Palestine: A Modern History (ص 110)

غرض

عنوان

Palestine: A Modern History (ص 110)

المحتوى

230 Conclusion
failed to wrest the political leadership from the notables, they played a
prominent role in the process of revolutionary fermentation between
1930 and 1935, During this period immigration and land sacquisition
assumed threatening proportions, which rendered one- -fourth of the
Palestinian rural population landless. Moreover, these landless peasants
were not able to obtain work in the cities or,in Jewish. factories pwing to
the Histradrut’s boycott of Arab labour on Jewish enterprise, In view of
these facts it, was not surprising that Qassam’s call for armed resistance
against the British and the Jews found its greates echo in,the tin shacks
of Haifa.
Aithough Qassam’s insurgency was nipped in the bud, in November
1935, it heralded a new active revolutionary stage which started out as
a general strike (which is probably the longest politigal strike in history)
sin. the spring of 1936 and quickly led.to the great-Palestine rebellion of
1936-39 which was a peasant uprising backed by yrban population.
The Rebellion, succeeded in attracting the attention of Arabs and
Muslims in the ngighbouring countries to the, Palestine problem. In
1938, the-rebels ruled considerable areas of rural Palestine and even
succeeded in occupying some of the major cities for short intervals. To
face the challenge of the Palestinian rebels, Britain had to employ two
divisions and sqyadrons of aeroplanes.’ During the 1938 European
political crisis the Palestinian resistance represented a military
embarrassment. The Rebellion culminated in the London Round Table
Conference and the 1939 White Paper, which offered the Arabs some
“concessions over Jewish immigration and future independence. The
concessions were neither immediate nor substantial and the prospect of
independence was tied to Zionist co-operation which failed to satisfy
the Arabs. These minor concessions were achieved after great sacrifices
and ,at the expense of weakening Arab power to face the Zionist
challenge, in the ensuing period.
The.major causes for the failure of the Palestinian Arab nationalists
to»prevent the establishment of ‘the Jewish National ‘Home centred
around the dack of balance of power between themselves and their
adversaries: the British-backed Zionists. The Palestinian Arabs formed an
under-developed rural society with meagre resources and minimal effect-
ive organisation, while the Zionists constituted a highly organised, well-
financed movement led by a highly intelligent and determined leadership.
Inability to change the balance of power owed much tq the inter-
national situation and to the fact that the neighbouring Arab countries
were under foreign rule or influence, in addition to the, Palestinians own
indigenous clashing interests and rivalries.
Conclusion 231
No less important was the failure of the Palestinian Arab national
movement to produce the required leadership. By choosing, as their
first political priority, the protection of their interests, the majority of
notables maintained a counter-revolutionary attitude. Then, the
economic and educational superiority of the Zionists: prevented the
emergence of a strong Arab bourgeoisie capable of assuming effective
leadership in Palestine. The ‘lower strata’, too, failed to evolve a new
radical leadership of its own for a number of reasons, not least of which
was the hold of tradition on the peasants which, no doubt, enhanced
Hajj Amin’s position of leadership.
During the 1936-1939 rebellion, which represented the highest stage
of the Palestinian Arab struggle against the Anglo-Zionist convergence,
the weaknesses of the Palestinian nationalist movement were exposed.
The political leadership displayed its compromising attitudes when it
called off the general strike and the rebellion of 1936, without insisting
on prior concessions from the Government. Throughout the rebellion
the political leadership was willing to entrust a great part of their cause
to the rulers of the Arab states, who, however, were eager to stand well
with the British. The absence of a modern revolutionary organisation
denied the rebels the valuable role of political revolutionary cadres, and
the lack of a loyal commitment to a common purpose prevented the
necessary co-ordination between the military and the political efforts.
In view of the absence of a capable revolutionary leadership, it was
not surprising that the Palestinians failed to adopt an adequate strategy
to prevent the establishment of the Jewish National Home in their
country and against their will.
Note
1. Professor W. Khalidi put the-huimber of Palestinian Arab casualties during the
1936-1939 Rebellion at 5,032 killed,and 14,760 wounded’and the number of
detainees at 5,600 in 1939. See W. Khalidi (ed.), From Haven to Conquest,
Beirut, 1971, Appendix IV, pp.848-9.
ithor-e

تاريخ

1978

المنشئ

Abdul-Wahhab Kayyali

مجموعات العناصر

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