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Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Palestinian Pro-Zionist Propagandists Between Zionist Institutions and Arab Nationalists, 1930–1931

2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 14; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13537120701705916

1743-9086

Hillel Cohen,

Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. One Palestinian scholar who has focused on this topic is Saleh Abdel Jawwad Saleh, who also referred to the reluctance of other researchers to address the issue. See Saleh Abdel Jawwad, ‘Collaboration’, Palestine Report (June 2002) in www.palestinereport.org. Concerning the Village Leagues which were fostered and equipped by the Israeli Civil Administration in the West Bank, see also Salim Tamari, ‘Israel's Search for a Native Pillar: The Village Leagues’ in Nasir Aruri (ed.), Occupation: Israel Over Palestine, London, 1984, pp. 377-390; Moshe Maoz, Palestinian Leadership on the West Bank, London, 1984, esp. pp. 164-165, 199-203. See also this author's book on Palestinian collaborators during the mandate period, Army of Shadows: Palestinian Collaboration with Zionism 1917-1948, Berkeley, 2007 and the article ‘Why Do Collaborators Collaborate?: The Case of Palestinians and Zionist Institutions, 1917-1936’, in Elie Podeh and Asher Kaufman (eds), Arab Jewish Relations: From Conflict to Resolution?, Brighton, 2006, pp. 43-63. On the period to follow, see Hillel Cohen Aravim Tovim: Ha-Modi'in ha-Yisraeli veha-Aravim be-Yisrael, Jerusalem, 2006 (Hebrew). 2. On the Bureau and its functions see Elyakim Rubinstein's extensive treatment in ‘ha-Tipul ba-She'ela ha-Arvit be-Eretz Yisrael ba-Tekufa ha-Miyyadit she-aharei Me'ora'ot Tarpat’ in Ilan Pappe (ed.), Aravim vi-Yehudim bi-Tekufat ha-Mandat: Mabat Hadash al ha-Mekhkar ha-Histori, Giv'at Haviva, 1996, pp. 65–102. On the varying concepts of Bureau members see Yoram Nimrod, ‘‘Ma'aseikha Yekarvum’: Yehasei Yehudim-Arvim be-Fo'alo shel Zvi Butkovski’, Zion, Vol. 57 (1992), pp. 429–450. On the intelligence activity of the Bureau inside the country and in neighbouring ones, see Yo'av Gelber: Shorshei ha-Havatzelet, Tel Aviv, 1992, pp. 68–86. 3. For early proposals to recruit journalists see [Zionist Executive in Eretz Yisrael] to the Executive, London: Budget request, 5 May 1920. Central Zionist Archive (CZA), Z4 file 2800b. On the use of the newspapers al-Akhbar and Lisan al-Arab for the publication of pro-Zionist articles, see Kalvariski to Zionist Executive, London, 25 April, 1923, CZA, S25 file 10296. On the willingness of Sheikh As'ad Shukair of Acre (a senior clergyman and oppositionist, father of the future PLO chairman Ahmad Shukairy) to write pro-Zionist articles, see his letter to Kalvariski, 15 January, 1925, CZA, S25 file 517. The Board of Deputies’ intelligence files are kept at the CZA, Division L4 (as well as Z4) and include reports from throughout the country, especially about remarks made at rallies of the national organizations. 4. An abundance of material about Kalvariski's contacts in the 1920s is presented in Neil Kaplan, ‘Maga'im Arviyyim-Yehudiyyim be-Eretz Yisrael le'ahar Milhemet ha-Olam ha-Rishona’, ha-Mizrah he-Hadash Vol. 27 (1977), pp. 18–45. 5. Kalvariski to Zionist Executive [undated—February 1930], CZA, J105 file 308. 6. ‘Co-operation between the United Bureau and the Press Department regarding the Arab press’, [undated], CZA, J1 file 308. 7. See ‘Negotiations with the opposition in Jaffa’, 16 January, 1931, CZA, J1 file 205. Alhadif to the United Bureau, May 19 1930, CZA, J1, file 308. 8. There were, naturally, individuals and groups who did begin to view the Arab question in a new light following the disturbances; the most prominent among these was David Ben-Gurion. But the process of conceptual change in the Zionist institutions was delayed until control of these institutions was taken over by the labour movement, two years later. See Avraham Sela, ‘Me'oraot ha-Kotel (1929)—Nekudat Mifneh bein Yehudim le-Arvim?’, in Hagit Levski (ed.), Yerushalayim ba-Toda'ah ha-Yehudit uva-Assiyyah ha-Tzionit, Jerusalem, 5749 (1989), pp. 261–77. On the variety of opinions within the Yishuv on the question of whether an Arab nationality exists and the changes in these opinions over time, see Anita Shapira, Herev ha-Yonah, Tel Aviv, 1992, especially pp. 163–4, 252–3, 302–19. 9. Ha'aretz, December 16, 1929 (from his testimony before the commission of inquiry on the 1929 disturbances). 10. Letter from Tawil to the President of the Zionist Federation [undated], CZA, J105 file 31. It hardly needs to be mentioned that neither his testimony nor that of others led to responsibility for the murders being placed on the Palestinian leadership. On the commission's findings, see Yehoshu'a Porat, Mi-Mehumot li-Meridah: ha-Tenu'ah ha-Le'umit ha-Arvit ha-Falestinit 1929–1939, Tel Aviv, 1978, p. 19. 11. Platform of the Northern Farmers’ Party (founded by Muhammad Tawil), 5 May, 1930, CZA, J105, file 8, which also contains correspondence with other rural parties throughout the country. 12. Muhammad Tawil, How the Disturbances in Palestine Began, Jerusalem and Tiberias 1930, pp. 7, 12. 13. At the same time, Alhadif proposed printing and distributing in mosques anti-Christian leaflets bearing fabricated signatures with a view to sow discord between Christians and Muslims. This was apparently the first initiative for using the fictitious-leaflet method, which in later years became a conventional technique for Israeli security organs both within pre-1967 Israel and in the Occupied Territories. In this case the initiative was rejected; see letter from Alhadif to the United Bureau, 5 September, 1930 and the reply of the Bureau's secretary from 10 September of that year, CZA, J105 file 15. 14. Tawil, How the Disturbances, p. 7. 15. Muhammad Tawil, Kitab al-Haqa'iq al-Majhula [no location, 1930]. 16. Muhammad Tawil, Kitab al-Haqa'iq al-Majhula [no location, 1930], pp. 37–8. 17. Muhammad al-Tawil, Tariq al-Hayyah, Haifa, 1930, pp. 4, 12; ‘Propaganda for Peace between Jews and Arabs’, News reports of the Bureau for Arab Affairs, CZA, J105 file 30. 18. ‘Proposal of services by Arab journalists for the [United] Bureau, 25 March, 1930, CZA, J105 file 30. 19. Al-Akhbar (Jaffa), 19 May, 1930. For a Hebrew translation see CZA, J105 file 30. 20. See his letter to Kalvariski from 2 July, 1930, CZA, J105 file 31 and his letter to A. H. Cohen of the United Bureau, 26 October, 1931, CZA, S25 file 3557. 21. See invitation to a meeting at the Amdurski Hotel, Jerusalem, CZA, J105 file 8; Bureau report from 24 April, 1930, CZA, S25 file 3567. 22. Tuqan to Colonel Kisch, 18 January, 1930, CZA, J105 file 23. Mallul edited the newspaper al-Salam. 23. Akram Tuqan and S. Ibrahim, Kitab al-Haqa'iq al-Majhula [Jaffa, c. 1930]. 24. Eliyahu Elyashar, Lihyot im ha-Palastinim, Jerusalem, 1975, p. 14. 25. The first assassination of a Palestinian ‘traitor’ was that of Mussa Hadib, head of the Rural Party in the Hebron hills, who supported the mandate and resolutely opposed the Mufti's policy. He was murdered in Jerusalem. See, among others, Kisch's letter to Major Saunders (Jerusalem Chief of Police), from 3 July, 1931 in CZA, J105 file 3558; al-Jami‘a al-Arabiyya, 14 November, 1934. 26. Report by ‘Salt’, from 22 January, 1930, CZA, J105 file 5; ‘Secret Reports’, 9 March, 1930, CZA, J105 file 5. 27. ‘Assault on an Arab tending toward the Jews’, report from 1 May, 1930, CZA, S25 file 3567. 28. Miraat al-Sharq, 28 May, 1930. Partly translated in CZA, J105 file 8. ‘Collecting signatures’ refers to another practice encouraged by the United Bureau: soliciting the signatures of village representatives on petitions calling for Jewish—Arab co-existence and renouncing the Mufti's leadership. 29. Tawil to the President of the Zionist Federation [1931], CZA, J105 file 31. 30. Filastin, 12 April, 1930; Miraat al-Sharq, 12 April, 1930. 31. Miraat al-Sharq, 24 April, 1930. Kalvariski's approach was, in fact, ambiguous. In the early 1920s he argued that ‘the Muslim–Christian alliance should be broken’, but a decade later he said that the Zionists should not work directly to cause a rift between Christians and Muslims despite any advantage this might gain for them. See Kalvariski to Zionist Executive, 1921, CZA, S25 file 665; Kalvariski, ‘State of the Country’, October 3, 1930, CZA, J1 file 205b. 32. Abu Ghosh to Ben-Zvi, 1930, CZA, J105 file 23. 33. Filastin, 8 October, 1930. 34. Excerpts from this pamphlet and its translation, 17 October, 1930, CZA, J1 file 3567. 35. Pamphlet by Tawil in Arabic, CZA, J1 file 309. 36. In this matter I am following the normative definition of deviation (including treason) offered by Goode, which holds that a deviation is merely what any given society at any given time determines as opposed to its norms and values. See Erich Goode, Deviant Behaviour, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1994, pp. 15–16, 99–104. 37. Letter from Abu Ghosh to Kalvariski, 18 July, 1930, CZA, J105 file 31. Article by Abu Ghosh in Filastin, 8 October, 1931, and its translation in ‘News of the United Bureau’, 9 October, 1931, CZA, S25 file 3567. 38. Threatening letters from Abu Ghosh to Ben-Zvi and Kalvariski, 23 and 31 December, 1930, CZA, J105 file 23. 39. Alhadif to Shabtai Levi, 30 April, 1930, CZA, J105 file 4. 40. Alhadif to United Bureau, 19 May, 1930, CZA, J105 file 4. 41. Tawil to the Chairman and members of the National Committee, 25 June, 1930, CZA, J1 file 308. 42. CZA, J1 file 308. 43. Tawil to President of the Zionist federation [undated], CZA, J1 file 31. 44. Tawil to Ben-Zvi, January 1931, CZA, J1 file 205b. 45. Ben-Zvi to Tawil, 1 January, 1931, CZA, J1. 46. Haganah Historical Archive, deposition by A. H. Cohen, (27.16) recorded July 1953. 47. Tuqan to Kalvariski, 1930, CZA, S25 file 4122. 48. Tuqan to Ben-Zvi, 15 September, 1930, CZA, J1 file 205b. 49. Report to Colonel Kisch, 31 January, 1931,CZA, J105 file 23. 50. Tuqan to Ben-Zvi, 19 January, 1931, CZA, J1 file 205b. 51. Tuqan to Kisch, dated 13 January, 1930 but more likely c. 1931, CZA, J105 file 23. 52. Oral report from Bukspan, 25 January, 1930, CZA, J105 file 26. 53. Akram Tuqan, Hamisha Yamim bi-Me'urat ha-Kenufiyyot ha-Meratzhot, Tel Aviv, 1938. ‘As in 1929, so today I am ready to act at your side against the anarchists’, Shahin wrote to Ben-Zvi, 22 July, 1936, CZA, S25 file 10200. Another collaborator who was active in the same period, Yusef al-Jarrar (Abu Dal'ab) who signed petitions together with Shahin, was murdered during the revolt by his relative Fawzi al-Jarar, one of the rebel commanders in Samaria. 54. It should be noted that this was not the fate of all the collaborators. An opposing example is that of the Bureau's informer nicknamed ‘Na‘aman’ of the village Battir, who assisted the Yishuv's intelligence agencies until his death in 1945 and particularly during the revolt, and was assisted by them when the rebels burned his house. On this, among others, see A. H. Cohen's deposition in the Haganah Archive (testimony file 27.16). On the bombing of ‘Na‘aman's’ house (after he was suspected among other things of supplying the information that led to the killing of Sa‘id al ‘As, one of the 1936 revolt's commanders) see report from 22 April, 1937, CZA, S25 file 3571. 55. Shertok referred to this several years after becoming the head of the Jewish Agency's Political Department, and described the basic concept of deploying collaborators as unrealistic and illusory. See ‘Lecture by Moshe Shertok: an Introduction to the Arab Problem’, Jerusalem, 6 May, 1940, CZA, S25 file 22201, pp. 2–4. 56. Tawil to Ben-Zvi, 1931, CZA, J1 file 205. 57. Tawil to the Chairman and members of the National Committee, 25 June, 1930, CZA, J1 file 308. 58. Muhammad al-Tawil, Tariq al-Hayyah, Haifa, 1930. 59. Memorandum by Zaki Alhadif to the Council on Arab Affairs [of the United Bureau], April 1930, CZA, J105 file 7. For the varying opinions within the Council, see Nimrod, ‘Ma'aseikha Yekarvum’. Additional informationNotes on contributorsHillel CohenHillel Cohen is a Research Fellow at the Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem.