The Arabs of Palestine 1947–48: Military and Political Activity

Middle Eastern Studies

Volumn 23, Issue 1, 1987, Pages 3-38

  Nevo, Joseph ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 84928467192     PISSN: 00263206     EISSN: 17437881     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00263208708700686     Document Type: Article

References (173)

1. J. Nevo, ‘The Political Development of the Palestinian Arab National Movement 1939–1945’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 1977, in Hebrew), p. 138.
2. The Arab League was interested in the formation of a Palestinian leadership in order to have a Palestinian delegate to the League's sessions, most of which were dedicated to the question of Palestine. His Majesty's Government wished to have a Palestinian leadership that would testify before the Anglo-American Committee of inquiry and would represent an official Arab view. The British apparently made a sort of a ‘package deal’ with the Arab League, according to which the release of Jamal al-Husayni was obtained in return for the establishment of an Arab Higher Committee and its giving evidence before the Anglo-American Committee. This was the reason why the Husaynis consented to an Arab Higher Committee where they would have ‘only’ 5 out of 12 members. Nevo, pp. 422–6.
3. Wahda (Jerusalem), 10 April 1947; Akhir Sa'la (Cairo), 13 June 1973 (this weekly published in 1973 the memoirs of Hajj Amin al-Husayni).
4. Mustaqbal (Jaffa), 26 April 1946: On the Arab National Fund see Nevo, pp. 170–2, 364ff.
5. Wahda, 5 April 1947: Akhir Sa'a, 13 June 1973. Details on the balance of the Arab Treasury see Israel's State Archive (ISA), section 65, files 3769, 3288.
6. Unlike the Arab National Fund, this organization was not content with purchasing lands to prevent their acquisition by Jews, but tried to discover the reasons that forced the peasants to sell their land and to cope with them, by improving the socio-economic conditions of the villages and assistance to the villagers.
7. On this organization see Y. Porath, The Palestinian Arab National Movement: From Riots to Rebellion, Vol. II 1929–1939 (London, 1977), p. 76. On its reactivation see: ISA Section 65, Files 2303, 3725.
8. Muhammed Nimr al-Hawari, Sirr al-Nakba (Nazareth, 1955), p. 24.
9. ISA, section 65, file 1638. See also J. Nevo, Abdallah and the Arabs of Palestine (Tel Aviv, 1975, in Hebrew), p. 34. On the activities of the new organization see ISA, section 65, files 2404–10.
10. Wahda, 10 June 1947.
11. Nevo, Abdallah, pp. 35–6.
12. Criticism of the way the AHC was conducted led to the assassination of some of the critics, such as Sami Taha, a trade union leader of Haifa who was murdered in September 1947 because he publicly demanded an elected AHC. Arazi to Fischer, 7 Nov. 1947, Central Zionist Archives (CZA) file S25/1699.
13. Nevo, Abdallah, p. 36.
14. Mustaqbal, 26.4.1946; ISA, section 65, files 1637, 1839, 3259.
15. For the identity of the members in each branch see Akhir Sa'a, 13 June 1973.
16. Arif al-Arif, Al-Nakba (Beirut, n.d.), Part I, p. 44;
17. Alan Cunningham, ‘Palestine - The Last Days of the Mandate’ International Affairs (1948), Vol. 24, p. 488.
18. See also Bayan Nuwayhid al-Hut, Al-Qiyyadat w'al-Muassasat al-Siyasyyia fi Filastin 1917–1948 (Beirut, 1981), pp. 589–91.
19. For a summary of these arguments see Y. Porath, The Emergence of the Palestinian Arab National Movement 1918–1929 (London, 1974), pp. 39–63.
20. The main reasons were the internal tug of war within the Arab community and external (usually Zionist) encouragement. The crisis in Jewish immigration in 1927–28 and the belief that the Jewish National home was on the verge of disintegration, also contributed to a certain moderation. During the Second World War, there were some constraints that dictated practical co-operation between the two communities in Palestine.
21. A. Carlebach (ed.), The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on Palestine (Tel-Aviv, 1946, in Hebrew), Part I, pp. 353–65.
22. Y. Shimoni, ‘The Arabs and the Approaching War with Israel’, Hamizrah Hehadash, Vol. XII, 1962, p. 200 (Hebrew).
23. Sawt al-Sha'b (Cairo), 7 Oct. 1946, quoted by Y. Slutsky (ed.), History of the Hagana, Vol. III (Tel-Avid, 1972, in Hebrew), Part II, p. 1202;
24. J.C. Hurewitz, The Struggle for Palestine (New York, 1950), p. 272.
25. Akhir Sa'a, 30 May 1973.
26. Hurewitz, pp. 272, 286;
27. A. Cohen, Israel and the Arab World (New York, 1970), pp. 375–6, 381–2.
28. M. Pa'il, ‘The Problem of Arab Sovereignty in Palestine, 1947–1949. Arab Governments Versus the Arabs of Palestine’ Hatzionot, Vol. III, 1974, p. 445 (Hebrew).
29. Al-Hajj Muhammad Amin al-Husayni, Haqa'iq 'an Qadiyyat Filastin (Cairo, 1956), p. 35.
30. Y. Porath, ‘The Origin, Nature and Disintegration of the National Liberation League, 1943-1948’ Hamizrah Hehadash, Vol. XIV, 1964, pp. 354–66 (Hebrew).
31. G. Z. Ysraeli, Mops, P.K.P. Maki; History of the Communist Party in Israel (Tel Aviv, 1953, in Hebrew), p. 181.
32. Mustaqbal, 7 June 1946.
33. Porath, 'The Origin …’, p. 361.
34. Itihad, (Haifa), 25 Nov. 1945; 2 Dec. 1945; 20 Jan. 1946; 4 Feb. 1946; 17 Feb. 1946; 3 March 1946; 10 March 1946. Mihmaz (Haifa) 26 May 1946; Difa'(Jaffa) 3 March 1947; League's manifestos of 2 Nov. 1946, 31 Jan. 1947, ISA, section 65, file 3020.
35. Cohen, p. 351; Hurewitz, p. 279; Slutsky (ed.), History of the Hagana, Vol. III, Part II, p. 1201.
36. Cohen, p. 353.
37. Hurewitz, pp. 281, 294; Slutsky (ed.), History of the Hagana, Vol. III, Part II, p. 1201.
38. J. Nevo, 'The Arab States and the Beginning of their Involvement in the Question of Palestine’ in Joseph Nedava (ed.), Problems of Zionism 1918–1948 (University of Haifa, 1979, in Hebrew), pp. 63–80.
39. M. Khalil, The Arab States and the Arab League (Beirut, 1962), pp. 55–6.
40. B. Rubin, The Arab States and the Palestine Conflict (Syracuse, 1981), pp. 151–9.
41. Filastin (Jaffa) 7 Dec. 1945, 12 Dec. 1945.
42. Hurewitz, pp. 240–1, 250.
43. Behind the Curtain: The Report of an Iraqi Parliamentary Committee on the War against Israel (Tel-Aviv, 1954, in Hebrew), p. 38–42; Muhammad 'Izzat Darwaza, Hawl al-Haraka al-'Arabiyya al-Haditha (Sidon, 1959), Part II, pp. 55–60.
44. Shimoni, p. 199.
45. Bulletin of the Arab Department (of the Jewish Agency), 29 May, 7 June, 17 July 1946; Mihmaz, 26 1946.
46. Shimoni, p. 20; Slutsky (ed.), History of the Hagana, Vol. III, Part II, p. 1202; Bulletin of the Arab Department, 28 Aug. 1946; 4 Sept. 1946; 11 Sept. 1946.
47. Akhir Sa'a, 30 May 1973.
48. Pa'il, p. 439.
49. Arif, Part I, p. 15.
50. Bulletin of the Arab Department, 7 July 1946, 14 Aug. 1946.
51. Darwaza, Part II, p. 74; Akhir Sa'a, 13 June 1973; Arif, Part I, p. 47. There are slight differences between the various versions.
52. Public arsenals however, that belonged to the community, hardly existed. Unlike the Jewish sector, where most of the weapons were possessed by the various organizations and private arms were scarce. Slutsky (ed.), History of the Hagana, Vol. III, Part I, p. 113.
53. Hawari, p. 113.
54. Cohen, p. 346; Slutsky (ed.), History of the Hagana, Vol. III, Part I, p. 114; Part II, p. 1199; ISA, Section 65, files 2404, 2410; Al-Hut, pp. 508–16, 800–9.
55. Husayni, p. 92.
56. Al-Hut, pp. 697–8.
57. Ihsan al-Nimr, Tarikh Jabal Nablus wal Balqa’, Part IV (Nablus, 1975), p. 36.
58. Hurewitz, p. 294; In the Eyes of the Enemy: Three Arab Publications on the War of Independence (Tel Aviv, 1954, in Hebrew), p. 69.
59. Akhir Sa'a, 18 July 1973, Husayni, p. 95.
60. Akhir Sa'a, 20 June 1973; Hawari, p. 129; Al-Hut, p. 615.
61. Akhir Sa'a, 20 June 1973; In the Eyes of the Enemy, p. 74.
62. Akhir Sa'a, 6 June 1973.
63. Arif, Part I, p. 54; Behind the Curtain, p. 69; Husayni, p. 92-3; Hawari, pp. 119, 121–2. In the Eyes of the Enemy, p. 74.
64. Arif, Part I, pp. 45–6; Hawari, p. 122.
65. Arif, Part I, p. 46.
66. Behind the Curtain, p. 69; Hawari, p. 121; Arif, Part I, p. 57.
67. Hawari, p. 118.
68. Al-Hayat's report is quoted by Arif, Part I, p. 45.
69. Akhir Sa'a, 6. June 1973; In the Eyes of the Enemy, p. 69.
70. With the exception of the Arab Legion, some of whose units remained in Palestine to secure the evacuation of the British army. Its soldiers directly participated in several battles before 15 May 1948. In most cases they provided tactical assistance to the Palestinian combatants, but on a few occasions they initiated offensives against Jewish forces. Nevo, Abdallah, p. 74.
71. AI-Qauqji's diaries, Journal of Palestine Studies, No. 4, 1972, p. 35.
72. Cunningham, p. 488; Sir Henry Gurney's Private Papers, A Short History of the Last Days of the Mandate (Middle East Centre, Oxford), pp. VII, 2.
73. Hurewitz, p. 310; Cohen, p. 405; Rony E. Gabbay, A Political Study of the Arab-Jewish Conflict: The Arab Refugee Problem (Geneve, 1959), p. 80.
74. Akhir Sa'a, 13 June 1973.
75. Hawari, p. 103.
76. Arif, Part I, p. 73; Akhir Sa'a, 18 July 1973.
77. Akhir Sa'a, 20 June 1973.
78. See for example, manifestos of the National committee in Haifa from December, 1947 onwards, Muhammad Nimr al-Khatib, Ahdath al-Nakba aw Nakbat Filastin (Beirut, 1967), pp. 261–72, 287–94.
79. Arif, Part I, pp. 94–5; 208-12; In the Eyes of the Enemy, pp. 9-14; Hawari, pp. 38-40; Gabbay, p. 57. The radio network of the AHC consisted of a centre in Cairo and stations in other Egyptian towns, in Damascus and Sidon. In Palestine its stations were in Jerusalem, Jaffa, Gaza, Hebron, Bethlehem and Nazareth. Al-Hajj Amin claimed that this network was so efficient that the Arab governments used it for their own communications. Akhir Sa'a, 18 July 1973.
80. Akhir Sa'a, 4 July 1973; Hurewitz, p. 310; Slutsky (ed.), History of the Hagan, Vol. III, Part II, pp. 1372-418; Gabbay, p. 64.
81. At the same time there were in Palestine, at least the same number of Arab volunteers. The largest group were the Army of Liberation and the Egyptian Muslim Brethren. Gurney, p. 34; Arif, Part I, p. 128; Akhir Sa'a, 4 July 1973.
82. Akhir Sa'a, 28 Aug. 1973; Arif, Part I, p. 74, Part II, pp. 476-7.
83. The Palestinian scholar, Bayan Nuwayhid al-Hut regarded this as one of the major reasons for the Arab defeat in 1948. Al-Hut, p. 638.
84. See below; Hawari, p. 103.
85. Akhir Sa'a, 4 July 1973.
86. The purpose of this visit was to persuade the heads of the Military Committee to assist him with money and arms, Al-Hut, pp. 623–4.
87. Akhir Sa'a, 18 July 1973.
88. AHC's News Bulletin, No. 48, 15 March 1948; ISA, section 65, file 3618; Akhir Sa'a, 18 July 1973.
89. Khalil al-Sakakini, Yaumiyyat Khalil al-Sakakini (Jerusalem, 1955), p. 385.
90. Slutsky (ed.), History of the Hagana, Vol. III, Part II, p. 1361; Haaretz (Tel Aviv), 17 Nov. 1978 (weekly supplement), pp. 8-9; In the Eyes of the Enemy, p. 130.
91. In the Eyes of the Enemy, p. 9ff.; Al-Khatib, pp. 228–32.
92. Akhir Sa'a, 18 July 1973.
93. Akhir Sa'a, 4 July 1973.
94. Shimoni, p. 206; Alami, p. 19.
95. Arif, Part I, p. 208, Part III, p. 626; In the Eyes of the Enemy, pp. 37, 39; Hawari, pp. 137, 171–6.
96. Hawari, p. 147.
97. Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni to al-Hajj Amin, 1 Dec. 1948, Akhir Sa'a, 4 July, 18 July 1973.
98. Arif, Part I, pp. 30, 210–12, 226-7; Hawari, p. 39; Al-Khatib, pp. 228–9.
99. Arif, Part I, p. 30; Hawari, p. 40.
100. Akhir Sa'a, 4 July 1973.
101. Hawari, pp. 186–7.
102. Arif, Part I, pp. 94–5.
103. Hawari, pp. 38–40.
104. Al-Qauqji's Diaries, p. 41; Arif, Part I, p. 179.
105. Arif, Part I, pp. 73, 179; Hawari, p. 139.
106. Behind the Curtain, p. 42.
107. Gabbay, p. 79; Hawari, p. 161.
108. Arif, Part I, p. 41; Part III, p. 666; Hawari, pp. 100, 103; Gabbay, pp. 79-80.
109. Yuval Arnon-Ohanna, Peasants in the Arab Revolt in Palestine 1936–1939 (Tel-Aviv, 1978, in Hebrew), p. 50; Nevo, Abdallah, p. 77.
110. Arif, Part I, pp. 41, 128, Part III, p. 601; Hawari, p. 103; Shimoni, p. 208; Slutsky (ed.), History of the Hagana, Vol. III, Part II, p. 1360.
111. Behind the Curtain, p. 54.
112. Behind the Curtain, pp. 72–5.
113. Al-Hajj Amin al-Husayni claimed, in his memoirs, that they numbered well over one thousand, Akhir Sa'a, 20 June 1973. The chairman of the AL Military Committee asserted, however, that their number did not exceed 200: Behind the Curtain, p. 75.
114. In the Eyes of the Enemy, p. 73.
115. Behind the Curtain, p. 56. Each Arab state undertook to contribute 2,000 rifles; Transjordan and Lebanon 1,000 rifles each. No state except Syria fulfilled its commitment. Alami, p. 21.
116. Akhir Sa'a, 13 June 1973.
117. Behind the Curtain, p. 59.
118. Behind the Curtain, p. 62.
119. Hawari, p. 165; Gabbay, p. 80.
120. Akhir Sa'a, 20 June 1973.
121. Arif, Part I, pp. 159–60.
122. Behind the Curtain, pp. 83–4; Arif, Part I, p. 42; Alami, p. 25.
123. Behind the Curtain, pp. 100–2; Shimoni, 207.
124. Slutsky (ed.), History of the Hagana, Vol. III, Part II, p. 1365; Arif, Part I, pp. 116, 128; Al-Qauqji's Diaries, p. 27.
125. Arif, Part I, pp. 179–82.
126. Slutsky (ed.), History of the Hagana, Vol. III, Part II, p. 1362; Arif, Part I, p. 42. For a detailed list of the garrison commanders appointed by the Army of Liberation see: Hawari, pp. 171–6. For a list of the commanders of the same garrisons, appointed by the AHC see above, Note no. 84.
127. See for example, Slutsky (ed.), History of the Hagana, Vol. III, Part II, pp. 1362, 1569, Arif, Part I, p. 210-12.
128. Arif, Part I, pp. 57, 69, Part III, p. 665.
129. In the Eyes of the Enemy, p. 74; Akhir Sa'a, 4 July 1973.
130. Arif, Part 1, p. 41, Part III, p. 666.
131. In the Eyes of the Enemy, pp. 31–2; see also Gabbay, p. 92, and Gurney, p. 94.
132. Slutsky (ed.), History of the Hagana, Vol. III, Part II, p. 1365; Hawari, p. 148; Gabbay, p. 66; Gurney, pp. 85–88.
133. Hawari, p. 187; Gabbay, pp. 65-6; Gurney, pp. 84–94.
134. Husayni, pp. 72–3.
135. Slutsky (ed.), History of the Hagana, Vol. III, Part II, p. 1363. There is no intention to deal in this paper with the refugees’ problem in general. This matter is mentioned only because it is relevant to this chapter, i.e., a factor which influenced the Palestinian military effort.
136. Behind the Curtain, p. 36.
137. Nevo, Abdallah, p. 78; Hawari, pp. 188–91.
138. Akhir Sa'a, 18 July 1973; Arif, Part III, p. 694; Behind the Curtain, p. 114; Alami, p. 77.
139. Akhir Sa'a, 18 July 1973.
140. Abdallah al-Tall, Karithat Filastin (Cairo, 1959), pp. 103, 232-3, 359–60, 366; Alami, p. 180; Arif, Part I, p. 74; J.B. Glubb, A Soldier with the Arabs (London, 1957), p. 192.
141. Behind the Curtain, p. 114; Arif, Part III, pp. 694, 707.
142. Arif, Part III, p. 707.
143. Slutsky (ed.), History of the Hagana, Vol. III, Part II, pp. 1363–4; Hawari, p. 107.
144. Wahda, 2 Sept. 1947.
145. Akhir Sa'a, 30 May 1973.
146. Gabbay, p. 58; Robert John, Sami Hawadi, The Palestine Diary, Vol. II: 1945–1948 (Beirut, 1970), pp. 242–3.
147. Gabbay, p. 58; Hurewitz, p. 310.
148. AHC dispatch to the UN secretariat, 6 Feb. 1948, Gabbay, p. 57.
149. Arif, Part I, p. 127.
150. AHC news bulletin, No. 48, 15 March 1948.
151. John and Hadawi, Part II, p. 355; Gurney, pp. 45-6.
152. AHC news bulletin No. 48, 15 March 1948; John and Hadawi, Part II, pp. 355, 362-3. This approach reflected then a general consensus. The only supporters of Partition were a small group of the National Liberation League members (see above) headed by Fuad Nassar, Emile Habibi and Tawfik Tubi. See Porath, The Origin, p. 363.
153. Asher Goren, The Arab League (Tel Aviv, 1954, in Hebrew), p. 199.
154. Ruz al-Yusuf (Cairo), 8 Oct. 1947; Filastin, 10 Oct. 1947.
155. Arif, Part I, pp. 35–6; 206-7; Nevo, Abdallah, pp. 66-7; Al-Hut, p. 582; Difa’, Dec. 1947.
156. Arif, Part III, p. 703; Difa', 7 and 14 Jan. 1948; Sha'ab(Jaffa), 7 Jan. 1948; Misri(Cairo), 11 Jan. 1948.
157. Nevo, Abdallah, pp. 72–3.
158. Al-Nimr, Part IV, p. 53; Gurney, pp. 3, 30, 90, 96; Goren, p. 200; Behind the Curtain, p. 59.
159. Al-Nimr, Part IV, p. 54; Hurewitz, p. 313; Haaretz, 18 May 1948.
160. Nevo, Abdallah, pp. 73–4.
161. Al-Nimr, Part IV, p. 54; Hurewitz, p. 317; Radio London, 18 May 1948; Summary of Arab Broadcasts No. 111/48; Radio Jerusalem, 26–27 May 1948;
162. For the participants see Hawari, p. 261.
163. F. Bernadotte, To Jerusalem (London, 1951), pp. 130–1; Arif, Part III, p. 572.
164. Radio Damascus, 6 July 1948, summary of Arab broadcasts No. 161/48.
165. Nevo, Abdallah, p. 98.
166. Al-Tall, p. 342; Ahram (Cairo), 21 Sept. 1948.
167. Ahram, 23 and 24 Sept. 1948; Goren, p. 201.
168. The participants in the national council were members of the AHC, mayors, representatives of National Committees, chiefs of bedouin tribes and delegates of Arab trade unions. New York Times, 23 Sept. 1948; Ahram, 1 Oct. 1948; Arif, Part III, pp. 703–4; Hawari, pp. 275–83.
169. Ahram, 1 and 3 Oct. 1938; Hawari, pp. 280, 284-5; Arif, Part III, pp. 704-6.
170. Ahram (Cairo), 4, 6 and 16 Oct. 1948; New York Times, 13 Oct. 1948; Hawari, pp. 273, 287-8; Arif, Part III, pp. 706ff.
171. Nevo, Abdallah, p. 110; Hawari, p. 289.
172. For details see Nevo, Abdallah, pp. 108–15.
173. Gurney, p. 94.