Summary
Melkite (Greek Catholic) archbishop — named in the volume as Bishop of Galilee (Introduction), Archbishop Grigorios Hajjar (Nassif) and bishop of Haifa (Papastathis) — a well-known and widely admired figure of the Mandate period, noted for his nationalist activism and as an interlocutor for the Peel Commission in 1937 (‘The House of the Priest’: A Palestinian Life (1885-1954), PDF p.30, p.41, p.58).
Details
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The Introduction names Gregorios Haggear (Hajjar), Greek Catholic Bishop of Galilee, for his nationalist activism: he travelled around Europe in support of the Arab cause and was an interlocutor for the Peel Commission in 1937 (PDF p.30).
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Nassif records that Niqula Khoury considered himself Hajjar’s equal, and that Khoury claimed the Arab Higher Committee proposed his own name to the Peel Commission before Yaqub Farraj insisted the Christian spokesman should be Hajjar, since an archbishop’s testimony would carry more weight than a priest’s; Hajjar’s memory, Nassif notes, is still alive today, as Khoury’s does not seem to be (PDF p.41).
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Papastathis records the same blocking from the other side: Farraj blocked Khoury’s selection as representative of the Arab Christian clergy to the Peel Commission, putting in his place the Greek Catholic bishop of Haifa Gregorius Hajjar (PDF p.58).
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In the Memoirs Khoury recounts the sequel to Hajjar’s being put in his place before the Royal Commission: Farraj insisted the spokesman for the Christians should be Archbishop Gregorios Hajjar, ‘the archbishop for the Greek Catholics in Haifa’, under the pretext that an archbishop’s testimony has more value than a priest’s (‘The House of the Priest’: A Palestinian Life (1885-1954), PDF p.129). In §43 Khoury says the rebels almost killed Father Yaqub al-Hanna and his relatives ‘because of Bishop Hajjar’s denunciation of them’ (PDF p.154).
Related pages
‘The House of the Priest’: A Palestinian Life (1885-1954), Niqula Khoury, Yaqub Farraj, Peel Commission