Summary
The Syrian-born turner and Hijaz Railway veteran who, with ‘Abd al-Hamid Haymur, led the Arab railway workers’ mutual aid society and then co-founded the Palestine Arab Workers Society in 1925 (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, lines 1564-1570).
Details
- Qawwas was a turner, short and slight, who wore Western-style clothing and a tarbush in the style of the young intellectuals of those days, and was described by Bulus Farah as a man of broad culture; like Haymur he originally came from what had become the French-ruled state of Syria and had previously been employed on the Hijaz Railway (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, line 1566; Chapter 3 note 62).
- He had been involved for some years in the mutual aid (benevolent) society for Arab railway workers, which refrained from any association with Jews; toward the beginning of 1925 that group sought an independent, purely Arab railway workers’ organisation (lines 1562-1564).
- He was in the Palestine Arab Workers Society’s leadership as one of those drawn from the old mutual aid society group (line 1570).
Related pages
Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, Palestine Arab Workers Society, ‘Abd al-Hamid Haymur, Bulus Farah, Palestine Railways