Abd al-Rahim al-Hajj Muhammad

Abd al-Rahim al-Hajj Muhammad Al Saif (; 1892 – March 1939), also known by his kunya Abu Kamal, was a prominent Palestinian Arab commander of rebel forces during the 1936–39 Arab revolt against British Mandate rule and increased levels of Jewish settlement in Palestine. Most of his activities were based in the areas of Tulkarm, Nablus and Jenin (modern-day northern West Bank). In September 1938, he became the General Commander of the Revolt, although he shared the post in rotation with Arif Abd al-Raziq. In February 1939, al-Hajj Muhammad was given sole title to the post by the revolt's political leadership, but was killed the following month in a fire-fight with British forces.

Early life Al-Hajj Muhammad was born in the village of Dhinnaba (today a neighborhood of Tulkarm city) in 1892. He belonged to the landowning clan of Samara, itself a part of the larger tribal confederation of al-Barqawi, which had a long history of activity in the area of Tulkarm.

Al-Hajj Muhammad was initially educated in Dhinnaba's kuttab, a traditional elementary school. During World War I (1914–18) he was conscripted into the Ottoman army (a requirement for male Ottoman citizens), and posted outside of Palestine in Tripoli and Beirut. Coinciding with this period, al-Hajj Muhammad became an ardent opponent of Zionism and British support for that movement. The 1920 Nebi Musa riots, unrest in 1923 and the 1929 Palestine riots all extended into Tulkarm and al-Hajj Muhammad was angered at the coercive manner in which the British authorities quelled the Palestinian Arab participants.

The local connections al-Hajj Muhammad established as a grain merchant became beneficial in his later recruitment efforts. By the summer of that year, several Palestinian Arab rebel bands had sprung up, including the forces of al-Hajj Muhammad. The latter used existing social networks and the complex web of local clan politics to build alliances both with the middle classes of the major towns, particularly the well-educated activists, and the rural clan elders to build a solid base of resistance among the Muslim populace.

In the earliest stage of the revolt, in the early summer, al-Hajj Muhammad's fighters primarily operated in the Wadi al-Sha'ir area between Nablus and the coastal plain.

The rebel bands had worked independently of each other until July, when al-Hajj Muhammad, Arif Abd al-Raziq and Fakhri Abd al-Hadi decided to coordinate the actions of their respective militias. Abd al-Raziq was based in the Bani Sa'b area around Tayibe, while Abd al-Hadi operated in Sha'ruwiya, around Arraba. All of their areas of operation were concentrated in the north-central highlands. Another meeting between the leaders was held in August to designate official areas of operation and specific targets to attack. The Jerusalem-area militia of Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni was absent from both of these meetings, making it increasingly difficult to form a solid military command among rebels across the country.

The arrival of the well-known Arab nationalist volunteer commander Fawzi al-Qawuqji in August, and his assumption of the rebels' leadership, further damaged the revolt's coherence, despite his attempts to unify rebel ranks. Although al-Qawuqji was an experienced field commander, relations between him and the Palestinian political and military leadership was one of general mistrust. Local rebels resented the delegation of command positions to non-Palestinians and al-Qawuqji's references to the area as "Southern Syria" instead of "Palestine." Nonetheless, al-Hajj Muhammad and al-Qawuqji fought together in a second major confrontation with British forces in Bal'a in September. The battle went on for six hours and according to Mandatory figures, three British military personnel were killed and four wounded. One of the fatalities was a British pilot whose plane was downed by rebels, who suffered ten dead and six wounded.

With the renewal of the revolt, efforts were made to unify rebel ranks and establish a hierarchical command structure. The last quarter of the year saw increased attacks against British military targets, buses carrying Jews, the Iraqi Petroleum Company pipeline in Palestine and telecommunication lines. By this stage, the revolt had developed into an organized effort across Palestine, with each area's fasa'il having a hierarchy of some sort. In the case of al-Hajj Muhammad's forces, there were four brigades, each led by a commander and with designated funds. Al-Hajj Muhammad appointed Ahmad Massad as his deputy to whom the other commanders were subordinate. This military order contrasted with the early phase of the revolt where al-Hajj Muhammad had been the sole field commander.

General commander Local rebel commanders were generally suspicious of outside Arab military leaders, such as al-Qawuqji, and of the AHC, particularly after many members of the latter joined the Damascus-based Central Committee of Jihad following the AHC's dissolution by the authorities in October 1937. The Central Committee had been founded in late 1937 by Izzat Darwaza, and officially served as the revolt's political leadership, fund-raising body and arms supplier. On the ground in Palestine, competition for the role of the rebels' general command became increasingly tense between al-Hajj Muhammad and Abd al-Raziq. The British Army, backed by bomber planes, assaulted Deir Ghassaneh after gaining knowledge of the meeting, and sought to arrest or kill the commanders. A battle ensued in which a prominent commander, Muhammad al-Salih (known as Abu Khalid) was slain. A peace band set up by Farid Irsheid had been carrying out surveillance of him. Irsheid had sought revenge for the killing of his brothers Ahmad and Muhammad in May 1938, which were generally attributed to al-Hajj Muhammad. The information Irsheid's band of informants collected on al-Hajj Muhammad's movements were then passed onto British intelligence. A large force from the British Army subsequently arrived at Sanur and sealed off the village. Irsheid's band served alongside the army unit. The village's residents had reportedly pleaded with al-Hajj Muhammad to escape from Sanur undercover, but he and his fighters entered the adjacent Marj Sanur plain and clashed with British troops. Al-Hajj Muhammad was killed in the fire-fight along with one of his deputy commanders.

According to historian Hillel Frisch, al-Hajj Muhammad's death was a "reflection of how much the rebels were then bereft of an area that could serve as a sanctuary or from which they could renew operations." The revolt had largely dissipated by the time al-Hajj Muhammad was killed, his demise being a significant blow. He was succeeded by Ahmad al-Hasan, but the latter was unable to maintain the momentum of the revolt, which ended in late 1939. He operated more or less independently from the political leadership of the rebellion, including those based in Palestine, such as al-Husayni, and the Damascus-based Central Committee. Despite his tacit alliance with al-Husayni, al-Hajj Muhammad had refused to assassinate local leaders who were rivals against the al-Husayni family for political power, once remarking "I don't work for Husayniya ("Husanyni-ism"), but for wataniya (patriotism)." However, an intelligence document from the British Mandatory authorities revealed that al-Hajj Muhammad left Palestine for Syria in October 1938 after becoming disaffected with the Central Committee's activities. The report states that he refused to send funds to the Committee, remarking "The shoe of the most insignificant mujahid (fighter) is nobler than all the members of the Society, who have indulged in pleasure, while their brethren suffer in the mountains."