Summary
Jaffa businessman and municipal councillor (born 1910) who headed the city’s six-member Emergency Committee and signed its surrender agreement with the Haganah on 13 May 1948; his repeated complaints for the remaining residents led to arrests, a Supreme Court order for his release that the authorities delayed for weeks, and finally his emigration to Jordan — a story Manna calls Kafkaesque and treats in Chapter 6 as the first of the remainers’ court struggles (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.42, 226-229).
Details
- Abu-Laban, educated at the American University of Beirut, was a leading member of Hajj Amin al-Husayni’s Arab party and treasurer of Jaffa’s National Committee; on 3 May 1948 he headed the Emergency Committee and received the keys to the city’s public institutions from Mayor Yusif Haykal (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.226-227).
- The surrender document he signed with the Haganah leader in Tel Aviv, Michael Ben-Gal, promised residents’ civil rights, no arrests even of those who had fought, and the return of those expelled; the commitments evaporated, and his complaints made him a target — first threatening letters, then house arrest and detention on an arms charge in late July 1948 (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.227).
- Arrested again on 12 September 1948, he vanished into military custody: his lawyer Yitzhak Benyamini was told “the detainee is in the military section so he should see the military police,” was then told at the military prison that Abu-Laban was not there, and got no answer from the army’s judicial counsellor or the military governor (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.228).
- The Supreme Court, in proceedings from 1 November 1948 to 3 January 1949, ruled his administrative detention under article 111 of the 1945 defence (emergency) regulations procedurally unlawful and ordered his release; he was freed only several weeks later, after a 1,500-signature Jaffa petition and Minister Shitrit’s letters to the military government and to Ben-Gurion (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.228).
- Threats and physical assaults continued after his release; he emigrated to Jordan shortly afterwards, and Haaretz commented that the case would be a dangerous precedent if it turned out that “the tension between the rule of law and the administrative authority does not lead to the victory of the law.” (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.229).
Related pages
Nakba and Survival, Jaffa, Bechor Shitrit, British Emergency Regulations