Summary
The six-month countrywide strike of 1936, supervised by the Arab Higher Committee under the Mufti, as narrated in Niqula Khoury’s Memoirs (‘The House of the Priest’: A Palestinian Life (1885-1954), PDF p.125, p.128).
Details
- In Khoury’s account the leadership decided on a strike in all areas of work throughout the whole country, implemented starting on the first of May 1936: stores, shops, factories, industries, schools, transportation, cafes and clubs closed and the workforce halted completely in cities and villages, despite government attempts to stop it; ten leaders were elected to form the highest body under the headship of the Mufti to supervise the strike, with a committee in every village representing it (PDF p.125).
- Khoury recounts food shortage, his family’s removal to Birzeit and return to Jerusalem in the Anglican Archbishop’s car, his daily walks of an hour each way from al-Baqa al-Fawqa, and his visits to arrested and exiled leaders, for which the Mufti appointed two men to protect him (PDF p.126).
- Khoury blames Fakhri al-Nashashibi for compelling the Jaffa port workers to walk out although the Committee had exempted them, so that the ships transferred from Jaffa to Tel Aviv; the editors’ note holds Khoury’s version to be that of a Husseini partisan and points to the port workers’ genuine grievances and to factional conflict rather than the financial gain Khoury alleges (PDF p.126-127).
- Nearly a week after Takla Khoury’s wedding on 4th October 1936 (Eastern Calendar), the Arab kings and leaders intervened and asked the Committee to break off the strike, pledging to work together to save the Holy Land; the Committee ordered the people to cease, and life slowly returned to normal after six months, in which, Khoury writes, “we lost huge amounts of money and the port of Jaffa forever” (PDF p.128).
Related pages
‘The House of the Priest’: A Palestinian Life (1885-1954), 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, Arab Higher Committee, Niqula Khoury, Fakhri al-Nashashibi