Abdelaziz A. Ayyad View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by FADA - Birzeit University ARAB NATIONALISM AND THE PALESTINIANS 1850-1939 PASSIA Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs PASSIA, the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of Inter- national Affairs, is an Arab, non-profit Palestinian institution with a financially and legally independent status. It is not affiliated with any government, political party or organization. PASSIA seeks to present the Question of Palestine in its national, Arab and interna- tional contexts through academic research, dialogue and publication. PASSIA endeavors that research undertaken under its auspices be specialized, scientific and objective and that its symposia and workshops, whether international or intra-Palestinian, be open, self- critical and conducted in a spirit of harmony and cooperation. Dr. Abdelaziz Ayyad is Assistant Professor of Contemporary and Modern History of the Middle East and Europe at Birzeit University, Birzeit, West Bank. This book represents the free expression of its author and does not necessarily represent the judgement or opinions of PASSIA. It is presented as part of the PASSIA Research Studies Program of 1999, which is kindly supported by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), Jerusalem. Cover Photo: Seventh Palestinian Arab Congress, Jerusalem, June 1928 (PASSIA Photo Archives) Copyright © PASSIA Publication December 1999 Tel: 972-2-626 4426 Fax: 972-2-628 2819 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.passia.org PO Box 19545, Jerusalem Contents PREFACE ………………...……………………………………………… 1 Chapter 1: THE FOUNDATION OF THE ARAB LIBERATION MOVEMENT …... 3 Conceptualization and Difficulties of Concept Use in the Study of the Arab East …………………………………………… 3 Nineteenth Century Arab East …………………………………… 8 Nineteenth Century Palestine and Colonial Settlements ………… 24 Chapter 2: THE ARAB LIBERATION MOVEMENT: THE FORMATIVE YEARS … 33 Initial Formation ……….………………………………..….…… 33 The Palestinian National Resistance ……………………….…… 36 The Crucial Formative Years …………………………………… 39 The Arab Movement and the Palestinian Resistance ……….…. 50 The Arabs and World War I ………….…………………….…… 59 Chapter 3: THE PALESTINIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT: A TRADITIONAL LEADERSHIP AND A DECLINE ………………. 67 Frustrated Aspirations and an Uprising ……………………….… 68 Thwarted Arabism and the Politics of Collaborationism ………. 86 The State of Weakness and Loss of Control ……………………. 102 Chapter 4: THE PALESTINIAN STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE (1928-1939) – THE RISING MASSES AND THE TRADITIONAL LEADERSHIP AND ITS ALLEGIANCES ………………………………..…………... 118 Embryonic Formations of the Crucial Years …….……………… 119 The Road to Confrontation ……………………………………... 126 The Palestinian National Uprising 1936 to 1939 ………………. 152 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………. 179 Bibliography …………………………………………………………. 187 Preface The current process of resolving the Middle East question has at its core the grounds for a total restructuring of the Middle East regional order. This important settlement in the Middle East will also stimulate a remod- eling of the international order. The old global order has been undergoing a process of decline, and a new one is beginning. The immediate result of this is to place the whole world in a transitional stage in which a single great power dominates the entire order. In other words, the political set- tlement has come at a time when instability and uncertainty envelop the world reality in general and the Middle East in particular. This state of confusion represents a serious challenge to Middle Eastern countries in their attempts to recreate their earlier established mutual re- lationships. The concern of the Palestinian people for their fate is more serious now, because they are in the delicate process of fully establishing a political identity. They are also engaged in building a network of for- eign relations worldwide and in the Arab region, considering the fact that they are trying to establish a state their own. For historians, this provides inspiration for the study of Palestinian national interests. It encourages the analysis of existing relations and the evolution of the equation encom- passing those relations. Such study aids in understanding the historical development of the processes, which have led to the current circum- stances. The history of Palestine, especially of the Palestinian Arab-Israeli con- flict, the Western colonizers, the Zionists and the Arab leadership in neighboring Arab countries, played an instrumental role in shaping the course of the Palestinian struggle. The assessment of the role of all these elements combined, or even of any one of them individually, may consti- tute the core of a scholarly work. The Palestinian connection with the Arab ummah, the topic selected for this work, has always been characterized by the theme of Palestinians in crisis. Conversely, the struggle with Zionism has always been viewed in terms of its wider Arab contexts. Furthermore, the Palestinian national 1 movement has always been looked upon as an offshoot of the Arab lib- eration movement. This work will center on the foundation and evolution of this relationship. This study will not consider just what is the obvious in history and conse- quently adapt a superficial approach. It will rather examine in some detail the fact that Palestine and the Palestinians are part of the Arab ummah and region. I will consider cultural ties as well as heritage in the formation of this relationship. Furthermore, the socioeconomic factors in the mid-19th Century Arab East were also crucial in shaping this relationship, and I intend in this study to address the issue under focus in terms of the eco- nomic transformations and social change of the time. In other words, the study will examine those transformations and changes through their role in the formation of the Arab liberation movement and its offshoot, the Palestinian national resistance. The effects of these early foundations played importantly in the Arab-Israeli conflict leading up to 1939. It has been my hope that while teaching modern history at Birzeit Univer- sity, a study of this kind would give me the opportunity to look into pri- mary and secondary material beneficial to my work as a scholar and edu- cator. I feel that my hopes have been realized. However, they could not have come to fruition without the enormous encouragement and support I received from the university administration and from my colleagues. The Birzeit librarians provided unlimited help, for which I extend them my gratitude, and I also thank all the Birzeit students who offered their vol- untary assistance. I cannot thank them by names because they are very many, but their help in reading the needed material to me, taking notes, and transcribing and proofreading the manuscript facilitated my work in bringing this study in its final draft to light. 2 CHAPTER ONE THE FOUNDATION OF THE ARAB LIBERATION MOVEMENT CONCEPTUALIZATION AND DIFFICULTIES OF CONCEPT USE IN THE STUDY OF THE ARAB EAST The Palestinian struggle for an independent Palestine has generally been treated as an inseparable part of the wider Arab-Israeli conflict. This as- sessment of the struggle might explain the Arab assumption of leadership in the endeavor to liberate Palestine. One may also attribute to this as- sessment the Arab call for a comprehensive and just peaceful settlement for the Middle Eastern question, at whose core is the Palestinian dilemma. The ultimate goal of the Madrid Peace Conference of October 1991, which was attended by Arab delegations and Palestinian representatives that were carefully selected by the PLO, was presumably to reach a com- prehensive settlement that could lead to the end of the prevailing state of belligerency. When the Palestinians and Israelis signed the Oslo Accord later on as a result of secret negotiations, the Arab leadership criticized the PLO, claiming it had damaged Arab solidarity, which it considered vital to the efforts to bring about a comprehensive settlement. In this re- spect, it would not be unfair to accuse the Arab World of being nothing more unified than potatoes within a sack, it being obvious that the exist- ing political fragmentation in the Arab World in general, not the unilateral actions of the Palestinians in particular, is what is harming the sought after solidarity. Given the urgency of the situation, one can hardly blame the Palestinian leadership for adopting an independent role and making decisions independently of its Arab brethren. Yet, one can certainly see why certain parties who are interested in utilizing the Palestinian cause for their own interests would find this annoying. The Palestinians’ decision to ‘go it alone’ at Oslo should not be judged without initially looking at the Palestinian relationship with the Arab World. Firstly, the Palestinian dilemma has remained unresolved for many, many years, in spite of the fact that the Arab leadership claimed responsibility for leading the struggle with Zionism. Secondly, the Pales- tinians are moving toward achieving self-rule and establishing a state at a time when the Arab World as a whole is moving toward greater political fragmentation rather than Arab unity. In this regard, studying the relation- 3 ship of the Palestinian national movement along with the Arab liberation movement of 1882-1939 becomes crucially important. These findings could possibly shed light on the eventual relationship between the Pales- tinian