Independence Party (Palestine)

The Independence Party ("Hizb al-Istiqlal") was a radical Arab nationalist party established on 13 August, 1932 [Choueiri, 2000, p. 93.] in Palestine during the British mandate. Its origins lay in the Istiqlal movement associated with the short-lived Sharifian government in Damascus. [Pappé, 1999, p. 147.]

The rise of the party marked the turn by the Palestinians to mass resistance to the Zionist project and its British patrons. [Bashir Abu-Manneh, [http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061218/abumanneh In Palestine, a Dream Deferred] , "The Nation", December 18, 2006.] During the 1936-1939 Great Arab Revolt the party called for an Indian Congress Party-style boycott of the British. [Khalidi, 2001, p. 25.] The leader of the party Awni Abd al-Hadi [Khalidi, 1997, p. 220.] was General Secretary of the Arab Higher Committee. The other founders of the party were Fahmi al-Abboushi, Muhammad Izzat Darwazah, Mu'in al-Madi, Akram Zu'aytir, Rashid al-Hajj Ibrahim, Subhi al-Khadra and Salim Salamah. [Kedourie, 1974, p. 52.] [Hassassian, 1990, p. 129.]

Notes

References

*Choueiri, Youssef M. (2000). "Arab Nationalism: Nation and State in the Arab World". Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0631217290
*Hassassian, Manuel Sarkis (1990). "Palestine: Factionalism in the National Movement, 1919-1939". Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs.
*Kedourie, Elie (1974). "Arabic Political Memoirs and Other Studies". London: Routledge. ISBN 0714630411
*Khalidi, Rashid (1997). "Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness". Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231105142
*Khalidi, Rashid (2001). The Palestinians and 1948: the underlying causes of failure. In Eugene L. Rogan and Avi Shlaim (Eds.). "The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948"(pp. 12-36). Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521794765
*Pappé, Ilan (1999). "The Israel/Palestine Question". London: Routledge. ISBN 041516947X