The aim is to make the intifada continuous, and to train people in running their future State. Because Israel has strengthened its hard-fist policy, the committees operate in secret. Young men and women risk up to five years imprisonment by surreptitiously running popular schools in basements and private homes. The committees even operate in prisons, drawing on the expertise of whoever happens to be detained. At one point after the start of the intifada over 2,500 people were in detention without trial or charge.
Lecturers frequently find themselves imprisoned with their students and continue classes in jail.
In one case three economics professors were imprisoned together, enabling them to exchange ideas on the economic implications of the intifada. Doctors are put in charge of prisoners health care, teachers in charge of education. Everyone has a job whether it be running a prison newspaper or organizing food. Attempts are made to swap information between committees so that different regions can benefit from the experience of others. Today demonstrators are no longer an angry mob.