," which was instituted by then-defense minister Yitzhak Rabin. This policy involved torturing and crippling stone throwers. One Bone-Breaking policy survivor, Wael Judeh, described the atrocities he experienced in his testimony, saying, "One soldier would hold my hands while another tried to break them with stones.
He additionally stated: "What stuck in my memory the most was the helmet of one of the soldiers who tortured me; it had written on it in English, 'Born to Kill Palestinians'." Wael and his cousin were both tortured by the occupation before being taken into custody. After their pictures appeared on international television, the world assumed they had been martyred, but in actuality, they had been taken into custody. Wael encountered an Israeli officer during his incarceration who told him sarcastically that everyone believed they had been slain.
The Palestinians started their justifiable insurrection with stones to protect their territory, and it eventually turned into a military conflict. Stones were replaced with rockets in the military's evolution, and the six-month-long war of "Toufan al-Aqsa" began on October 7, 2023. It has caused tens of thousands of martyrs to perish. This war is an evolution of the existential struggle that started more than a century ago when Zionist gangs invaded Arab Palestine; it did not begin on October 7 of last year.