Summary
Mandate-era communist activist expelled from the Palestine Communist Party leadership in 1940 for “nationalist deviation,” whom al-Ittihad in the early 1950s accused of working from Libya to encourage Palestinians in Israel to emigrate there — a different man from the attorney Muhammad Nimr al-Hawwari (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.232-233).
Details
- ‘Awda, close to the Palestinian nationalist movement, was delegated by the Communist Party leadership to gather information on that movement, but apparently began conveying information about the party to the nationalist leaders instead; he was accused of informing to the Arab Higher Committee and thrown out of the party leadership in 1940 (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.232).
- He went to Iraq in 1941 and took part in Rashid ‘Ali al-Kaylani’s revolt, as did Fu’ad Nassar; after returning to Palestine he did not join the National Liberation League, and Musa al-Budayri’s interview with him in Beirut on 15 March 1974 treats his 1940s activities without explaining much about the charges of collaboration with Britain (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.232-233).
- Al-Ittihad named him a party to the foreign-ministry policy of encouraging Arab emigration to Libya, living in Libya and encouraging the absorption of Palestinians to work there, and gave Subhi al-Ayyubi’s departure as an example of the policy’s success (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.232).
Related pages
Nakba and Survival, Palestine Communist Party, Fu’ad Nassar, Subhi al-Ayyubi