Palestine: A Modern History (ص 100)

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عنوان

Palestine: A Modern History (ص 100)

المحتوى

210 The Great Palestine Revolt: 1936-1939
the details of partition, which implied a certain lack of resolution to
carry out the proposed partition scheme.”
At the same time new military measures designed to crush the
renewal of rebellion were carried out and on 12 September Lieutenant-
General Wavell replaced Dill as General Officer Commanding (GOC).
The opportunity to carry out measures against the political leader-
ship of the new phase of the Rebellion presented itself when L.Y.
Andrews, District Commissioner of Galilee, and his police escort were
assassinated at Nazareth. Despite their public condemnation of the act
the Arab Higher Committee and all National Committees were declared
illegal and the Mufti was deprived of his offices as President of the
Supreme Muslim Council and as Chairman of the Wagf Committee.
Several members of the Higher Committees were deported to Seychelles.
Hundreds of political activists and suspected rebels were arrested. The
Mufti remained secure in the sanctuary of the Haram and Jamal
Husseini avoided arrest and left Palestine. A prohibition:was laid on the
local press to mention or comment on‘the events of 1 October.”
On 2: October, a strike of protest against the arrests was observed in
Jerusalem and on the following two days it spread to many other parts
of Palestine. Two-days later, Hajj Amin issued a manifesto calling on
the Arabs to return to work,-thus bringing the. strike to an end. A
period of calm followed and on‘l4 October the Mufti, in spite of police
precautions, managed to escapé to Lebanon.
On the night of' 14-15 October the lull was suddenly and violently
broke. Two attacks were made on Jewish buses in the vicinity of
Jerusalem, Jewish settlements were subjected to sporadic shooting, the
Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) pipeline was damaged just west of the
Jordan Rivervand the escaping oil.ignited, telephone.lines were cut, a
passenger train was derailed and a troop train washeavily fired upon in
the mountains south west of. Jerusalem’ and a police patrol was heavily
ambushed near Hebton.™».Curfew. was immediately imposed on
Jerusalem. On the following night a large party of Arab rebels
penetrated the premises of the Lydda airport and completely
burned out the wooden buildings: housing the customs and ‘passport
offices and the wireless installation..A twenty-three hour curfew was
imposed on Lydda for four days, two houses were’ demolished and a
collective fine of £P 5,000 was:imposed. The second phase of the
rebellion was already under way. Emergency: regulations were soon
declared, and police posts were established in various villages at the cost
of the inhabitants: ‘As early as ‘November 1937, troops entering villages
‘were fired on and'sbme of the villagers attempted to resist and threw
The Great Palestine Revolt: 1936-193%
stones whereupon the troops retumed the fire’.
The renewal of the rebellion dealt a severe blow to,Partition and to
‘Abdullah and his moderate Palestinian friends ‘whose: influence in
Palestine is now negligible’. On,-8 December the Cabinet after
prolonged discussions resolved ‘to inform the (Partition) Commission
that it was open to them to represent that no,scheme of partition that
they could devise was likely to prove workable’.25 Arab opposition to
partition induced the Jews to stand even more firmly with the Govern-
ment in a common front against the renewed Arab Rebellion. In an
interview with Parkinson Dr Brodetsky informed him, that ‘the Arabs
had approached the Jews with proposals for sorhe kind; of agreement
between the Arabs and Jews on the basis that the connection with
Great Britain would be completely severed. This the Jews rejected out
of hand as they regarded the connection with Great Britain as
essential’.° As soon as the rebellion was renewed the Jews demanded
the formation of Jewish armed units to fight along side of British forces
against the Arab rebels. The previous, policy of self-restraint was
abandoned, and scores of Arabs.were killed and injured by Jews, as a
result of Jewish reprisals.”
The strong punitive mesures taken in the wake of the resurgence of
violence in mid-October induced some village chieftains to deny aid to
the, nascent rebel bands, and thus cut them off from the essential link
between them and their supporters in the villages, who were their
basic source of supplies, information and cover. The rebels who were
growing in numbers saw in the tendency of some village’ notables to
co-operate with- the, Government a serious threat and soon regained
the initiative by intimidating the collaborators.
Despite the Government’s repressive measures, the rebels were
attracting and training more recruits,** ‘and the organisation of the
renewed rebellion showed some improvement over that of 1936. To
begin with Rebel Headquarters called al-Lujnah al-Markaziyya lil-Jihad
were instituted at Damascus under the active ddministration of Darwaza
and the guidance of the Mufti from Lebanon. Rebel: Headquarters were
responsible for effecting co-ordination and co;operation between the
largely independent rebel formations headed. by a local military leader
and assisted, by platoon leaders. These formations were led by
Palestinians and maintained the closest Contact with the peasants: and
the villages in their respective areas of operation. The,most prominent
leaders, of the second phase of the rebellion were ‘Abdul Rahim
al-Hajj Mukammad (Tulkasen), ‘Aref ‘Abdul Razeq (Nablus), “Abdul
Qader Husseini (Jerusalem), and later Yusuf Abu Durra (Galilee).

هو جزء من

Palestine: A Modern History

تاريخ

1978

المنشئ

Abdul-Wahhab Kayyali

مجموعات العناصر

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