Summary
Kanafani’s characterisation of the 1936-39 revolt in substance: fought overwhelmingly by dispossessed peasants, cradled in the countryside, and in its second phase under almost complete peasant control with local commanders of poor peasant origin.
Details
- According to Nevill Barbour, as cited by Kanafani, 90% of the revolutionaries were peasants who regarded themselves as volunteers, in a country where 59% of Palestinian Arabs were peasants in 1931 (The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, PDF p.21 / printed p.41).
- The greater part of the burden of revolutionary violence in the country and of commando action in the towns continued to be borne by the dispossessed peasants, and the officers who emerged from the ranks of the peasants themselves played the major role (The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, PDF p.23 / printed p.45).
- The British came to realise that, both in essence and substance and as regards its local leadership, it was a peasant revolt; everyone in the towns wore the peasant headdress, the keffiya and agal, so countrymen should not be singled out for oppression (The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, PDF p.25 / printed p.49).
- The countryside in general was the cradle of the revolt, and the temporary occupation of towns in 1938 was achieved after attacks by peasants from outside; the peasants and villagers were paying the highest price (The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, PDF p.25 / printed p.49).
- The overwhelming majority of those sent to prison or to the gallows in 1938 were poor peasants (The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, PDF p.25-26 / printed p.49-50).
Related pages
The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, Abd al-Rahim al-Hajj Muhammad, Feudal-Clerical Leadership