History told by the vanquished: A critical reading of 1947-1948 war diaries as historical sources

المؤلفون

  • المؤلف

  • Bilal Mohammed Shalash

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31430/almuntaqa.2.2.0009

الكلمات المفتاحية:

Memoirs، Palestinian historiography، Jaffa Nakba، Palestinian History

الملخص

Few studies and historical texts, especially in Arabic, discuss the battles fought over the coastal city of Jaffa during the 1947 - 1949 War. But alongside these few works, there do exist memoirs and autobiographies written by various characters active in the city during the same period. These texts are very important to writing the history of the first part of the War (December 1947 - 15 May 1948). Given the prominence of autobiographies and memoirs as sources, recent critical studies have considered their place in Palestinian historiography as a whole.(3) Using a group of archival documents telling the story of the garrison of Jaffa and the role it played in the trajectory of the battle, I have worked to write the history of the garrison’s military activities from December 1947 to April 1948. The central thesis of this work is that Jaffan memoirs – like most of those written about the war, at least in its first stage – are written from the perspective of the defeated. This has a negative effect on the accuracy of the information, comments, conclusions and assessments presented by these memoirs. Overall, these documents end up being accusatory or self-justifying, and must thus be approached with care.

المراجع

  1. This study was originally presented at the ACRPS’s conference titled “Seventy Years Since the Nakba: Memory and History”, which was held in May 12-14, 2018. It is set to be released in an Arabic book by the same title.
  2. Research Fellow at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS).
  3. See for example Issam Nassar and Salim Tamari (ed.), Dirāsāt fī’t-Tārīkh al-Ijtimāʿī li-Bilād ash-Shām: Qirāʾāt fī’s-Siyar wa’s-Siyar adh-Dhātiyya (Beirut: Muʾassasat ad-Dirāsāt al-Filisṭīniyya, 2007); Mahir Sharif and Qays Zirli, as-Siyar adh-Dhātiyya fī Bilād ash-Shām (Damascus: Dār al-Madā, al-Maʿhad al-Faransī li’sh-Sharq al-Adnā, 2009).
  4. For a short introduction to Jaffa, see “Yāfā” in Abdelhadi Hashim (ed.), al-Mawsūʿa al-Filisṭīniyya (al-Qism al-ʿĀmm) (Damascus: Hayʾat al-Mawsūʿa al- Filisṭīniyya, 1984), vol. 4, pp. 607 - 615. For more details on the history of Jaffa, see: Mustafa Dabbagh, Bilādunā Filisṭīn part 4, Fī’d-Diyār al-Yāfiyya (Kafr Qarʿ, Dār al-Hudā, 1991), pp. 95 - 300. For a discussion of Ottoman Jaffa, see: Hasan Ibrahim Saeed, Yāfā min al-Ghazw an-Nābulyūnī ilā Ḥamlat Ibrahīm Bāshā (1799-1831) , 2ed. (Beirut: Muʾassasat ad-Dirāsāt al-Filisṭīniyya, 2008), vol. 1, pp. 54-164; Mark Levine, Overthrowing Geography Jaffa, Tel Aviv, And The Struggle for Palestine, 1880–1948 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005), pp. 28 - 60.
  5. The best-known of these texts include Aref Al Aref, “Maʿārik Yāfā 02/12/1947 – 13/05/1948,” an-Nakba, Nakbat Bayt al-Maqdis wa’l-Firdaws al-Mafqūd, 1947-1949 , part 1, Min Qarār at-Taqsīm 29/11/1947 ilā bidʾ al-Hudna al-Ūlā 11/06/1948 , Waleed Al Khalidi int. (Beirut: Muʾassasat ad-Dirāsāt al-Filisṭīniyya, 2012), pp. 218-259; Waleed Al Khalidi, “Wathāʾiq Mukhtāra ʿan Ḥarb 1948, Ādhār/Māris – Ayyār/Māyō, Majallat ad-Dirāsāt al- Filisṭīniyya , 9:34 (spring 1998, 19-84), pp. 77 - 85.
  6. C.f. The memoirs of Jaffa Mayor Yusuf Haykal, taken from his Madīnat az-Zuhūr (Yāfā)and published in: Yusuf Haykal, “Yāfā fī Sanawāt al-Akhīra,” Yāfā ʿAṭru Madīna , Imtiyaz Diab ed. (Beirut: Dār al-Fatā’l-ʿArabī; Nazareth: Markaz Yāfā li’l-Abḥāth, 1991), pp. 29 - 56. Another work by Haykal also covers moments from the war: Jalasāt fī Raghadān (Amman: Dār al-Jalīl, 1988), pp. 9-23; the memoirs of Salah al-Nazir, a member of the National Committee and one of the leaders responsible for the safety of the city published in Salahal-Nazir, “Suqūṭ Yāfā bi-Yad al-Yahūd,” Yāfā li’l-Abad Kamā ʿĀshahā Nāṣir ad-Dīn al-Nashāhībī, Ṣalāḥ Ibrāhīm an-Nāẓir, Muḥammad Saʿīd Ishkantnā (Beirut: al-Muʾassasa al-ʿArabiyya li’d-Dirāsāt wa’n-Nashr, 2013: 69-100); the journalist Muhammad Saeed Ishkantna, published in the same book as “Asrār Suqūṭ Yāfā: Sijill Tārīkhī Yafḍaḥu’l-Muʾāmarāt ʿalā ʿArūs Yāfā,” Hashim Al Sab’, Dhikrayāt Ṣaḥafī Muḍṭahad al-Juzʾ al-Awwal (Jerusalem: [self published], 1953); Muhammad Nimr al-Huwari, Sirr an-Nakba (Nazareth: Maṭbaʿat al-Ḥakīm, 1955); Fawzi Qawuqji, Mudhakkirāt Fawzī al-Qāwuqjī 1890-1988 , edited by Khayriyye Qasimiyye, 2nd ed with accompanying documents (Damascus: Dar an-Numayr, See also the following memoirs written by inhabitants of the city who witnessed parts of the war: Tamam al-Akhal, al-Yad Tarā wa’l-Qalb Yarsum: Sīrat Tamām al-Akḥal wa-Ismāʿīl Shammūṭ , edited by Ghanim Bibi, introduction by Elias Khoury (Beirut: Muʾassasat ad-Dirāsāt al-Filisṭīniyya, 2016); Shafiq al-Hut, Bayn al-Waṭan wa’l-Manfā: Min Yāfā Badaʾ al-Mishwār (Beirut: Riyad Al Rayyes, 2007); Eric Rolo ed., Filisṭīnī bilā Huwwiyya: Ṣalāḥ Khalaf Abu Iyād, Sayakūnu
  7. See for example Issam Nassar and Salim Tamari (ed.), Dirāsāt fī’t-Tārīkh al-Ijtimāʿī li-Bilād ash-Shām: Qirāʾāt fī’s-Siyar wa’s-Siyar adh-Dhātiyya (Beirut:
  8. See the conclusion of Sharif’s Ṭarīq al-Kifāḥ fī Filisṭīn wa’l-Mashriq al-ʿArabī: Mudhakkirāt al-Qāʾid ash-Shuyūʿī Maḥmūd al-Aṭrash al-Maghribī (1903- 1939) (Beirut: Muʾassasat ad-Dirāsāt al-Filisṭīniyya, 2015), pp. 349 - 359. Sanat 1948: Naẓra ʿan Kathab ilā Iḥtilāl Qaryat Fassūṭa al-Jalīliya,” Majallat ad-Dirāsāt al-Filisṭīniyya 110 (Spring 2017), pp. 110 - 137.
  9. Similarly, many studies have discussed oral history as a source for studying the 1947 - 1949 war. The most prominent examples of studies comparing Zionist archival material with oral histories include Kobi Bilid, “ash-Shahādāt ash-Shafawiyya wa’l-Maṣādir al-Arshīfiyya wa’l-Ḥarb al-ʿArabiyya - al-Isrāʾīliyya fī 1995), pp. 349, 371 - 388. See also the memories recorded in Yāfā ʿAṭru Madīna , such as Ahmad Abu Laban, pp. 107-108; Ahmad Abderrahim, pp. 115 - 126. lanā Dhāt Yawm Waṭan , edited by Fuad Abu Hajle, 2nd ed (Amman, Dār al-Jalīl li’n-Nashr wa’d-Dirāsāt wa’l-Abḥāth al-Filisṭīniyya, 1996); Khayri Abu’l- Jabeen, Ḥikāyāt ʿan Yāfā (Amman: Dār ash-Shurūq li’n-Nashr wa’t-Tawzīʿ, 2008). Muʾassasat ad-Dirāsāt al-Filisṭīniyya, 2007); Mahir Sharif and Qays Zirli, as-Siyar adh-Dhātiyya fī Bilād ash-Shām (Damascus: Dār al-Madā, al-Maʿhad al- Faransī li’sh-Sharq al-Adnā, 2009).
  10. This brief overview is based on previous work by the author. See the chapter titled “Fajran Aqlaʿnā: Faṣl ʿAn Inṭilāqat Muqāwamat Yāfā” in Bilal Mohammed Shalash, Yāfā Damm ʿAlā Ḥajar... Ḥāmiyat Yāfā Wa Fiʿluhā al-ʿAskarī: Dirāsat Wathāʾiq (Beirut: ACRPS, 2018).
  11. This brief summary is based on the chapters “Shuhūr al-Istinzāf: Faṣl ʿan Bunyat Ḥāmiyat Yāfā wa-Fiʿlihā al-ʿAskarī Shubāṭ/Fibrāyir – Nīsān/Abrīl 1948” and “Laylu’l-Manshiya: Faṣl ʿan al-Hazīma”, from the author’s Yāfā Dam ʿala Ḥajar , vol 1.
  12. See: Khayriyye Qasimiyye, “al-Mudhakkirāt wa’s-Siyar adh-Dhātiyya Maṣdaran li-Tārīkh Filisṭīn fī’l-Qarn al-ʿAshrīn,” Dirāsāt fī’t-Tārīkh al-Ijtimāʿī li-Bilād ash-Shām: Qirāʾāt fī’s-Siyar wa’s-Siyar adh-Dhātiyya , edited by Issam Nassar and Salim Tamari (Beirut: Muʾassasat ad-Dirāsāt al-Filistīniyya, 2007), pp. 44 - 66. Compare with the methodological insights provided by Dr. Kawtharani in the same book: “Ishkālāt az-Zaman at-Tārīkhī fī Qirāʾat al-Mudhakkirāt: Mudhakkirāt Jamāl ad-Dīn al-Qāsimī wa-Mushāhadātuh,” Dirāsāt fī’t-Tārīkh al-Ijtimāʿī , pp. 33 - 34.
  13. Al-Huwari, Siyar an-Nakba , pp. 36 - 37.
  14. TN: The reference here is to Al Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, an ostensibly tyrannical governor of Iraq in the classical period. with flagrant hypocrisy.
  15. TN: Literally “walking in funeral processions”. This is a reference to a popular expression, “he kills a man and walks in his funeral procession” – i.e. acts
  16. Ibid, pp. 37 - 38.
  17. Ibid, p. 38. p. 2., and the speech as given in ash-Shaʿb , 11 December 1947, p. 4.
  18. “ Ijtimāʿ Majlis al-Amn fī Yāfā, Qarār at-Taqsīm Sayaẓallu Ḥibran ʿAlā Waraq”, Filiṣṭīn, 11 December 1947, p. 2. See also: ad-Difāʿ , 11 December 1947,
  19. Al-Huwari, Sirr an-Nakba , pp. 39 - 40.
  20. Ibid, pp. 44 - 46.
  21. Filisṭīn , 12 December 1947, pp. 1, 4.
  22. Huwari, Sirr an-Nakba , pp. 53 - 54.
  23. “ Maḥḍar al-Ijtimāʿ maʿ Muḥammad Nimr al-Huwārī bi-Tārīkh 11 Kānūn al-Awwal/Dīsimbir 1947”. Central Zionist Archives, S25-4011. ash-Shaʿb , December 1947, p. 4.
  24. “ Ijtimāʿ Majlis al-Amn fī Yāfā, Qarār at-Taqsīm Sayaẓallu Ḥibran ʿala Waraq”, Filisṭīn , 11 December 1947, p. 2. C.f. ad-Difāʿ , 11 December 1947, p. 2;
  25. Huwari, Sirr an-Nakba , p. 40. helped him to realise them. See for example Rashad Urfeh’s writings in: Abu’l-Jabin, Ḥikāyāt , p. 157; Ishkantna, Asrār Suqūṭ , pp. 81 - 82.
  26. On Huwari’s exit from Jaffa, see: al-Huwari, Sirr an-Nakba , pp. 52 - 55. His quiet withdrawal allowed him to continue to play a political role among the members of his organisation, whose own papers make it clear that they were unaware of his ambitions and his willingness to support the Zionist movement if it
  27. Al-Huwari, Sirr an-Nakba , p. 41.
  28. “ Maḥḍar al-Ijtimāʿ maʿ Muḥammad Nimr al-Huwārī bi-Tārīkh 11 Kānūn al-Awwal/Dīsimbir 1947”, Central Zionist Archives, file no. S25-4011.
  29. Haykal, Jalasāt fī p. 44.
  30. Ishkanta, Asrār Suqūṭ , p. 84.
  31. Abu Darwish Al Falaha, “Abū’d-Darwīsh al-Falāḥa”, Yāfā ʿAṭru Madīna , ed. Imtiyaz Diab (Beirut: Dār al-Fatā al-ʿArabī, 1991: 133-135), p. 134.
  32. Haykal, Yāfā Fī , p. 44.
  33. Taha Al Hashimi, “Naṣṣ Yawmiyyāt”, manuscript, copy held at the Institute for Palestinian Studies in Beirut. Entry dated 14 February 1948.
  34. Hashimi, “Naṣṣ Yawmiyyāt”, 12 February 1948.
  35. Ibid, 15 February 1948.
  36. C.f. Haykal’s description of his meeting with the King and his encounter with Ali in Amman, Jalasāt Fī , pp. 9 - 15. pp. 197 - 198.
  37. David Ben Gurion, Yawmiyyāt al-Ḥarb 1947-1948 , Ghershon Riflin ed, Samir Jabbour trans, 2nd ed (Beirut: Muʾassasat ad-Dirāsāt al-Filisṭīniyya, 1998),
  38. Nazir, Suqūṭ Yāfā , p. 47.
  39. Nazir, Suqūṭ Yāfā, pp. 45 - 46.
  40. Ishkantna, Asrār Suqūṭ , pp. 87 - 88. al-ʿAskarī: Dirāsa wa-Wathāʾiq (Kānūn al-Awwal/Dīsimbir 1947 – Nīsān/Abrīl 1948). 1948, p. 2. file no. S25-4015.
  41. This section is based on a detailed reading of hundreds of documents conducted as part of the project Yāfā Dam ʿAlā Ḥajar… Ḥāmiyat Yāfā wa-Fiʿluhā
  42. As well as the creation of administrative structures to handle impropriety, whose activities are recorded by the documents, Najmeddin banned the sale of alcohol in the Jaffa Municipality after 7PM, apparently in order to prevent prostitution. See: “Bayān min Āmir Ḥāmiyat Madīnat Yāfā,” ad-Difāʿ , 22 March
  43. See Salameh’s declaration: “Bayān min Ḥasan Salāma ilā Ahālī Yāfā al-Ashāwis bi-Tārīkh 27 Kānūn ath-Thānī/Yanāyir 1948,” Central Zionist Archive,
  44. See: “Bayān min Āmir Ḥāmiyat Yāfā ilā’s-Sukkān,” ad-Difāʿ , 4 April 1948, p. 2.
  45. This question is discussed in detail in Shalash, “al-Qādim al-ʿArabī: Iḍāfa Am Nuqṣān?” Yāfā Dam , vol 1. the leadership of the garrison. Suqūṭ Yāfā , pp. 51 - 52. Haykal, Yāfā fī Sanawātihā al-Akhīra , p. 54.
  46. C.f. Nazir’s discussion of Najmeddin’s dismissal, which contradicts the accusations he makes elsewhere by emphasising his central role in the city and in
  47. See for more on the elite’s attitude: Motti Golani, The End of the British Mandate for Palestine: The Diary of Sir Henry Gurney 1948 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), p. 181. Haykal refers to a meeting held by the remaining members of the National Committee and the garrison command (at that point led by Michel Isa) at the house of Muhammad Abderrahim. Discussion centred on whether to declare Jaffa an ‘open city’ or to risk the lives of the remaining members of the garrison and the police to defend the city after 15 May. According to Haykal the attendees concluded that it would be pointless to sacrifice the remaining defenders and that continuing the defence – which in practical terms had already collapsed – would simply give the Jews the right to enter Jaffa by force. See:
  48. See for example Crouthamel’s study of letters sent by injured German WWI veterans suffering from shellshock, which argues that despite their importance as a vital historical source they must be approached with caution. The veterans studied had accommodated their experiences to the prevailing political environment, making their individual memory accord with collective memory, and there was much to suggest a certain opportunism and a distortion of facts in these letters intended to defend their authors during their political struggle against ill-treatment as victims of shellshock. Jason Crouthamel, "Memory as a battlefield: Letters by traumatized German veterans and contested memories of the Great War" in: Memory and History Understanding Memory as Source and Subject , Edited By
  49. See for example the description in Al Hout, Bayn al-Waṭan , pp. 34 - 31. Israel and Zionism – Ben Gurion University, 2017), Document 3, p. 204. Al Akhal, Al-Yad Tarā , pp. 18-20, 22, 36.
  50. An example of this appears in a Haganah intelligence report describing Rajab Al Akhal’s assumed role in the construction of mines and his participation in the Arab demolition squadron. No further information is provided on this by other archival documents, but some fragments do appear in the autobiography of Tamam Al Akhal, Rajab’s nephew. See: Alon Kadish et al, The Battle for Jaffa in 1948 [Hebrew] (Sde Boker: Ben Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Joan Tumblety, (London: Routledge, 2013), pp. 155 - 156.
  51. See for example al-Akhal, al-Yad Tarā , p. 28; Al Hout, Bayn al-Waṭan , pp. 32 - 33.
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