Palestine: A Modern History (ص 85)

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Palestine: A Modern History (ص 85)

المحتوى

178 Prelude to Revolution: 1930-1935
protagonist. The National Defence Party comprised a number of rich
powerful notables and mayors who vowed
To. endeavour to achieve independence for:Palestine with full Arab
sovereignty, and-not to recognize any international obligation which
is calculated to culminate in any foreign predominance or
influence.**
* Sa
The Palestine Arab Party, which was a popular party‘with numerous
branches, throyghout Palestine was more unequivocal in its determina-
tion to: fight-Zéonism and the Mandate at one and the same time.
Unlike the Nashashibi-led rival, the Arab Party was in favour of Arab
unity and engaged. themselves in practical efforts, to prevent sales of
Arab lands-to Jews.
A month. later the second meeting of the Arab Youth Congress was
convened. The discussions were devoted to social and economic self-
improvement and the mobilisation of the younger Arab generation
in sports clubs and youth organisations dedicated to fighting Zionism
in a down-to-earth practical manner.” Though not politically anta-
gonistic to ejther party the upshot of their second conference was to .
establish the Youth Congress as another political body in
Palestine. Two other political parties were founded before the end of
1933, the Khalidi-led Jslah (Reform) Party and the National Bloc led
by Abdul Latif Salah, a well-known lawyer from Nablus, both of whose
declared aims were close to those of the Palestine Arab Party.
The personal and selfish motives behind the proliferation of Arab
parties were apparent to all Palestinians, and the ceaseless bickering
between these parties exposed them to public derision.”
Eviction of Arab Peasants
While the’ politicians and notables were promoting their respective
personal and, family interests and ,adding to internal dissensions, the
bulk of the Palestinian Arabs were, growing incteasingly bitter and
lesperate, The: spectacular increase in Jewish immigration exerted
additional pressures on the Zionist organs to acquire new lands for
Jewish settlement. Out of 673 land transactions effected in 1933, most
of which were from Arabs to Jews, 606 were in respect of areas each
less than 100 dunums in extent..In the following year the number of
sales increased to 1,178 including no fewer than 1,1} 16 for areas each less
than 100 dunums in extent.22 The vendors were either rendered landless
or left with lands not adequate to provide subsistence level income for
pe te ret oe
Prelude to Revolution: 1930-1935 179
the peasant landlords. The landless Arabs were becoming a major
political issue because of the ,rapid increase in their numbers and the
fears this ergendered among the Palestinian‘ rural population. The
implementation of eviction orders (by the Courts) could no longer be
effected without the efforts of large numbers of Police. The Arab
peasants were showing greater determination in resisting the execution
of eviction orders. During January 1935, the Hartieh Lands eviction
was resisted by the tenants, ‘Arab el-Zubeidat, and the battle between
them and forty-three British and Palestinian, Police ended with seven
British Police and five Palestinian Police injured by the stone-slinging
villagers.
.Facing an increasingly delicate and precarious situation, Hajj, Amin
had:to adopt’a stronger public starid against Zionism. While endeavour-
- ing to avoid direct personal involvement in the mutual recriminations of
the newly formed parties, he involved himself in public efforts to
mobilise the Islamic religious machine'in the fight against Zionism. On
seg?
| ; 25 January, Hajj Amin, as President of the Supreme Muslim Council,
- convened a meeting of some five hundred religious functionaries,
mostly gadis, Sheikhs and ‘ulamas at Jerusalem to discuss, principally,
- the sale of land to Jews, brokerage and Jewish immigration. The Mufti,
however, confined himself to threatening with religious penalties
“Muslims who sell their lands or act as land brokers, without adyocating
- more violent methods to fight Zionism.”
' In his relations with the British the Mufti continued to display a
* friendly disposition. In the course of denying allegations levelled against
| Hajj Amin by the Nashashibi faction-that the Mufti was intriguing with
the Italians, Wauchope reported:
I have noticed no change in Hajj Amin’s attitude towards this
Government — his attitude for the last two years and now is
' definitely friendly, and especially so towards me, as you already
# know. The Mufti is always troubled by the thought he may lose
influence on this account, but J see no signs of his power waning or
@ of his adopting a hostile attitude towards this Government.*
4
The Mufti, as a matter of fact, had asked the CID chief for police
§ protection and obtained a bullet-proof jacket as he feared hired assassin.
M4 Fhe bullet-proof jackets were not the only hedge Hajj Amin had
@ against extremists. According to Emile‘Ghoury, a secret youth organisa-
@ tion in Jerusalem formed after the October-November events of 1933,
1 4 was turned into Munazzamat al-Jihad al-Muqaddas (The Organisation for
i
we

تاريخ

1978

المنشئ

Abdul-Wahhab Kayyali

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