Palestinians fighting against Nazis: The story of Palestinian volunteers in the Second World War

Introduction

Historical research of the Second World War, and of the role of the transnational soldiers from the colonies that were under the rule of the colonial European powers in general, and of the British colonies in particular, has aroused and continues to arouse great interest among researchers and historians from all over the world. In recent years, a number of important studies have appeared on this subject. For example, the book Guardians of Empire, edited by David Killingray and David Omissi, deals with a wide variety of subjects concerning the situation of the fighters from the colonies, especially with regard to the question of the ties between them and the colonial powers in the various countries and regions, such as India, Indonesia, African countries and those of the Pacific Ocean, etc. ¹ In another book by David Killingray and Martin Plaut, Fighting for Britain, an extensive discussion was made on the question of the African soldiers recruited into the British army during the Second World War. The book deals, among other things, with the process of recruitment and assimilation, with the difficulties the soldiers encountered during the course of their service, and also after their return to their native countries. The authors already note in the introduction that the African volunteers – except those from South Africa – did not receive sufficient attention in the research literature, which is amazingly similar to the situation of the Palestinian volunteers who were also not granted any general and comprehensive research. ²

The book Africa and World War II, which has recently appeared, also contains a series of important articles on the fighters from the colonies. These articles refer more to the subject of employment, racism and discrimination, and of the exploitation of manpower from among the citizens of the various African countries, such as Kenya, Morocco and West Africa in general. ³

The book by Ashley Jackson, which also deals with the British Empire during the war, refers to the subject of the volunteers as part of the course of the war in its various arenas and integrates them into the general discussion. Unlike those previously mentioned, he does not separate them or discuss them under the heading of a specific country or continent, as we shall see later on in this article. ⁴

It is important to note that the issue of Palestinian research during the three decades of the Mandate period has engaged, and still engages, many researchers in Israel, Palestine and around the world. It is interesting that among the large number of studies there are few mentions of the thousands of Palestinian Arab volunteers who were recruited into the British army, who had served together with the thousands of Palestinian Jews in mixed or separate units, and had fought against the Nazi powers and their allies in Europe, in the Libyan Desert, in the Horn of Africa, and elsewhere.

Many research studies and articles were published on the Jewish volunteers, which reached its peak in the establishment of the Jewish Brigade Group in July 1944. ⁵ In contrast to this, there is hardly any reference to the thousand of Palestinian volunteers, some of whom fell in battle, while others are still listed as missing in action, and no commemoration of the fallen can be found anywhere. ⁶

Lack of reference to this subject is salient in the Palestinian and Israeli narratives. The emphasis in Israeli historiography was given to the Jewish volunteers and their active roles in the various military forces. In contrast to this, emphasis in Palestinian historiography was given to the struggle with British rule and opposition to Zionism. Thus the contribution of the Palestinians and the role of the Arab volunteers in the war were shunted aside.

This article attempts to shed light on the story about the volunteer recruitment of young Palestinians to the British army. The article is based on various primary and secondary sources. The British National Archives, especially the documents of the War Office, contain a variety of information on the British recruitment policy, in addition to the current reports of military and government personnel. The Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem contains many documents and reports on the recruitment policy among the Jews, but only a few of these documents refer to the Arab volunteers. The Haganah Archives contain reports of the ‘Intelligence Services’ which reported on the general situation and the volunteer and recruitment activity within Palestinian society. The IDF Archives include primary material regarding the war. The Palestinian press of the Mandate period, mainly the newspapers Filastin and al-Difaa’, contains hundreds of news items and reports dealing with the subject. Memoirs and personal diaries also referred to it, especially the diary of Audrey Chitty, the General Commander of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) in the Middle East. In addition, I conducted interviews with a number of Arab volunteers who are still living. All of this is over and above the various books and articles that have been written about the subject of volunteering or on the Second World War in general.

Although the article deals with one relatively small group of volunteers, research of this subject is likely to contribute to and become integrated within the wide-ranging literature written about it and the complex system of relations between a colonial power and the native citizens under its rule during the war period. In other words, research on the Palestinian case, which is at the micro level, may shed light and broaden the knowledge on the subject in question at the macro level. The present research links up with the important studies mentioned above that dealt with the large and important British colonies in Asia and Africa.

The article will attempt to answer a number of questions.

Outbreak of the war – the Palestinian position

It may be said that a situation of uncertainty prevailed with regard to the official Palestinian position on the war. This derived from the lack of a united and organized Palestinian leadership when the war broke out. The ‘High Arab Committee’, which had been set up at the initiative of the heads of the Arab political parties in April 1936, was outlawed by the British in September 1937. Most of its members were in exile, others were under arrest. This meant that no clear guidelines were published for the public. In view of this, three different approaches developed among the Arab population: the neutral approach, the anti-British approach, and the pro-British approach. ⁷

For purposes of discussion, I shall refer in this article only to the third group. It appears that an important and central portion of the Palestinian public believed that it was necessary to stand on the British side, to postpone nationalist demands, to fight as one man against the Germans and their allies, and to demand recompense at the end of the war. Supporters of this faction were from among the Palestinian elite which included the leaders of the opposition, city mayors, tribal heads and village leaders, senior officials, merchants and industrialists, religious clerics, and others. ⁸ The activists in this faction engaged in intensive pro-British propaganda, were ready to act in far-reaching cooperation with the British authorities, and gave unhesitating support to volunteering in the British army. Their attitude was in conformity with the position of the ruling elites in Arab countries which were under the direct British control or influence such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Jordan.

Among these countries, it was the Emirate of Transjordan under Emir Abdullah which was outstanding in its unequivocal support of the British. In a British intelligence report of September 1940, it was recorded that the Emir was not satisfied merely with recruitment of the Jordanians but invested great efforts in persuading Palestinian leaders to follow his line, and that he was successful. ⁹ Syria and Lebanon as well, once they were free of the Vichy government in the summer of 1941, adopted an identical position against the Axis powers. ¹⁰

In connection with the position of most of the leaders and the general public in support of Britain and the Allies, David Motadel notes that the efforts of Nazi Germany to recruit into her ranks Muslim allies in the Middle East and North Africa were not especially successful and even failed, in contrast with their relative success in the region of the Balkans and in the areas of Russia that were conquered by the Nazis. It appears that the efforts of the Mufti of Jerusalem – who resided in Berlin, coordinated policy with many leaders of Nazi Germany, and called for support of the Axis powers – did not find attentive ears among the Palestinians. ¹¹

It is important to note that this was not the first time that the Palestinian opposition camp, also known as the Nashashibi Opposition, stood firmly on the British side in their armed struggle. During the course of the Arab Revolt of 1936–1939 they cooperated with the British not only in the political sphere but in suppressing the revolt. Many among them joined the ‘Peace bands’ and assisted in suppressing their own people. ¹² However, as we shall see, this time the cooperation was different and more extensive, especially since it concerned an external enemy.

Beginning of the British propaganda for recruitment

On 12 October 1939, an announcement was published in the local Arabic press in the name of the High Commissioner, Harold McMichael and the General Commander of the British forces in Palestine and in Transjordan, Lieutenant General Michael Barker, in which it said:

The High Commissioner and the General Commander, after consultation with the Government of his Royal Highness, have taken into deep consideration the possibility of deriving benefit from the ranks of Palestinian volunteers for military service who are prepared to fulfill their national duty in the course of the war. ¹³

The announcement also contained a request that whoever was prepared to volunteer for service should apply immediately to the offices of the district governors in their area of residence. The plan was to recruit 2,000 volunteers into the engineering, transport, medical and armament corps.

Gelber notes that the engineering corps command was the first in planning the recruitment and training of young men from Palestine. The aim of the recruitment at the first stage was to augment the field-engineer companies by recruiting various professionals such as engineers, work managers, and other experienced workers in order to accelerate the erection of fortifications on the Egyptian–Libyan border. ¹⁴

In August 1940, the authorities began to organize Arab and Jewish companies within the framework of the infantry corps of the East Kent Regiment of the Royal Fusiliers (Buffs) in which, as we shall see later on, thousands of volunteers served. ¹⁵ Auxiliary military companies in the Royal Pioneer Corps were also established in the mid-1940s. The companies in this corps were at first mixed ones with Arabs and Jews in addition to their British commanders. Later on, volunteering was open for recruitment in the Air and Navy forces as well as in the women’s corps.

In the first recruitment announcement in October 1939 the conditions for absorption of the volunteers were noted. According to them, they would be committed to serve anywhere, and the age of the recruits would range between 20 and 25 years of age. Technicians and those with mechanical skills could also be recruited from those between 30 and 40 years old. The salary for the volunteers was listed as 67 mils per day for those serving in Palestine who had no professional training, and 75 mils per day for the professionally trained. The salary for those serving abroad was 117 mils per day for the unskilled, and 129 for those with professional skills. Increases in salary would be given to volunteers after a raise in rank, as well as for married soldiers. ¹⁶

British propaganda for recruitment among the Arab population of Palestine continued in 1940 with even greater force, and took a different form. This time it was not only through announcements in the press but in activity in the field. The authorities carried out intensive propaganda campaigns throughout the country. The method used was to organize mass gatherings in the cities and in Arab village centres, which were attended by hundreds and sometimes thousands of people.

Senior British officials were always present these gatherings. The more central the event the higher was the rank of British representation. In most cases, the participants included district governors, senior managers, and military and police commanders. The High Commissioner for Palestine was also present on a few occasions. I do not intend to review the large number of such gatherings, but will only give a few examples from various years and in different regions, mainly those in the first three years of the war when the propaganda reached its peak.

It is important to mention that Filastin newspaper, which was known for its pragmatic and pro-British position in opposition to the Mufti and the Husseini camp, gave daily broad surveys of the propaganda activities, and in fact became an important and efficient British propaganda mouthpiece. It should also be noted that the newspaper was published in Jaffa, the largest Palestinian city in Mandate times, and its distribution was the highest in comparison with other Palestinian newspapers. ¹⁷

The first recorded evidence for the mass propaganda gatherings was that of 17 June 1940. This gathering was held in the village of Abu-Dis to the east of Jerusalem, in which about 500 people participated. The initiative on the Palestinian side was the village leader, Abd al-Rahman Bey Erikat. On the British side, there was the deputy district governor, the commander of the Jerusalem police force, and the military governor of the Jerusalem district, as well as Muslim and Christian religious leaders, and the officer Faiz bey Idrees, the head of the ‘villages affairs’ for the promotion of volunteering among the Palestinians, etc. A number of speeches were given at the gathering calling for the promotion of volunteering and expressing support in Britain and the values it represented. ¹⁸

On 3 July 1940, a similar gathering was held in Hebron in which British representatives and local notables attended. Keith-Roach, the governor of the Jerusalem District, stood at the head of the gathering. Prominent on the Arab side were Hajj Fatin Tahboub and Sheikh Kamal Ja‘bari from among the city notables and the heads of well-known and powerful families. Both of them gave speeches and stressed the need for supporting the democratic countries, besides encouraging young Arabs to volunteer for the British army. ¹⁹

On 15 July 1940, a gathering was held in Jenin at the initiative of the military commander of the city. In attendance were the district governor, the mayor and council members of the city, notables, mukhtars of the rural region, and others. The city mayor, Tahseen Abdulhadi gave a speech and called for an Arab–British alliance until victory was won against the Nazis. ²⁰

On 16 July 1940, a large village gathering was held in Kfar Kadoum in Jabal Nablus to which dozens of village leaders in that area were invited. As in previous gatherings, the participants included senior officials, the deputy governor of the Nablus District, Mr. Newton, the supervisor of the Education Ministry, mukhtars and many notables. Those present expressed loyalty to Great Britain until its victory in the war. ²¹

In view of what was said above, we see that in the first stage of propaganda a similar method was used, which consisted of recruiting the leaders and heads of the Arab population, the organization of mass gatherings, and the expression of support for British war effort. Usually, in the wake of every gathering of this kind, scores of young men applied and began the process of their recruitment.

As part of the propaganda in 1940, the Mandate authorities also made use of the official radio that operated in Jerusalem and broadcasted daily in three languages. In that period there were thousands of radio receivers in the homes of rich Arabs. Those without a radio at home would gather in coffee houses to listen to the news. The authorities used to invite local writers as well as writers from Arab countries to give lectures on the subject of the war. For example, the Egyptian writer Ibrahim al-Mazini was invited to an interview and gave a lecture entitled ‘The Arabs and the War’. In his lecture he showered praises on British rule in the region and noted that it was the duty of the Arab nation to stand on the side of the free world headed by Britain, which was fighting for freedom both for itself and for the whole world. According to his words, Britain helped Egypt and Iraq to obtain independence and was helping Syria and other countries to gain a similar independence. ²²

The well-known Egyptian writer Abbas Mahmoud al-A‘qad also gave a lecture that was broadcast over Radio Palestine. In his words: ‘The war is between the high and human values which England represents and the powers of darkness which are represented by the Nazis’. ²³ These writers were not the only ones who took this line; many intellectuals and well-known public personages, such as Taha Hussein in Egypt and Abd al-Rahman Shahbander in Syria, called for the support of the Allies and the values they represented. ²⁴

On 16 October 1940, a festive reception was conducted for A‘qad and Mazini in the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, with the participation of senior officials headed by Sir John MacPherson, Chief Secretary of the Mandate Government in Palestine, British district governors, foreign consuls, the leader of the Palestinian opposition, Raghib Nashashibi, the Mayor of Jerusalem, Mustafa al-Khalidi, the Mayor of Nablus, Suleiman Tukan, the Mayor of Gaza, Rushdie al-Shawa – all three mayors enthusiastic supporters of the British – and the director of the Arab section in Radio A‘jaj Nweihed. The participants unanimously agreed on the need to promote the volunteering of Palestinians in the army. ²⁵

The year 1940 was a successful one from the propaganda standpoint, and this is testified by the number of volunteers, as we shall see below. In 1941 the propaganda level did not lessen, and the method of mass gatherings continued as in the past. For example, on 1 April a gathering was held in Haifa in which many of the Arab public leaders participated. During the course of this gathering a ‘recruitment parade’ was conducted of Arab soldiers who had already been integrated into their units. Dr. Rushdi Tamimi, one of the activists in the city, delivered a speech and blessed the volunteers, seeing in them the followers of King Faisal, who had raised the flag of Arab revolt. In his view, Faisal was the first Arab to call for setting up a military force in cooperation with the British, and that only in this way would the Arabs realize their aims. On 2 April 1941 a large rally was held in the Huleh Valley in which about 6,000 people participated. It was held at the initiative of the valley leader, Kamal Hussein al-Yusuf and in the presence of the Mayor of Safed, Zaki Kadoura. After a festive meal provided by the host, the notables of the Huleh Valley and of Safed expressed their consent for the recruitment of young men to the British army and called out their wishes for a long life to King George V of England. ²⁶

On 4 September 1941, with the aim of continuing with the momentum of volunteer recruitment, the High Commissioner conducted, in the presence of the chief commander of the volunteer forces, a large ‘recruiting march’ in one of the military bases. Since the volunteer units were still mixed, nearly all the Arab and Jewish public leaders were invited: mayors, mukhtars, the Sheikh of Al-Haram al-Sharif, the Chief Rabbi, representatives of the Jewish Agency, village leaders, Bedouin tribal chiefs, and others. The parade was meant to display the military skills of the volunteers and the level of training they had received. The volunteers noted in the presence of the invitees that they were being treated very well and were receiving all their needs. ²⁷

During the early months of 1942, with the serious situation on North African front, propaganda for the volunteer recruitment of Arabs increased in addition to that of the Jews. Among the important developments was the appeal to the women in Palestine to serve in the units of the women’s corps, as we shall expand upon below. Besides the call for the recruitment of women, a number of mass gatherings were held. On 19 March 1942, a large assembly was held in Lydda (Lod) at the initiative of the mayor and in the presence of many dignitaries of the city and regional leaders from among the mukhtars, religious clerics, and owners of large estates. Prominent among the officers appointed for the promotion of volunteer recruitment was the officer Rashid abd al-Fattah. ²⁸

On 2 May 1942, a gathering was held in Tulkarem in which thousands took part in addition to the mayor, Hashem al-Jayusi, notables and merchants. The mayor gave a speech and reminded those present of the cruel attitude of the Italians towards the people of Libya. He called upon everyone to stand on the side of the British, the defenders of freedom. Participants at this gathering raised the flags of Britain and supported recruitment into the army. ²⁹ On 28 May 1942, a ‘recruitment parade’ was held in Jerusalem at the initiative of the authorities, and hundreds of Arab volunteers participated in it, marching in their army uniforms. Thousands came to watch and were impressed by the order and discipline. ³⁰

The sources indicate that British propaganda continued until the end of the war. The newspaper, Filastin, reports that in 1945, Rashid abd al-Fatah visited a number of villages in the Samaria region accompanied by British officers for the purpose of recruiting young men. ³¹

In his diary, the Jerusalem journalist and educator Tahar al-Fityani referred to the situation in Jerusalem in the period between 1 January 1943 and 27 May 1944, and described, among other things, the general mood in Arab society in that city during the war period. He noted that the subject of volunteering aroused a certain amount of controversy within the Arab public. At the same time, while discussing the position of some members of the Istiqlal party such as the lawyer Auni Abd al-Hadi, chairman of the party, and Rashid Hajj Ibrahim, a member of the party and a leading Arab public figure in Haifa, he points out the change that was felt in their position towards the British. He maintains that they represented positions similar to those in opposition. ³² The Jerusalem writer, Soubhi Ghusha mentions in his memoir that a significant number of Palestinians in Jerusalem volunteered for the sake of benefits that they received, and others rejected volunteering for ideological reasons due to the harsh British policy towards the Palestinian Arabs. ³³

Gousha also asserts that the supporters of Britain were mostly from among the rich and entrepreneurs, and among those for whom the war was profitable and made them ‘war-wealthy’, as he called it. They cooperated with the British army, took part in the construction of military bases, and employed thousands of workers in projects that were associated with the war effort, while many of the lower classes suffered from a rise in the cost of basic commodities such as sugar, rice, flour, and so on. Lawyer Hanna Nakkara also referred in his memoirs to the mood on the Palestinian street in Haifa during the war. He said that there were many reasons not to support Britain because of its policies toward the Palestinians; however, it was also not acceptable to support Nazi Germany and the terrible crimes of its army. ³⁴

To sum up what has been said so far, we saw that despite the reservations and opposition of those Palestinians who identified with the Husseini camp under Hajj Amin, the Palestinian volunteer movement was broad and inclusive of all groups in the population. The Mandate authorities, leaders and Arab public personages of the first rank invested great efforts in recruiting Arabs and conducted scores of gatherings for this purpose. The impression is that Arab mayors, village leaders and tribal chiefs ‘went out of their way’ to serve the British propaganda machinery, and they did so with a considerable degree of success.

Social background and the motives for volunteering

Most of the volunteers were young villagers. It seems that the urban population enjoyed a better economic situation and standard of living, and were not enthusiastic about military service which was mostly distant from Palestine in North Africa and Europe. In one of the Haganah intelligence reports on Haifa the influence of the economic motive was explicitly noted. After the distribution of flyers in the city calling upon young Arabs to recruit as volunteers in the British army, the intelligence agent asked some who had read them what they thought about this matter. One of the young men answered: ‘We are working and earning well, so why should we leave the city?’ ³⁵

It was explicitly mentioned in the Filastin newspaper that most of the young men applying to the recruitment office were villagers. ³⁶ Several of them came from among the villagers who had migrated to the city but not succeeded in becoming integrated with good jobs. In an interview, a volunteer, Radwan Sa’id (b. 1925), said he had moved to Haifa from the village of Kafar Kana in Galilee where he used to sell eggs that his father supplied from the village. His brother Asa’d, who had also migrated to Haifa, decided to volunteer as a recruit in the British army for two reasons. The first was economic, and the other was for the sake of adventure, to see the wide world. He was inducted into Platoon 401 of the Royal Pioneer Corps. After a few months, Asa’d returned and persuaded his brother to recruit, and he followed his example. He applied to the recruitment office in Haifa, and after he was inducted he was transferred to the training base in Sarafand. ³⁷

In another interview, Zaki Jubran (b. 1924) noted that he and his brother, like many other young men of the village, migrated to Haifa in 1940 where they were employed in occasional jobs. In 1942 they decided to volunteer as recruits in the British army. His brother, ‘Atif (b. 1922) volunteered to serve in the Air Force and worked as a driver and assistant in North Africa, while he worked as a clerk in the canteen services of the British army – the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI). ³⁸

This does not mean that urbanites did not volunteer. Hundreds of Jaffa port workers who were affected by the decrease in trading activity during the period of the Arab Revolt, with some of them becoming unemployed, volunteered for service in the army to obtain a means of livelihood. ³⁹ In the list of those missing in action and the fallen, one may find the names of many urban families such as Aspiro from Jaffa, Afghani from Jerusalem, Abu Einen from Safed, A’bushi from Jenin, Abd al-Hadi from Nablus, and others. ⁴⁰

The motives for volunteering were manifold and varied. Some did so for ideological reasons, through opposition to Nazi ideology and loyalty to the British and the values they represented. This motive was especially true of the urban elite and the intellectuals, who were highly influenced by British education and culture. Some of them had studied in the schools of the British Mission in the large cities, and already tended, at a young age, to the British side, and formed various ties with the British colonial community in those cities. This community included British officials of different ranks, clergymen, missionaries, doctors, researchers, etc.

Apparently most of the villagers volunteered for economic reasons, since the war period, especially at the beginning, was not beneficial to the economic situation. The army offered them and their families good economic reward, provided them with low-priced food in their institutions, clothing, care, etc. Some of them were in search of adventure and wanted to go out into the wide world. ⁴¹ These were motives that differed from their Jewish friends, who enlisted in the army mainly because of opposition to Nazi Germany and its racial policy towards their people, besides other motives such as the revival of a Jewish army, the serious employment situation in the country at the beginning of the war, etc. ⁴²

In view of the above, we see that in spite of the fact that the propaganda was composed by members of the social elite such as mayors and dignitaries, most of the volunteers were villagers and of the urban lower class, and that the economic motive played a central role in volunteering.

The number of volunteers

It is difficult to determine with certainty the number of Palestinian volunteers in the British army during the Second World War. It seems that all that the Palestinian people have undergone during the Nakba events and their aftermath, the destruction of archives and records in addition to the loss of personal documents, and the fact that no organization was established to commemorate the volunteers and their deeds, makes it difficult for the researcher to arrive at the precise number of volunteers.

However, there are references in the various sources to the number of volunteers. For example, a report of the Esco Foundation for Palestine, published in 1947, noted that the number of Palestinian volunteers was 9,000 volunteers. ⁴³ Ashley Jackson, who dealt in detail with the contribution of Arab and Jewish volunteers, notes that the number of Arab volunteers was 12,000, and the number of Jewish volunteers was 30,000. ⁴⁴ Bayan al-Hut, who based herself on the documents of ‘The Palestinian Research Center’ in Beirut, claims that the number of volunteers was 17,000. ⁴⁵

It is important to mention that the numbers changed every month according to the rate of volunteering. The Palestinian press provided information about the number of volunteers in the initial stages. The first announcement appeared in the newspaper Filastin on 18 October 1939, that is to say a week after the gates of volunteer service were opened, in which the number of volunteers was stated to have been 418 young men. ⁴⁶ On 22 October 1939, the paper reported that the number had risen to 440 volunteers according to the following breakdown: seven doctors and engineers, 357 of various professions, 147 for the regular army, and thirty-four for clerk work. ⁴⁷ On 2 November 1939, the number of volunteers rose to 463, and the registration was continued daily. ⁴⁸ On 29 February 1940, it was reported in Filastin that 700 Arab and Jewish fighters from the first group of volunteers arrived in London with their British officers. ⁴⁹ On 21 March 1940, the Colonial Secretary Malcolm MacDonald announced before the British Parliament that 306 Arab volunteers were already serving on the French frontier. ⁵⁰ Data from the Central Zionist Archives show that the total number of Arab volunteers from 17 October 1939 to 12 December 1940 was 2,458, most of them in the infantry, the auxiliary forces and the navy, as can be seen from Table 1.

OPEN IN VIEWER

Table 1.

Date	Name of unit	Number of volunteers
17 October 1939–1 July 1940	Mechanical Unit	63
	Artillery	—
	Auxiliary Force A	160
	Auxiliary Force B	340
1 July 1940–22 December 1940	Mechanics Unit	71
	Artillery	–
	Auxiliary Force	454
	Infantry	751
	Air Force	105
	Seamen	370
	Officers and Sergeants	144
Total		2,458

Source: IDF Archives, File No. 5/50/2011.

On 29 July 1941, the number of Arab volunteer reached 4,000, as can be learnt from the words of the officer in charge of volunteering in the British army in Palestine. ⁵¹ Sharfman notes that before January 1942, 843 volunteers served in the Signals and Air Communication Corps, 1,528 in the Auxiliary Forces, and 465 in the ports, which together totalled 2,827 Arab volunteers. ⁵² To this number we should add the 4,041 serving in the Infantry Corps, and 454 in the Auxiliary Forces, which means that half of the Arab volunteers were recruited in the first two years of the war. If we accept the data of Jackson, who spoke of 12,000 volunteers, it means that from the beginning of 1942 until the end of the war, another 4,687 Arab volunteers were recruited into the various corps.

To sum up the question of the number of Arab volunteers, it appears that the data of Jackson, which is based on British archival sources, is more realistic. According to this, about 12,000 Palestinian volunteers served in the various corps during the war. Taking into consideration the circumstances and the complex system of relations between the Palestinians and the British on the eve of the war, and the internal relationships within Palestinian society, this is a number worthy of mention. It should be recalled that the number of participants in the Arab Revolt during the years 1936–1939 ranged around 10,000–15,000 armed fellahin. ⁵³

The units in which the Palestinian Arab volunteers served

The Palestinian volunteers served in all the various units and corps. At first, they were recruited into the British units in the same way as their Jewish fellows in order to fill up the ranks. The reference is to units in the Royal Army Service Corps, in the Royal Army Ordinance Corps, in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and in the Royal Engineers. Most of those recruited into these units were professionally trained with a variety of skills. This was only at the beginning, because on 6 August 1940, the Minister of War, Anthony Eden, informed the Parliament of the establishment of an Palestinian and also of a Jewish battalion on an equal basis within the framework of the infantry corps (East Kent Regiment of the Royal Fusiliers: The Buffs). ⁵⁴ Recruitment formally began in September 1940, and by the end of January 1942 the corps had eighteen companies, seven Arab (one of them in Transjordan), and eleven Jewish. The total number of Arab volunteers in the six companies was 4,041 Arabs as compared with 10,000 Jews. ⁵⁵

At the same time, auxiliary companies were established (the Royal Pioneer Corps) that were known as the ‘pioneer companies’. These were at first mixed companies of Arabs and Jews, and the number of Arabs in them was not uniform, mostly lesser than the Jews. ⁵⁶ Their original task was to prepare dugouts and fortifications, but in many cases, especially in that of Platoon 401, they took part in campaigns and participated in various battles. The corps comprised nine platoons (401–409), and was stationed in the Western Desert of Egypt, and their staff headquarters set up in the autumn of 1940 was located near Ismailia. ⁵⁷

There is no intention in this article to discuss the history of the nine platoons, and I shall only do so for Platoon 401, which has a particularly interesting story. It began in December 1939 when 250 Arabs and 450 Jews were recruited into its ranks. In February 1940, after basic training in the Sarafand camp, its formation was completed. ⁵⁸ At the beginning of March 1940, the platoon arrived in France and was stationed in the region of the city Rennes in Brittany. Among other tasks they took part in the work on fortifications and the laying of railway tracks. With the German advance into France at the end of May 1940, the British Staff Headquarters ordered the commander of the expeditionary force to evacuate the forces from France. During the evacuation, the men of the platoon under the command of Major Henry J. Cator participated in the battle to delay the advance of the German forces and were the last to leave. ⁵⁹

After evacuation from the port of Saint Malo, the platoon went over to England and was stationed in fortifications in the south of London. After a few months, they were transferred to a school camp for artillery in Kimberley. During their stay in England they took part in the evacuation and rescue of many casualties of the German Blitz over London. At the end of its assignment, they were sent to Glasgow and were attached to a British military unit that was sent out to assist the British forces in the Middle East. After a long and difficult sea voyage around Africa they arrived in the Red Sea, and from there went to the Suez Canal. When the fighters returned to Palestine a festive welcome was laid out for them in one of the military bases in the presence of the High Commissioner and the General Commander, and with the participation of Arab and Jewish representatives. The High Commissioner and the British officers praised the platoon and noted that it was the last one to be evacuated from France. ⁶⁰

The stories of the other platoons (402–409) was a little different, although they had experienced much in common, especially during their service in Egypt and Libya. They took part ⁶¹ in the British expeditionary force which was sent to Greece in March 1941 with the aim of assisting in defending the Greek islands. The platoons were stationed in various areas, mainly in Piraeus, the port of Athens, and were assigned to assist in unloading equipment and ammunition to be transferred northward to the front lines. When the German invasion began on 6 April 1941 they were forced to retreat under great pressure, and sometimes this was conducted in state of total disorder. The platoons were heavily bombarded by the German and Italian air forces, and many of the men were wounded. Ashley Jackson notes that about 1,000 soldiers were taken prisoner, including senior officers. ⁶²

In view of this, we see that the volunteers in the auxiliary force platoons contributed greatly to the war effort. They served in various areas in France, North Africa and Greece, suffered heavy losses, and many of them were captured by the Germans as prisoners of war.

If the pioneer platoons filled an important role, the Middle East Commando Unit 51 played a role of no less importance. The initiative to establish it came from Cator, who was mentioned above, and the order for it was given on 9 October 1940. Serving in this unit were the volunteers from the Pioneer Platoon 401, which had returned from the French front, and a handful of volunteers from other pioneer platoons, and it consisted of 240 Jews and 120 Arabs. The non-commissioned staff and the officers were British. The volunteers were put through rigorous bodily training, long and continual marches in various field conditions, sailing and landing exercises near the Suez Canal. At the end of 1940 some of the men took part in the first British attack in the Western Desert, penetrating into the Italian defence system in Bardia on the Egyptian–Libyan border. At the beginning of 1941 the unit was sent to the Sudan, and from there was dispatched to the battle arena in Eritrea and transferred to the command of the Fourth Indian Division. At the end of February and beginning of March 1941, it carried out patrols, ambushes, and was involved in a series of clashes and battles in difficult terrain against the Italians. It took part in the large attack that led to the capture of the Keren fort by two Indian divisions – the Fourth and Fifth. The unit earned warm praise for its fighting and its contribution to the general success of this attack, as well as in all the other battles in which it participated in Africa. ⁶³

In addition to all the units mentioned, Palestinian volunteers served in the companies of the Engineering Corps (738, 739, 740, 743), beginning from the summer of 1940 when it was decided to set up mixed Palestinian units of Arabs and Jews for the Engineering Corps Artisan Works. Those who were recruited for these units had various professional building skills. ⁶⁴ At first they were engaged in assignments for building military camps, but during the course of the war they were also trained in assignments for battlefield engineering. They were also engaged in building fortifications on the northern border of Palestine, in the region of Metulla. After the conquest of Syria in 1941 they were transferred there to set up fortifications, while others were transferred to El-Alamein and Libya. There they also worked in the construction of fortifications and various military buildings such as military hospitals, in addition to repairing the damage caused to the infrastructure in the port of Tobruk. ⁶⁵ After the British victory in North Africa and the relocation of the battle arena to Italy, they were transferred there and served in the cities of Naples and Milan and in other regions. ⁶⁶

On 7 October 1940, the gates were opened for volunteers in some of the professions required by the British Air Force. The main requirements were for motor mechanics, wireless technicians, electricians, airplane mechanics, cooks, welders, storekeepers, doctors, boat captains, clerks and accountants, car drivers, etc. ⁶⁷ Young Arab men also volunteered for these positions besides the Jews, although they were relatively less in number.

With regard to the internal relationship between the Arab and Jewish volunteers in the mixed units before they were separated, we do not have much information. However, from a few of the letters and documents that dealt with the subject, it appears that the relationship was generally good and instances of open hostility were very few in number. For example, from one of the documents we learn about a quarrel about radio broadcasts. The Jewish soldiers complained that their Arab colleagues wished to listen to broadcasts in Arabic, while the time given to them to listen to broadcasts in Hebrew was brief. This developed into a squabble which ended in the jailing of soldiers from both sides. In another instance a dispute broke out over the question of cleaning the rooms and the kitchen. ⁶⁸

Yaakov Lifschitz notes in his book on the Jewish Brigade that the Jewish volunteers ‘suffered from the British sergeants on one hand and from the Arabs on the other’, but does not mention from what exactly they suffered. ⁶⁹ In this connection, Yoav Gelber states that the Palestinian volunteers, which included Arabs and Jews, complained about the separation between them and the British soldiers in the dining room and in the kitchen, and that the British soldiers ate first and only afterwards did the natives eat. This shows that sometimes both the Arabs and the Jews were in the same situation and cooperated in order to improve their conditions. ⁷⁰

In addition to the service of men in the above units, nearly 200 Palestinian women served in the ATS. ⁷¹ The recruitment of women in Palestine and in the Middle East was associated with the recruitment of women in Britain. In April 1941, the ATS became an official part of the British army. In that very month the law for national service was approved by Parliament, after which tens of thousands of British women were legally recruited. ⁷²

The women’s corps in Palestine was part of the Middle East women’s corps. Its headquarters was in the General British Headquarters in Cairo. It was established in 1942 by Audrey Chitty who was the Chief Commander of the corps in the Middle East and remained at its head until 1944. The units of the corps in Palestine and Syria were under the command of Katherine Morrison-Bell and were deployed mainly in Egypt and Palestine. Most of the Arab women recruited served in camps in Palestine. ⁷³

The initiative to recruit Palestinian women came from Chitty, in parallel with the recruitment of Jewish women which had accelerated and received support from the leaders of the Yishuv. The declared wish of the British to preserve a balance between the recruitment of the two populations impelled them to act in favour of recruiting Arab women. Chitty is described as a talented British officer always dressed in army uniform. She succeeded in breaking many of the conventions of Arab traditional society at that time and to recruit nearly 200 young Arab women. For this purpose and in preparation for the recruitment she met with the wives of the British governors in the various districts and consulted with them. Chitty admitted that the people she met warned her about the difficulties of the task she had taken upon herself, mainly in the combination of Jewish and Arabs in mixed units. ⁷⁴ But despite this she went ahead with her plan.

In the first propaganda announcement in the Arabic language that was published in the newspaper Filastin in January 1942 under the heading ‘Her Happy Hours’ it was written:

She did not cease thinking about contribution and self-sacrifice, she did not feel a sense of superiority and pride. So she did what she regarded as a sacred duty for the sake of her nation and its people. When your country calls for you and asks frankly for the reason you are in service, and when your country makes it clear to you that our Arab men are in need of your love and support, and when your country reminds you that the enemy is cruel, when your country calls upon you, can you stand aside with folded arms? ⁷⁵

On 18 January 1942, after all the preparations and discussions were completed about the recruitment of women from Palestine, the first women recruits arrived, about sixty in number, to the Cadre Squad course in the Sarafand training camp, and among them there were only four Arab women. The course was meant to train commanders for the ATS companies in the Middle East, and the low number of Arabs indicates the difficulty of recruiting young women from a traditional society. But Chitty was adamant in her mind to give representation to Arab women also in the Cadre Squad, in line with the general policy of the British to recruit both Jews and Arabs.

About a month after the beginning of the course, Chitty met with four Arab women who were active in Palestinian women’s organizations, prominent among them being Matiel Moghannam, the wife of the well-known Jerusalem lawyer Moghannam Moghannam, and expressed her wish that Arab women would also enlist in the women corps and contribute their share in the war effort. ⁷⁶ Chitty and the officers appointed for this matter in Palestine did not cease from trying to expand the circle of recruitment for young Arab women. In November 1942, a large gathering of women was held in the Greek Orthodox school in Jaffa in the presence of single and married Arab women. Attending this gathering were a number of British women officers, prominent among them being Mrs. Morrison-Bell, Miss Biden, commander of the volunteer base, Miss Gibson, an officer of the women corps, and Miriam Za‘rur. ⁷⁷

In her speech, Miss Gibson said that the women’s corps wanted to recruit fifty young Arab women in a separate unit. She noted also that the training would be conducted by British and Arab officers, and everything would be in the framework of Arab tradition and customs. Furthermore, she stated that the recruits would be serving in the rear in non-combat duties such as drivers, nurses, store keepers, cooks, and other positions suitable for women.

Miriam Za‘rur of Ramallah, an Arab officer appointed for the recruitment of women, gave a long speech which explained the importance of the subject for Arab society and for women in particular. According to her, the recruitment of young Arab women into the army was an ancient tradition, and that the time had come for young Arab women to wear the uniform of glory and pride, as she put it. ⁷⁸ For propaganda purposes, the newspaper Filastin published notices and photographs of the volunteers in uniform, as for example the photograph of Shihrazade Rahel of Jerusalem. The publication of the photo was meant to attract and spur more young women to enlist in army service. ⁷⁹

The salary of the recruits was not especially tempting and was 25% lower than that of the recruited men. As Anat Granit-Hacohen notes in her research, many of the Arab women enlisted for economic reasons; they received clothing and food, and all their expenses were covered. ⁸⁰ In her comprehensive research on the volunteering of Jewish women during the war, she states that there were altogether 3,155 Jewish and Arab women. ⁸¹ These figures are identical to those of the British Colonial Office. ⁸² Granit-Hacohen says that 80% of the Jewish recruits were urbanites and the rest were from agricultural settlements, and that a high percentage among them were single although there were also some married women. ⁸³ A similar situation was found among the Arab women, most of whom were probably urbanites who came from Jaffa, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth and Haifa. ⁸⁴

It is difficult to determine how many Arab women served in the women’s corps because they did not serve separately, and their names appear together with those of the Jewish recruits. From a study of the lists it appears that there were 119 women, and another fifty-eight women who served in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). This means that the number of women volunteers ranged between 177 and 200. ⁸⁵

Besides Za‘rur, another prominent figure among the recruits was Anastasia (Asia) Halaby, who enlisted in Jerusalem and served as a driver. Asia was the sister of the painter Sophie Halaby of East Jerusalem, the daughter of a Russian woman and an Arab father. Asia advanced in her position and became a minor officer in the transport services of the army. After 1948, she served as a liaison officer between the Jordanian army and the United Nations in Jerusalem. ⁸⁶

Leslie Whateley, the Chief Commander of the ATS in England, also referred to the subject of women volunteers. In her book, she reports on a visit she paid in Ramallah in April 1945 at the family home of an Arab women officer who had served in the corps without mentioning her name, and spoke rather about the festive welcome the family had given in her honour. ⁸⁷

To sum up this section of the article, it may be said that Palestinian volunteers were in fact present in nearly all the army corps. Most of them served in units in the infantry and in the auxiliary Royal Pioneer Corps where their presence and effect was especially prominent. It may also be said that the contribution of the Palestinians in the Commando Unit 51 was recognizable. We also dealt with the contribution of women in the women’s corps, and that their very recruitment was a revolutionary innovation in Arab society, which indicates the many changes that this society had undergone.

The establishment of ‘Committees for the Welfare of Volunteers’: volunteers after their discharge

A study of this subject shows that Palestinian society not only sent their sons and daughters to the British army, but continued to support them and their families in Palestine and also as prisoners of war in Europe. Already at the beginning of 1941, ‘Committees for the Welfare of Volunteers’ were established in all the Palestinian cities and large settlements. The members of these committees were from among public leaders, mainly city mayors, senior religious clerics, merchants, lawyers and others.

The Arab press reported in detail about the activities of the committees. On 2 August 1941, the Ramallah committee was founded, and funds immediately began to be raised for the benefit of the volunteers. ⁸⁸ In that same month the Jerusalem committee was founded, and it included a number of prominent public figures. The committee was headed by the mayor of the city, Mustafa al-Khalidi, and the committee members visited army bases to distribute assistance and a variety of equipment for the Arab soldiers. ⁸⁹

The Bethlehem committee also sent people on its behalf to collect donations and managed to collect large amounts of money. ⁹⁰ In Haifa, a committee was formed which included eight members from among the city notables and merchants. It met on 9 September 1941 and chose Mahmoud al-Madi as chairman and Hanna Effendi al-Abyad as treasurer. The committee members succeeded in raising significant amounts of money through personal donations and collections from the merchants and notables of the city. Towards the end of September there already was 152 lirot in the cash box. ⁹¹

On 11 September, with the aim of encouraging the committees, the High Commissioner organized a ‘welfare festival’ in Government House (Armon HaNatziv) in Jerusalem. Participants in the festival included mayors, members of the High Muslim Council, police commanders and senior officers, foreign consuls, village notables, and others. Competitions and exhibitions of various products were held during the festival, and the proceeds from them were transferred for the benefit of the volunteers. ⁹²

With the aim of increasing coordination between the various committees, a national committee was established on 18 November 1941 headed by Omar Effendi, the mayor of Jaffa, ⁹³ who had inherited the position of mayor from his brother and was one of the city notables of great wealth and influence in the Arab public. On 3 March 1942, he initiated a national gathering in Jaffa of all the welfare committees, and it was decided to allocate the sum of 250 lirot to buy clothes for the volunteers. ⁹⁴ In June 1942, he again organized a national gathering in his city, and a distribution of hundreds of lirot for the benefit of the volunteers was decided upon. ⁹⁵ The highest point of activity by the national committee was reached on 15 February 1944, with the inauguration of a ‘hostel for Arab volunteers’ in Jaffa, during which senior officers, district governors and many notables were present, in addition to Betar. ⁹⁶

The very establishment of the committees and their continuous activities from 1941 until the end of the war indicates the degree of consolidation that the Arab public leaders felt with the war effort. The erection of a permanent centre for the volunteers in Jaffa proves the extent of their desire to support the soldiers whenever they came back to Palestine on furlough.

However, despite the support and acclaim, at the end of the war when thousands of volunteers were released from military service, and the termination of a period of prosperity that characterized the final years of the war, signs of economic and political instability began to appear in Palestine. The years following the Second World War were marked by the renewed rise in tensions between Arabs and Jews, in addition to the tensions and confrontations that broke out between the Jewish Yishuv and the Mandate authorities, which reached its peak in the years 1945–1946, known as ‘The Jewish Resistance Movement’.

The discharged Arab soldiers organized themselves in ‘Discharged Arab Soldiers Societies’. Organizations of this kind were set up in all the districts of the country. For example, in the region of Samaria, the society acted under the leadership of Issa Muslih and Yusif Khadir. ⁹⁷ They tried to promote their interests, especially in the economic sphere. The organization in Haifa and the north called upon all discharged soldiers to come to its office in order to be registered and to receive new information about their rights, including the bonuses that were due to them. In August 1945, a meeting was held in Jaffa between the organizations in Jaffa and in Haifa with the heads of the trade bureaus of the large cities, and they dealt with the best way to absorb those who were discharged from the army, including hundreds of seamen who had worked in the former port of Jaffa. ⁹⁸ The trade bureau of Jaffa appealed to all the national and business corporations in the city to give priority in employment to the absorption of discharged soldiers. ⁹⁹

In this case as well, it appears that the re-integration of most of the discharged soldiers in society was different from the processes in other colonies such as Kenya, for example. From the research of Timothy Parsons, Frank Furedi and Hal Brands who deal with Kenya in Africa, we learn much about the difficulties of integration after the war. For example, Parsons notes that of the 76,000 Kenyans who served in the British army in the framework of the King’s African Rifles (KAR), 2,476 fell in the war. Many of the discharged soldiers suffered from difficulties in re-integrating into civilian society, and conducted prolonged struggles in order to receive their basic rights, including medical treatment for the wounded and the disabled. Brands also refers to the situation in Kenya and to the struggle of tens of thousands of discharged soldiers to receive all kinds of middle-class privileges and benefits and to gain for themselves a separate social status. ¹⁰⁰ Furedi speaks about the lack of mobility of the African fighters, and thought also of mentioning that the situation in Palestine was different from other places, since in Palestine rapid developments began in the Palestinian–Israeli dispute. Those thousands of volunteers who had acquired experience and military training were now required to serve in another assignment, and the subject of claims and improved discharge conditions was pushed aside, in addition to the fact that their numbers, in comparison with other countries such as Kenya and India, was small, and that they could cope with their re-absorption into the labour market.

It is important to mention that during the course of the 1948 War, the discharged soldiers were to play an additional role in the general Arab organization and in the struggle that broke out between Arabs and Jews after the Partition Resolution of 29 November 1947, which is a subject that deserves separate research.

Summary and conclusions

During the Second World War about 12,000 young Arab Palestinians volunteered to join the ranks of the British army. Many of them were taken prisoner, ¹⁰¹ others found their death on the battlefields. ¹⁰² Although this concerns a small number of fighters in comparison with the size of the powers that were active in the various arenas of the war, in relation to the number of Palestinian people at that time – about one and a quarter million people – and taking into account the complex system of relations between the British and the Palestinians during the Mandate period, the actual activity and enormous investment of the Palestine elite and its overwhelming support of the war effort is of interest, and worthy of attention and of renewed study in the relations between the colonial regime and that elite.

The research shows that the range of volunteering was much more extensive than what was previously known to us, and that it was not that of single individuals but of many thousands who served in nearly all the military units at the battle front and the home front. Their contribution was vital and of no less importance than other fighters throughout the British Empire.

We also saw in this research that Arab and Jewish volunteers served in mixed units during the first half of the war period, and received their training in the same military bases from the same British officers. In many cases they fought in the same battle shoulder to shoulder, fell in the fighting or were taken prisoner. The case of Pioneer Platoon 401 and the Middle East Commando Unit 51 are proof of this.

In contrast with the leadership of the Jewish Yishuv, the research shows that those Palestinian leaders who had worked so hard for the sake of volunteering did not have any clear national agenda. They did not demand setting up separate Arab Palestinian units similar to those of the Jews, in spite of British encouragement. The leaders of the Yishuv succeeded through continuous pressure to break away from mixed units already in 1942, and in some of the units even earlier. Slowly they advanced in the direction of setting up a Jewish fighting division that in the future would fulfil an important role as the basis for a Jewish army by the end of the Mandate period.

From the protocols of the Jewish Agency Directorate, it may be learnt that already at an early stage the leaders of the Jewish Yishuv had reservations and even opposed the idea of mixed units, and did all they could to keep separate from the Arabs. ¹⁰³

Research on this subject shows that the Mandate authorities and the officers of the British army treated the Arab volunteer movement with appreciation and respect. It seems that they frequently found it easier to deal with it than with the Jewish side. This is because the leaders of the Yishuv bargained and dealt with all the details of the various processes, and as said before, they wanted to advance their national agenda.

It seems that the system of relationship between the British and the Palestinians was different from what is known in some of the African and Asian countries, where the relations were characterized, among other things, by racial epithets and expressed feelings of superiority of the colonial white man over the black natives, which sometimes led to tensions among the fighters in the units or between them and their officers. ¹⁰⁴ The explanation for this difference is due, in my opinion, to the fact that the Palestinian volunteers had volunteered to serve willingly, and regarded their service in the British army as an opportunity to improve their social status, and not only their economic situation. It should also be remembered that some of them were graduates of the educational system of Christian missions in general, and of the Protestant one in particular, and were exposed to some extent to British and European languages and cultures.

If we could perhaps point to a ‘honeymoon’ period between the British and the Palestinians during the thirty years of the Mandate, it would be the days of the Second World War. The acclaim and support, and even sympathy shown by the Palestinians and their leaders who had freed themselves from the threatening shadow of the Mufti of Jerusalem, who was residing in Europe, could be felt in everything, in the enthusiastic press, in the assistance to soldiers, in the monetary contributions and the many visits paid by the regime authorities in Arab settlements. However, this honeymoon period ended with the end of the war which left deep wounds in Europe and among the Jewish people, and led to changes in the balance of power between the Great Powers. The British were a power in the process of decline and weakness, and could no longer advance their programme in Palestine alone. The positive atmosphere and the temporary British–Arab and Arab–Jewish affiliations were exchanged for bitter days that began after the war and left behind this forgotten and unique chapter in the history of Palestine.