Palestinian “struggle today continues to be one between a collaborationist PA and a pro-liberation resistance intent on ending settler-colonialism.”
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Google AI summary of the number killed, wounded or sent into exile.
The figure of 8,000 Palestinians killed in 1939 alone [as mentioned by Massad] is not historically accurate, but it closely mirrors the total estimated casualties suffered by the Palestinian Arab population across the entirety of the Great Arab Revolt (1936–1939). [1]
Historical data from British archives, Palestinian historians, and independent researchers outline a more precise breakdown of the casualties and dynamics of this period.
Total Casualties of the Arab Revolt (1936–1939)
The Great Arab Revolt was a nationalist uprising against British colonial rule and its support for Zionist immigration. The cumulative death toll for Palestinians over the three-year uprising is generally accepted by historians to be around 5,000 to 5,032 dead. [1, 2, 3]
Prominent Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi analyzed official British statistics and compiled the following totals for Palestinian casualties over the entire three-year period: [2]
- 3,832 Palestinians killed directly by British forces.
- 1,200 Palestinians killed due to internal, intracommunal violence (fighting between rival Palestinian political factions or targeting of suspected collaborators).
- 14,760 Palestinians wounded.
- 5,600+ Palestinians imprisoned or sent into exile. [2, 4, 5, 6]
If combining the total number of dead and heavily wounded across the multi-year revolt, the number far exceeds 8,000. However, looking strictly at fatalities occurring solely within the year 1939, the number is significantly lower, as the British military effectively crushed the core of the rebellion by the summer of 1939. [2, 6, 7, 8, 9]
Responsibility for the Casualties
The fatalities during this period were caused by three primary factors: [9, 10]
- British Military Suppression: The overwhelming majority of Palestinian casualties were inflicted by the British Army and mandatory police forces. To suppress the revolt, the British deployed over 20,000 troops and utilized harsh tactics. This included aerial bombardment, collective punishment of entire villages, home demolitions, martial law, and widespread executions. [2, 8, 11]
- Zionist Paramilitary Forces: Pre-state Zionist militias, such as the Haganah, frequently cooperated with British forces to guard settlements and infrastructure. The British also helped train specialized joint units like the Special Night Squads. Concurrently, more extremist right-wing Zionist underground groups like the Irgun (Etzel) launched independent campaigns, detonating bombs in crowded Arab marketplaces and civilian areas, killing several hundred Palestinian civilians. [1, 4, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16]
- Intracommunal Fractures: In its final stages, the rebellion suffered severe internal divisions. Clashes broke out between elite families (such as the Husseinis and the Nashashibis), as well as targeted assassinations against Palestinians who advocated for cooperation with the British administration. [3, 15]
The Impact of 1939
By the time the revolt concluded in late 1939, it had a devastating demographic effect on the Palestinian population: estimates suggest that up to 10% of the adult male Palestinian Arab population had been killed, wounded, jailed, or exiled. [12, 17]
In an attempt to appease Arab anger and stabilize the region on the eve of World War II, the British issued the White Paper of 1939. This policy severely restricted Jewish immigration and land purchases, which ultimately turned Zionist paramilitary groups directly against the British administration in the years that followed. [18, 19, 20]
[18] https://www.iuhk.org
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