Summary
Editor of al-Ittihad until early 1948 and the most prominent League opponent of partition, whose dissent cost him imprisonment in Lebanon and exclusion from party leadership until the early 1960s, in Manna’s account (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.126-127).
Details
- Tuma (1919-1986) continued to oppose partition after its adoption and after the Nazareth conference, writing that friendship with the Soviet Union did not mean being bound to a foreign policy (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.127).
- He stayed in Haifa until the city fell, left for Lebanon, was arrested there for communist membership and held in Baalbek prison for months, remained in Lebanon after his September release, and was allowed to return to Haifa in April 1949 (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.127).
- The party did not readmit members who did not apologise for opposing partition; Tuma faced a period of exclusion that delayed his return to a leadership position until the early 1960s (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.127).
- With Emile Habibi, Tuma was one of the two Mandate-era communist leaders interviewed by Musa al-Budayri who were active in Maki (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.124).
- Unlike Habibi, who remained free in Beirut, Tuma was arrested on arrival in Lebanon (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.136).
Related pages
Nakba and Survival, National Liberation League, Maki, Emile Habibi