Summary
Egyptian political movement in Pappe’s account whose volunteers joined the southern coastal plain in early 1948 full of enthusiasm but totally ineffective, and who made up almost fifty per cent of the 10,000 troops Egypt sent into Palestine in May 1948, many released from prison for the expedition without military training.
Details
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Muslim Brotherhood volunteers from Egypt arrived in the southern coastal plain alongside Qawuqji’s appearance further north; they were full of enthusiasm but totally ineffective as soldiers, quickly proven when the villages they were supposed to defend were occupied, emptied and destroyed in quick succession (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, PDF p.146-147).
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Of the 10,000 troops Egypt set aside in May 1948, almost fifty per cent were Muslim Brotherhood volunteers; the movement vowed to restore Egypt and the Arab world to the Orthodox ways of Islam and regarded Palestine as a crucial battlefield against European imperialism, while also regarding the Egyptian government as a collaborator with that imperialism; thousands of its members imprisoned for violence in that campaign were released in May 1948 to join the expedition, with no military training (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, PDF p.160).
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In early June 1948 the Brotherhood volunteers displayed tenacity despite their poor equipment and lack of training, succeeding in holding their lines in the Negev, while Egypt also held Isdud and some inner enclaves in the Naqab (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, PDF p.180-181).