Summary
Ibrahim ‘Ali al-Shaykh Khalil (1908–2002), Sha’b fighter who joined ‘Izz al-Din al-Qassam’s organization, fought in the 1936–39 revolt and in 1948, and led what Hillel Cohen, as quoted by Manna, calls one of the best fighting units operating in Galilee — the fighting zeal Israeli authorities used as justification for barring Sha’b’s people from returning (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.169).
Details
- After the partition resolution Abu Is’af became a supporter of Hajj Amin al-Husayni and tried to enlist combatants and procure arms in Galilee to defend Sha’b and neighbouring villages; he was in Majd al-Krum when Operation Hiram launched, withdrew with the Arab Liberation Army, and after its breakup moved to Syria and then other Arab countries, continuing, Sha’b villagers in Lebanon say, activities with Palestinian organizations for a long time; he died in Damascus in 2002 (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.169).
- Within two days of the Israeli army entering Sha’b after Mi’ar fell on 18 July 1948, Abu Is’af gathered his unit, attacked the village and regained control, and kept fighting Israeli forces centred in Mi’ar — causing casualties including an officer named Segev, for whom an Israeli settlement in the area was later named — suffering dozens killed among Sha’b combatants and ARA volunteers (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.170).
- Abu Is’af appears, in Manna’s presentation, as a figure in Elias Khoury’s novel Gate of the Sun — fiction, labelled as such — and Sha’b villagers in Lebanon reserved a special place for him and his unit in their book documenting the village’s history (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.169).
Related pages
Nakba and Survival, Gate of the Sun, Sha’b, Sa’id Salih al-Asadi, Izz al-Din al-Qassam