Palestine: A Modern History (ص 93)

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Palestine: A Modern History (ص 93)

المحتوى

196 The Great Palestine Revolt: 1936-1939
Jerusalem Jewish buses and armoured car patrols were attacked. In
Gaza barricades were placed across the streets and rioting took place
after clashes with the Police on.25 May and armoured cars and tanks
had to be despatched to clear the barricades. In almost all other towns
and villages there was sniping at the Police and the troops.
‘The most serious situation’, however, arose in the old city of Jaffa
which, according to Wauchope, ‘formed a hostile stronghold into which
the Government ‘forces dare not penetrate’.** The old city of Jaffa
afforded refuge for the rebels by the impenetrable labyrinth of narrow
alleys and the maze of closely packed old houses. British troops and
military installations were? subjected to continuous sniping from ‘that
strategic quarter which dominated the town while -being«unaccessible
to wheeled’ traffic. The military demanded the driving of a wide road
over the crest of the hill through the old city in order to bring it under
their control: This involved the demolition of a large number of houses
and wipirig out a good'deal of the town. After some opposition ‘from
the Civil Administration, a circular, emanating from the Goverrment
Press, was distributed to thé inhabitants of the old town announcing
that."foksanitary and town-planning reasons it had been decided to
demolish a-number of houses in their quarter. r
A great deal of hardship and bitterness was caused by' these extensive
demolitions and many of the terlants were forced to live in hovels built
from old petrol tins on the outskirts of Jaffa.
The punitive measures of the military and the amendment of the
emergency regulations to enable the death penalty to be passed in
cases of discharging firearms and malicious damage, and the wholesale
arrests of Arab nationalist activists served to add determination and
pérseverance to the general strike and to’ spread armed resistance jn the
countryside. Jamal Husséini’s negotiations in London did not lead to an
acceptable formula for ending the strike, and Amir ’Abdullah’s efforts
with the Higher Committee in that direction ‘were also futile.
Memorahde of protest against the Government and the brutality.of the
military weré becoming even‘more violent. ‘The ‘Ulama were offended
by the destruction of certain segments of various mosques and ‘their
mild attitude gave way to‘a more defiant one in July.
Impressive as the general strike certainly was, it began to.look like a
side-show or asmoke-screen as the sporadic activities of the armed bands
begam to assume revolutionary dimensions. In his report for-the month
of June, Peirse stated:
£ t
Armed. bands which a fortnight previously consisted of 15-20 men
The Great Palestine Revolt: 1936-1939 197
were now encountered in large parties of 50-70. The bands were not
out for loot. They were fighting what they believed to be a patriotic
war in defence of their country against injustice and the threat of
Jewish domination. *
*p #
The military endeavoured to counter 'the upsurge of sabotage and rebel
activists by blowing up houses of people suspected of harbouring rebels
and imposing collective fines on villages known to be actively backing
the rebellion. Nevertheless, the military authorities were fully expecting
greater armed resistance because of enhanced efforts to smuggle arms
into Palestine. and because of ‘the fact that the fellaheen were
hastening on with the harvests so that the men would be free’.**
The Rebel’s Military Formations
Inside the villages-and the towns the rebels depended on the National
Committee to provide food, recruits, shelter and information. Their
military formations which operated on a regional-local rather than: a
national basis were divided into three categories. The first category
comprised the full-time guerrillas: (mujahidin) who took to the
mountains, engaged the troops, sabotaged the oil pipeline etc. and
formed the military backbone of the rebellion. The second category
consisted of the town commandos who carried on their ordinary
civilian life but performed specific terrorist acts on the request of their
command. These were particularly instrumental in the liquidation of
Arabs suspected of collaborating with the British as well as the
assassination of British officers accused of committing excesses against
the villagers and prisoners. The third category, by far the largest in
number, was the partisans or auxiliary -formations which were in the
majority ordinary peasants and practising farmers who took up arms to
relieve the guerrillas in case of a battle taking place in their vicinity.
During July the British military intelligence reported that the rebel
bands were being: reorganised by ex-officers from ‘Syria and
Trans-Jordan evidenced by the considerable improvement in their
tactical handling during recent engagements. The rebel formations were
divided into four fronts headed by a District Commander who had
armed formations varying between 150-200 mujahidin, led by a platoon
léader.
While hoping that the military repressive measures would succeed
in crushing the rebellion, Watichope and Ormsby-Goré were thinking of
breaking the general strike ahd weakening the armed bands by means
of political action. To appease the Arabs, without yielding to terrorism,
pes
re ee eo es

تاريخ

1978

المنشئ

Abdul-Wahhab Kayyali

مجموعات العناصر

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