The Palestinian National Revival

Moshe Shemesh

Description

Former Israeli intelligence officer Moshe Shemesh offers a fresh understanding of the complex history and politics of the Middle East in this new analysis of the Palestinian national movement. Shemesh looks at the formative years of the movement that emerged following the 1948 War and traces the leaders, their objectives, and their weaknesses, fragmentation, and conflicts with their neighbors. He follows the formation of the Sons of Nakba, the establishment of Fatah, the reframing of Jordan as analogous with the Palestinian cause, and the creation of the Palestine Liberation Organization and its new expression of nationalism until the 1967 War. With unprecedented access to Arabic sources, Shemesh provides new perspectives on inter-Arab politics and the history of the intractable Arab-Israeli conflict.

Acknowledgements

Aims and Scope

Part I

The Leadership Crisis of the Palestinian National Movement, 1937–1963:

The Decline from Power of Mufti Haj Amin Al-Husayni

1. En Route to a Crisis of Leadership: The 1930s through World War II








2. Return of the Mufti and Increased Arab Involvement in the Filastin Issue








3. The All-Palestine Government, September 1948: Historical Failure of Leadership or Default Option?








4. The Palestinians in the Absence of Leadership, 1949–1963

Part II

National Revival:

The 1950s as the Formative Years of the New Palestinian National Movement

1. The Nakba Generation








2. The "Sons of the Nakba" Generation: Emergent Leadership of the New Palestinian National Movement








3. Manifestations of the Palestinian National Awakening: The Arab Nationalists Movement, Fatah, the Ba'th Party, and the General Union of Palestinian Students








4. The Palestinians of the Gaza Strip under the Egyptian Government

Part III

The West Bank Palestinians under Hashemite Rule:

The "Palestinization" Process in the Shadow of Egyptian Subversion and Influence

1. The Palestinians under the Hashemite Regime








2. First Crisis: Aftermath of the IDF Raid on Qibya








3. Second Crisis: In the Shadow of Egyptian Subversion – December 1955–April 1957








4. The Crisis of April 1963: West Bank Palestinians and the Revival of a Palestinian Entity








5. The Palestinians of Jordan, 1965–1966: Between Shuqayri, Husayn, and the Emergence of Fatah








6. The Crisis of November 1966: The Aftermath of the IDF Raid on Samu'

Part IV

Ahmad al-Shuqayri: Between the Arab Hammer and Palestinian Anvil, 1964–1967

A Predictable Failure of Leadership and the Peak of a Leadership Crisis

1. Ahmad al-Shuqayri's Path to PLO Leadership








2. The Struggle over Leadership of the PLO: Emergence of Fatah and Decline in Shuqayri's Status, 1965-1966








3. The Leadership Crisis Escalates: June 1966–May 1967








4. Shuqayri: The End of the Road – June–December 1967

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• Middle Est
• Jewish
• Middle Eastern
• HISTORY
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• Histoire
• Israelí
• Nakba
• Fuerzas de Defensa de Israel
• Egipto
• Jews
• 1948 Palestinian exodus
• General Union of Palestinian Students
• Egypt
• Arab?Israeli conflict
• History of the Middle East
• Mohammad Amin al-Husayni
• Ahmad Shukeiri
• Hashemite
• General officer
• Arab League
• West Bank
• Middle East
• Israeli
• Gaza Strip
• Politics of Egypt
• Arab people
• Arab
• World
• General
• Jew
• Qibya
• IDF
• Fatah
• Guerre de Palestine de 1948
• Gaza

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 12 septembre 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253036629
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE PALESTINIAN NATIONAL REVIVAL
PERSPECTIVES ON ISRAEL STUDIES
S. Ilan Troen, Natan Aridan, Donna Divine, David Ellenson, and Arieh Saposnik, editors
Sponsored by the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies of Brandeis University
THE PALESTINIAN NATIONAL REVIVAL
In the Shadow of the Leadership Crisis, 1937-1967
Moshe Shemesh
Indiana University Press
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.indiana.edu
2018 by Moshe Shemesh
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Cataloging information is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-0-253-03659-9 (cloth)
ISBN 978-0-253-03660-5 (ebook)
1 2 3 4 5 23 22 21 20 19 18
To my beloved family:
Rachel, Yahel, and Yasaf; Oren, Shirley, and Carmel,
my first granddaughter (May 15, 2018)
Contents

Acknowledgments
Preface: Aims and Scope
Part I: The Leadership Crisis of the Palestinian National Movement, 1937-63: The Decline from Power of Mufti Haj Amin al-Husayni

1. En Route to a Crisis of Leadership: The 1930s through World War II

2. Return of the Mufti and Increased Arab Involvement in the Filastin Issue

3. The All-Palestine Government, September 1948: Historical Failure of Leadership or Default Option?

4. The Palestinians in the Absence of Leadership, 1949-63
Part II: National Revival: The 1950s as the Formative Years of the New Palestinian National Movement

5. The Nakba Generation

6. The Sons of the Nakba Generation: Emergent Leadership of the New Palestinian National Movement

7. Manifestations of the Palestinian National Awakening: The Arab Nationalists Movement, Fatah, the Ba th Party, and the General Union of Palestinian Students

8. The Palestinians of the Gaza Strip under the Egyptian Government
Part III: The West Bank Palestinians under Hashemite Rule: The Palestinization Process in the Shadow of Egyptian Subversion and Influence

9. The Palestinians under the Hashemite Regime

10. First Crisis: Aftermath of the Israel Defense Forces Raid on Qibya

11. Second Crisis: In the Shadow of Egyptian Subversion, December 1955-April 1957

12. The Crisis of April 1963: West Bank Palestinians and the Revival of a Palestinian Entity

13. The Palestinians of Jordan, 1965-66: Between Shuqayri, Husayn, and the Emergence of Fatah

14. The Crisis of November 1966: The Aftermath of the Israel Defense Forces Raid on Samu
Part IV: Ahmad al-Shuqayri: Between the Arab Hammer and Palestinian Anvil, 1964-67: A Predictable Failure of Leadership and the Peak of a Leadership Crisis

15. Ahmad al-Shuqayri s Path to PLO Leadership: A Role Awaiting a Hero versus a Leader Imposed from Above

16. The Struggle over Leadership of the PLO: Emergence of Fatah and Decline in Shuqayri s Status, 1965-66

17. The Leadership Crisis Escalates, June 1966-May 1967

18. Shuqayri: The End of the Road, June-December 1967

Conclusion
Bibliography
Name Index
Subject Index
Acknowledgments
I WOULD LIKE TO thank the Ben-Gurion Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where I am a senior researcher, for its collegial atmosphere, and thank the directors for their support, especially Paula Kabalo, who expedited the completion of my research.
This book constitutes the second part of my research trilogy surveying and documenting the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the chronicles of the new Palestinian national movement between the years 1949 and 1974. The research began with my master s thesis, which I completed under the supervision of the late historian Jacob Talmon at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, The Palestinian National Re-Awakening, 1964-1974: The Background, Components, and Achievements of Its Revival.
I am grateful to the late Benjamin Pinkus, who was my colleague at Ben-Gurion Institute, for reading the first draft of this book and providing helpful comments. The book s third part was written with his warm recommendation. Special thanks to Avi Shlaim at Oxford University for his valuable comments. I am thankful to Israel Gershoni and Haggai Erlich at Tel Aviv University for their constructive remarks; to Yezid Sayigh who provided me with original sources regarding the Fatah organization; and to Moshe Efrat, who provided me with material from his research on Palestinian refugees. Also to Natan Aridan for his valuable editorial remarks.
I am indebted to Dee Mortensen, editorial director at Indiana University Press and Ilan Troen, editor, Indiana University Press Series Perspectives on Israel Studies for their invaluable support, encouragement, and suggestions in expediting publication of this book.
My deep thanks to the staff of the unit within the Israel Defense Forces Intelligence Branch known during the period of the research as Intelligence 5 and later as Hatzav, for the wealth of material that was very valuable in researching the 1950s and 1960s, during which they translated Arab radio broadcasts and Arab press items; to the library staff of the Truman Institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; and to staff members of the Israel State Archives and of the Israel Defense Forces Archives for their assistance and guidance in locating materials. Thanks to the staff of the Ben-Gurion Archives in Sede Boker, to the head of archives, Hana Pinshow, and to Leana Feldman for their dedicated service. Thanks to the Ben-Gurion Research Institute library staff, headed by Lily Adar, and to Yefim Magarill in addition Yosef Litus for his computerization assistance. Thanks to Hadas Blum for preparing the index.
I am indebted to the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities of the Israel Science Foundation, which helped support research of the second part of this book.
Last but not least, my gratitude to Merav Datan for her dedicated, professional translation and editing work.
Preface: Aims and Scope
T HIS BOOK CONTRIBUTES to a deeper understanding of the Palestinian national movement in the twentieth century, especially the roots of the national revival in the 1950s and the emergence of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the 1960s. It addresses the Palestinian leadership crisis of those years, with special emphasis on the Palestinian position vis- -vis the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The four parts of this book constitute a single unit based on a well-defined chronological framework. They are mutually linked, with later developments shedding light on earlier ones.
This volume makes a scholarly contribution to the literature by

1. Identifying the 1950s as the formative years of the new Palestinian national movement as it emerged in the aftermath of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It begins with a discussion of the Palestinian leadership crisis from the 1930s through the 1950s. It offers a new perspective on Palestinian society and its leadership and on the dilemmas, difficulties, and crises they confronted. The leadership of al-Haj Amin al-Husayni (the mufti) and his successor, Ahmad al-Shuqayri, are examined in the context of contemporary regional and international events.
2. Aiming to present an objective, balanced, and multidimensional approach that distinguishes between individual leadership and the development of the Palestinian national movement before and after 1948. It stresses the close correlation between the Palestinian leadership crisis, or rather lack of leadership, and the Palestinian national reawakening and revival during the 1950s. It attempts to resolve the apparent contradiction between the dominant narrative of Palestinian historians, which places emphasis on the leadership crisis and the leadership s failure to achieve the objectives of the Palestinian national movement, and the conclusion that emerges from this analysis, according to which the Palestinian national reawakening actually took place during the 1950s. The reawakening was characterized by social solidarity, resilience, survival, and determination. Practically out of nothing, it generated a national revival, which in turn led to many achievements. I examine the parts played by the mufti and Shuqayri in the national revival and conclude that, despite their failures, they were not nonentities as presented in most historical studies of the period. This book discusses the lack of Palestinian leadership with authority in the lead-up to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and during the course of this war, the lack of a leadership recognized by Arab states and the international community as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Without a deep understanding of the Palestinian leadership crisis and its impact on the Palestinian cause, any analysis of the policy of King Abdulla of Jordan regarding the Palestinian issue will be incomplete. So too is any analysis of Israel s policy on this issue in the aftermath of the 1948 War.
3. Addressing the question: Why were decisions relating to the Palestinian people and the Palestinian terr