Mandatory Palestine Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====The Arab revolt==== [[File:Resistance of Palestinian men and women.png|thumb|Arab revolt against the British]] {{main|1936โ1939 Arab revolt in Palestine}} The death of al-Qassam on 20 November 1935 generated widespread outrage in the Arab community. Huge crowds accompanied Qassam's body to his grave in [[Haifa]]. A few months later, in April 1936, the Arab national [[general strike]] broke out. The strike lasted until October 1936, instigated by the Arab Higher Committee, headed by Amin al-Husseini. During the summer of that year, thousands of Jewish-farmed acres and orchards were destroyed. Jewish civilians were attacked and killed, and some Jewish communities, such as those in [[Beisan]] ([[Beit She'an]]) and [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], fled to safer areas.<ref>{{harvnb|Gilbert|1998|p= 80}}</ref> The violence abated for about a year while the British sent the [[Peel Commission]] to investigate.<ref>{{harvnb|Khalidi|2006|pp=87โ90}}</ref> During the first stages of the Arab Revolt, due to rivalry between the clans of al-Husseini and [[Nashashibi]] among the Palestinian Arabs, Raghib Nashashibi was forced to flee to Egypt after several assassination attempts ordered by Amin al-Husseini.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Charles D. |title=Palestine and the ArabโIsraeli Conflict: A History with Documents |edition=Sixth |year=2007 |pages=111โ225}}</ref> After the Arab rejection of the Peel Commission recommendation, the revolt resumed in autumn 1937. Over the next 18 months, the British lost [[Nablus]] and Hebron. British forces, supported by 6,000 armed Jewish auxiliary police,<ref>{{Harvnb|Gilbert|1998|p= 85}}: The [[Jewish Settlement Police]] were created and equipped with trucks and armoured cars by the British working with the [[Jewish Agency for Israel|Jewish Agency]].</ref> suppressed the widespread riots with overwhelming force. The British officer [[Orde Charles Wingate|Charles Orde Wingate]] (who supported a Zionist revival for religious reasons<ref>{{Citation |publisher= IDC |title= Covenant |contribution= The Zionism of Orde |volume= 3 |issue= 1 |url= http://www.covenant.idc.ac.il/en/vol3/issue1/The_Zionism_of_Orde.html |access-date= 4 August 2014 |archive-date= 1 August 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140801015753/http://covenant.idc.ac.il/en/vol3/issue1/The_Zionism_of_Orde.html |url-status= dead }}</ref>) organised [[Special Night Squads]] of British soldiers and Jewish volunteers such as [[Yigal Alon]]; these "scored significant successes against the Arab rebels in the lower Galilee and in the Jezreel valley"<ref>{{harvnb|Black|1991|p= 14}}</ref> by conducting raids on Arab villages.<ref>{{harvnb|Shapira|1992|pp=247, 249, 350}}</ref> [[Irgun]], a Jewish militia group, used violence also against Arab civilians as "retaliatory acts",<ref name=Irgun>{{cite book |title=Holy War in Judaism: The Fall and Rise of a Controversial Idea |publisher=Oxford University Press |author=Firestone, Reuven |year=2012 |page=192 |isbn=978-0-19-986030-2 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=EHyqYbTM-dwC&q=Irgun+%22retaliatory+acts%22&pg=PA192}}</ref> [[List of Irgun attacks during the 1930s|attacking marketplaces and buses]]. By the time the revolt concluded in March 1939, more than {{formatnum:5000}} Arabs, 400 Jews, and 200 British had been killed and at least {{formatnum:15000}} Arabs were wounded.<ref name=HistoryOfPalestinianRevolts>{{cite web|url=http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9A489B74-6477-4E67-9C22-0F53A3CC9ADF.htm |title=Aljazeera: The history of Palestinian revolts |access-date=15 December 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051215061527/http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9A489B74-6477-4E67-9C22-0F53A3CC9ADF.htm |archive-date=15 December 2005 }}</ref> In total, 10% of the adult Arab male population was killed, wounded, imprisoned, or exiled.<ref>{{harvnb|Khalidi|2001|p=26}}</ref> From 1936 to 1945, while establishing collaborative security arrangements with the Jewish Agency, the British confiscated {{formatnum:13200}} firearms from Arabs and 521 weapons from Jews.{{sfn|Khalidi|1987|p=845}} The attacks on the Jewish population by Arabs had three lasting effects: firstly, they led to the formation and development of Jewish underground militias, primarily the [[Haganah]], which were to prove decisive in 1948. Secondly, it became clear that the two communities could not be reconciled, and the idea of partition was born. Thirdly, the British responded to Arab opposition with the [[White Paper of 1939]], which severely restricted Jewish land purchase and immigration. However, with the advent of the [[Second World War]], even this reduced immigration quota was not reached. The White Paper policy itself radicalised segments of the Jewish population, who after the war would no longer cooperate with the British. The revolt had also a negative effect on Palestinian Arab leadership, social cohesion, and military capabilities, and it contributed to the outcome of the 1948 War because "when the Palestinians faced their most fateful challenge in 1947โ49, they were still suffering from the British repression of 1936โ39, and were in effect without a unified leadership. Indeed, it might be argued that they were virtually without any leadership at all."{{sfn|Khalidi|2001|p=28}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page