industrial zones belonging and adjacent to Haifa and the opening of the
new Haifa Port in 1932.91 However, this improvement was clearly biased
towards Zionist interests; even the opening of the port itself stemmed purely
from colonial grounds, without accounting for existing local interests in
Palestine. This situation generated substantial outrage and escalation of the
revolutionary cultural tide among Palestinian communities, which culminated
in the Palestinian revolt of 1936-1939.
Known as the Great Arab Revolt of 1936-1939, it was a Palestinian-led
nationalist uprising against the British administration of the Palestine
Mandate and the encroaching Zionist colonial project in Palestine.
The Palestinian people demanded independence from British rule,
an end to British policies that facilitated open-ended Zionist-Jewish
colonization, and a halt to Zionist land purchases with a stated goal of
establishing a Jewish national home. As such, this revolution erupted
in response to the protection and empowerment that British rule
afforded Zionist-Jewish populations at the expense of Palestinian
farmers, workers, and intellectuals. 92 However, the severe British
response to quell the revolts, only further exacerbated tensions
between Palestinians and Zionist-Jews. The Zionist-Jewish upper
class were the first to take advantage of the Palestinian revolution,
utilizing the increased British suppression of Palestinian communities
to complete projects that would not have been accomplished under
different circumstances. The Zionist leadership, for instance, reached
an agreement with British leaders to recruit approximately 700 Zionist
patrols for the “Palestine Police Railway Network” in order to protect
and safeguard the railway lines as rails constituted a focal point for
revolutionary activities. 93 Through this, Zionist leaders did not only
become a direct force in quelling the Palestinian revolution, but they
also fortified their military presence through strengthening their very
own Zionist military organization, the Haganah, by training recruits.
This then laid the foundations for the development of the Haganah in
preparation for the Nakba. It is therefore not coincidental that one of
the objectives that emerged in Plan Dalet was for the Haganah to help
create geographical continuity between various new Zionist-Jewish
colonies scattered throughout the Galilee, expel its native people, and
91 Id., 156.
92 Ghassan Kanafani, supra 76. See also al-Sharbeni, supra 76.
93 Mansour, supra 60, 163-176.
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