Summary
The Committee for the Defence of Arab Emigrant Rights to Palestinian Nationality (al-lajna li-ladifā’ ‘an huquq al-muhājarīn al-‘arab ala al-jinsiyya al-filastīniyya) [transliteration as printed], or DAER, formed in Bethlehem in 1927 by ‘Isa Bandak and others, in Banko’s account the central organisation through which Palestinian Arab emigrants’ opinions, protests and demands on citizenship were voiced to the London and Palestine administrations and to the British public (The Invention of Palestinian Citizenship, 1918–1947, PDF p.113-114 / printed p.102-103).
Details
- DAER aimed to become the leading representative of Palestinians on nationality issues and a mediator between the emigrants and both administrations, lobbying for changes to the citizenship legislation to benefit all native-born Palestinians; it also addressed the British public in a grassroots approach and crafted an internationalist rhetoric on the right to nationality (PDF p.114 / printed p.103).
- Its members saw it as the ‘expert’ on Palestinian nationality legislation; its secretary, Khalil ‘Isa Muqas, explained its duty as to provide the necessary facilities and guidance on the subject of nationality. Its leaders were initially elected by the inhabitants of Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour; membership was mostly nationalist middle-class, including local political and religious leaders, writers and lawyers, recruited in municipalities from which large numbers of emigrants came (PDF p.114 / printed p.103).
- Its figures came from émigré association reports and do not match British totals or even totals printed in Arab newspapers; by mid-1927 it claimed to represent the (over-estimated) figure of 50,000 Palestinian natives denied their nationality (PDF p.114 / printed p.103).
- Its early 1928 memorandum to High Commissioner Plumer was not anti-British, condemned the legislation while hinting Britain did not intend to deprive the majority of emigrants of ‘their natural civil rights’, and stressed that most emigrants owned immovable property and real estate in Palestine subject to taxation (PDF p.115 / printed p.104).
- Colonial Secretary Amery replied that South American communities had no connection with Palestine and no intention to return and that the principles for deciding applications were ‘quite fair and equitable’; another official urged a general grant as fairness and ‘considerable advantage to British interests’, and the Colonial Office admitted Arab sentiment had been stirred over an arbitrary denial of rights (PDF p.115 / printed p.104).
- In February 1928 DAER accused the Administration of obstructing the right to enjoy nationality by descent, removed, it claimed, to facilitate Jewish immigration, and stated approximately 9,000 Palestinian emigrants, out of approximately 30,000 in the Americas and Europe, had requested citizenship by the end of 1927 (PDF p.115-116 / printed p.104-105).
- Its preparatory committee’s forty-page Appeal to the Noble British People (early 1928), publicised in the Arab press and contributed to by neither the Mufti, the political factions nor the Arab Executive Committee, defined Palestinian nationality through jus sanguinis and jus soli, advocated a general extension to all Palestinian natives, invoked Article 34 of the Treaty of Lausanne, and envisioned an international right to nationality carrying diplomatic protection; it can be assumed not to have achieved its aims (PDF p.116-117 / printed p.105-106).
- In early 1929 DAER reminded the colonial secretary that the false belief that emigrants had severed their connections ‘paralysed to an unimaginable degree’ an estimated 30,000 natives with no recognised nationality, and it continued to lobby High Commissioner Chancellor with evidence of emigrants’ property, land and tax payments (PDF p.120-121 / printed p.109-110).
- Banko credits DAER’s campaign from 1927 with forcing the Colonial Office to reconsider rejections of citizenship and administrators to take greater interest in applications by natives resident abroad, although the July 1931 amendment that eventually followed did not reflect the emigrants’ and lobbyists’ demands (PDF p.121 / printed p.110, PDF p.143-144 / printed p.132-133).
Related pages
The Invention of Palestinian Citizenship, 1918–1947, ‘Isa Bandak, Palestinian Arab diaspora, Palestine Citizenship Order-in-Council 1925, Palestine Citizenship Order (Amendment) 1931, Right of Return