Yusuf Abu Durra

Yusuf Sa'id Abu Durra (, 1900 – 18 February 1940), also known as Abu Abed, was one of the chief Palestinian Arab rebel commanders during the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine. Abu Durra was a close disciple of the Muslim preacher and rebel Izz ad-Din al-Qassam and one of the few survivors of a shootout between British forces and Qassam, in which the latter was killed. When the revolt broke out, Abu Durra led bands of Qassam's remaining disciples and other armed volunteers in the region between Haifa and Jenin. He also administered a rebel court system in his areas of operation, which prosecuted and executed several Palestinian village headmen suspected of colluding with the British authorities. After experiencing battlefield setbacks, Abu Durra escaped to Transjordan, but was arrested on his way back to Palestine in 1939. He was subsequently tried later that year and executed by the authorities in 1940.

Early life and work Abu Durra was born during the Ottoman era, in 1900, in the village of Silat al-Harithiya, located near Jenin in Jabal Nablus (Samarian highlands). He hailed from the Jaradat clan, which at the time was part of a larger confederation of clans and tribes in Palestine and Transjordan known as the Qais. The Qais also included the Tuqan and Jarrar families, and the Bani Saqr tribe.

During the period when the British administered Palestine, Abu Durra worked as a porter at a railway station in Zikhron Ya'akov.

Early activism During his time in Haifa, he became a close disciple of the Muslim revivalist preacher and anti-British rebel Izz ad-Din al-Qassam. but Abu Durra managed to escape the area.

Regional commander in the 1936 revolt

The 1935 confrontation served as a prelude to a countrywide revolt against the British by Palestinian Arabs that broke out in 1936. Abu Durra emerged as one of the major Qassamite commanders of rebels, particularly after the death of commander Ahmad Attiyah Awad in March 1938. These four commanders were appointed by the Damascus-based Central Committee of National Jihad in Palestine to form the Bureau of the Arab Revolt in Palestine, which was meant to increase coordination among the disparate rebel factions and the exiled Palestinian leaders serving on the Central Committee. His core unit was based in the vicinity of Haifa and he presided over 17 fasa'il, totaling an estimated 250 fighters.

Abu Durra entered into confrontations with the Druze of Mount Carmel due to a number of factors. His earlier recruitment effort to enlist Druze fighters in Haifa was relatively unsuccessful, and his demand for financial contributions from the Mount Carmel villages to purchase 30 rifles were rebuffed.

Due in part to an alert sent by the Druze residents of Mount Carmel following an attack by Abu Durra in late November 1938, the British Army launched an ambush on his men, while they were on their way to their Umm al-Fahm headquarters. The ensuing engagement became known as the "Battle of Umm al-Zinat [or Umm al-Daraj]", due to its location outside of the village of Umm al-Zinat, which was situated in the southern foothills of Mount Carmel. The British force numbered over a thousand and was backed by 13 fighter planes, while the rebel force was considerably smaller. Abu Durra gained a reputation for ordering the deaths of suspected collaborators among Palestinian village headmen (makhatir, sing. mukhtar). According to interviews conducted by historian Ted Swedenberg of former Palestinian rebels and civilians who lived during the revolt, offhand estimates of the number of makhatir Abu Durra ordered to be executed ranged from around 20 to 85. However, the latter figure was considered "fantastical" by Swedenberg.

The memoirs of Palestinian historian Izzat Darwaza mention an anecdote in which a British citizen pressed the Haifa Magistrates' Court to speed up the recovery of her stolen jewelry from known suspects, was told by the judge that her request would take time and that she might have better luck with Abu Durra's court. Although the judge made the latter suggestion in jest, the woman did go to one of Abu Durra's courts in Ein al-Sahala with the suspects' names; one week later she was summoned back to the court, where her jewelry was restored to her. He was subsequently detained in a prison in al-Karak until being extradited to Palestine. Abu Durra's arrest and extradition were unpopular among the people of Transjordan and as his convoy passed through various towns on its way to Palestine, it was surrounded by crowds cheering for him.

Abu Durra was tried and sentenced to death for ordering the assassinations of thirty-eight mukhtars on 4–5 January 1939. The mukhtars had been sentenced to death in absentia by rebel courts run by Abu Durra's subordinates. According to the memoirs of British Mandatory police officer Geoffrey Morton, Abu Durra walked to his death with his head held high. He was considered a martyr by his supporters, and during the 1970s, a Palestine Liberation Organization unit that launched raids into Israel was named after him.