The common Palestinian—and now international—term for "uprising,” derives from the Arabic verb nafaḍa (نَفَضَ) "to shake off.” The Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation that began on 7 December 1987 is referred to as the first Intifadha. The ongoing uprising sparked by Israeli Gen. Ariel Sharon’s militaristic desecration of the Muslim Noble Sanctuary (Jerusalem) and the subsequent massacre of Palestinian faithful there after Friday prayers at al-Aqsa Mosque, 29 September 2000, has come to be known as the second, or al-Aqsa Intifadha.
