Summary
The most prominent of the adventurist nationalist officers who entered Palestine from the Arab world during the 1936 revolt, in Kanafani’s account; he declared himself commander in chief, while the burden of the fighting continued to be borne by the dispossessed peasants and their own officers.
Details
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Large numbers of Arab freedom fighters poured into Palestine during the revolt, among them Sa’id al-As, who was killed in October 1936, and Sheikh Muhammad al-Ashmar; the influx also comprised a number of adventurist nationalist officers, the most prominent of whom was Fauzi al-Qawuqji (The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, PDF p.23 / printed p.44-45).
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Qawuqji entered Palestine at the head of a small band in August 1936 and shortly afterwards declared himself commander in chief of the revolt (The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, PDF p.23 / printed p.44-45).
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Although these men improved and expanded the tactics of the rebels, Kanafani stresses that the greater part of the burden of revolutionary violence and commando action continued to be borne by the dispossessed peasants and by the officers who emerged from the peasants’ own ranks (The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, PDF p.23 / printed p.44-45).
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In Pappe’s Chapter Five, al-Qawuqji commanded an army of 2,000 men in the Galilee, limited by his strategy of dividing his troops into small units; realising the Jews enjoyed superiority in every military parameter, he sought a truce in January, February and March 1948 and at the end of March met Yehoshua Palmon to offer a non-aggression pact and a cantonised Palestine, which was rejected, Palmon having been sent more as a spy than as a delegate (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, PDF p.146).
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His attack on Kibbutz Mishmar Ha-Emek on 4 April 1948, in direct response to the Jewish mass expulsions begun around 15 March, failed after ten days of fighting — the only Arab offensive action before May 1948 — and convinced the Arab leaders they would have to send regular forces (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, PDF p.137; PDF p.148).
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In June 1948 al-Qawuqji (spelled al-Qawqji in the Chapter Seven and Eight passages) commanded the ALA volunteers in the Galilee from around Nazareth; by October his units still held villages in the northern Galilee, all part of the UN-designated Arab state, waging a mini-guerrilla of sniper fire before Operation Hiram wiped out the remaining resistance (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, PDF p.182, p.213-214).
Related pages
The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, Peasant Revolt, Surrounding Arab Regimes