Summary
Palestinian party founded in December 1934 and headed by Raghib al-Nashashibi, which Kanafani presents as the party of the urban comprador bourgeoisie, the right wing of the national leadership, the legal representative of the Transjordan regime inside the movement, and the organiser of the peace detachments that hunted the rebels.
Details
- The party is listed among the six groups that emerged after the dissolution of the Arab Executive Committee in August 1934: the National Defence Party, headed by Raghib al-Nashashibi, founded in December 1934, representing the new urban bourgeoisie and the senior officials (The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, PDF p.21 / printed p.40-41).
- Before the Arab Higher Committee was formed, the National Defence Party, representing first and foremost the growing urban comprador class, was not really disposed for an open clash with the British (The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, PDF p.22 / printed p.42-43).
- The forces to the right of Amin al-Hussaini, led by the Defence Party, immediately opposed the leadership’s decision to boycott the Peel Commission and gave numerous indications of their desire to accept the settlement Britain was to propose; the party then failed to take an unambiguous stand against the Peel report of 7 July 1937 (The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, PDF p.24 / printed p.46-47).
- The Defence Party played the role of legal representative of the subservient Transjordan regime in the Palestinian nationalist movement; Kanafani describes it as a small group of urban effendis representing the rising comprador bourgeoisie, whose existence and growth depended on being linked not only with British colonialism but also with the Zionist movement (The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, PDF p.27 / printed p.52-53).
- Kanafani sums up the party’s record in a long quotation from Anis Sayegh: it cooperated with the occupation authorities in the administrative field and with Zionism in the commercial field, sold land to the Jews, acted as brokers, disseminated misgivings and impeded nationalist activity (The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, PDF p.27 / printed p.52-53).
- A number of Defence Party leaders took part in establishing the peace detachments, small mercenary forces formed in cooperation with the English which helped to hunt down the rebels; Fakhri al-Nashashibi was a leader of one of these divisions, in arming them and directing their activities (The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, PDF p.27-28 / printed p.52-55).
- Throughout, Kanafani notes, the British acted on their conviction that al-Nashashibi could never be a substitute for the Mufti (The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, PDF p.28 / printed p.54-55).
Related pages
The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, Raghib al-Nashashibi, Transjordan, Amir Abdullah, Surrounding Arab Regimes, Arab Executive Committee, Independence Party, 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine