The politics of the Arab rebellion in Palestine 1936–39

Abstract

The Arab revolt in Palestine, 1936 to 1939 when assessed overall appears as a protected yet sporadic peasant war. Such a characterisation should not, however, obscure the fact that the revolt was in essence made up of an integral set of smaller wars resulting in the main from the lack of a single, binding, political objective. The Revolt had not one but several component targets. It was a peasant war where Arab gangs fought against Jews, the Mandate Government and amongst themselves. Almost as many Arabs were killed by Arabs, some 494, as the total number of Jews killed during the course of the Revolt, some 547.1 Friendliness to Jews or reluctance towards the Grand Mufti's faction and, or, the Arab guerrillas, motivated many of the shootings. A then highly secret intelligence document presented to the British Cabinet noted as early as 1929 that 'a secret committee called the Boycott Committee has been formed for terroist purposes with a view to the assassination of persons considered to be acting against Arab nationalist interests. After one warning, anyone who continues his activities is to be killed by members elected by the Committee. Said to have been formed with knowledge of Supreme Moslem Council and the Arab Executive who have subscribed to expense . . . It appears to have organised its murder campaign quite effectively. In this connection it may be mentioned that in a recent demi-official letter, Sir John Chancellor, (the High Commissioner) reported as a disquieting feature of the situation, that the sources of information hitherto available to police in Palestine had almost completely dried up. This may be an indication that the terrorist policy of the Boycott Committee is meeting with some success.' 2 The internal terrorist sanction apparatus which 'removed' informers, waverers and fellow travellers was composed of a coterie of hard, sealous, wild young men, the 'shabab'. Other Arabs, however, perished at Arab hands as a result of personal disputes, blood feuds being settled under cover of the war. This internecine component was also supplemented by the intense struggle for Arab political hegemony in Palestine fought between the two dominant Palestinian Arab families, the Husseinis and the Nashashibis. 3 The revolt of 1936-39 was thus possessed of hexagonal dimensions. It was a racial, religious, colonial, familial and peasant struggle intermingled. Similarly, the event could be classified chronologically as at one and the same time being both medieval and modern; modern in the sense that it was only the second of the series of colonial conflicts to be fought within the crumbling British Empire of the 20th century-the first being Ireland 1916-1921; medieval in the familial elements in conflict; but, more important, because of the nature of the Arab military campaign, fought as it was by what were little more than feudatory retinues of bandit marauders only marginally inspired and motivated by loosely held, inchoate notions of liberation and Jihad.