Muhammad 'Izzat Darwazeh

By the end of 1941, the murderous nature of the Nazi regime was common knowledge across the Middle East. One of the key Zionist intelligence agents was Ya'akov Cohen, a Samaritan who lived in Nablus. Cohen reported regularly to the Jewish Agency on the situation in Nablus, a centre of Arab nationalist activity.

Nablus was home to some of the

most prominent Arab nationalists: 'Awni 'Abd al-Hadi and Muhammad 'Izzat Darwaza, leaders of the Istiqlal Party, and Ahmad Shuqayri, the first chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO, 1964). Cohen also reported about trends in other major towns with large Arab populations (i.e. Haifa).

The Moderm Arab Movement . A Tale of Frustration. Muhammad Izrat Darwaza, Haula l'Haraka l'Arabiyya l'Hadita ("On the Modern Arab Movement").

These six volumes are indispensable for any student of modern Middle Eastern history. The author is a well-known writer and leader of the Arab nationalist movement.

As secretary of the Syrian Congress, he read in 1920 in Damascus the proclamation of Syrian independence under the Crown of Faisal. After the fall of Faisal he moved to Palestine, where he joined the ex-Mufti Amin al Husayni and became in 1931 secretary of the Muslim Congress in Jerusalem.

In 1937 he represented the ex-Mufti's Arab Committee at the Congress in Bludan. At the beginning of World War II he was arrested by the French authorities in Syria and after his release in 1941 he moved to Turkey, where he stayed till the end of the war. In 1945 he settled in Egypt to take an active part in preparing for the war against the Jews in Palestine.

Darwaza is well known as the author of "The Age of Muhammad," written during his imprisonment in Syria. The book is based exclusively on the Koran. He recently published a biography of Muhammad, too.

Mass of Information 

His latest series of books, at present under review, survey the Arab national movement in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Tunis, Morocco - especially Palestine, of which the author has first - hand knowledge.

There is an immense mass of information, an appendix giving the texts of resolutions passed by Arab Governments, organisations and national groups. The first volume describes the origins of the Arab movement in the Ottoman Empire, also the Hashimite insurrection, and ends with the battle of Maisolun and the expulsion of Faisal from Syria. The second volume contains the story of France's activities in Syria and Lebanon till 1946, when the two countries gained their independence; there is also a sketch of French policy in Tunis and Morocco. The third, fourth and fifth volumes tell the story of Palestine: the third until the outbreak of World War II; the fourth until the decision of the United Nations; the fifth deals with the Jewish-Arab war and the truce negotiations up to 1951; the sixth volume presents a programme for the improvement of conditions in the Arab countries.

A notable feature of Darwaza's historiography In slowing down their pace, which they might is abuse of both Britain and France, who are held find a sound policy, they may well encounter fatal responsible for the Arabs ' slow progress. France is accused of having sown hate and intolerance among different Arab groups, e.g., the Druzes, Maronites, Shiites. The undeniable pro-French feeling among the Maronites is claimed to have been due to French deception and duplicity. In Syria the French were able to rule only by the support of traitors, though credit is given to the British for having helped the national consciousness to assert itself in both Syria and Lebanon. It is also admitted that during the Palestine riots, 1936-39, the French sheltered rebels in Syria because the British sheltered Syrian insurgents in Palestine.

British "Betrayal"

The British administration of Palestine is throughout represented as a record of oppression and treachery , and the most dreadful felony, it is said, was the establishment of Israel. Not even the late Mr. Bevin's policy in the last stages of the Mandate is allowed to serve as Britain's alibi. She is summarily charged with having betrayed and abandoned the Palestine Arabs. It is coolly argued that in the field the Arab armies were never defeated. The Jewish State came into being only as a result of a British-Jewish plot and because of Arab disunity.

Disunity is, in fact, held to be the fundamental problem of the Arabs, according to Darwaza, also lack of leadership, and it is suggested to emulate the example of Atatürk.

Unity, the author feels, will be achieved by gradually advancing education. He pleads that illiteracy be abolished, that schools be built, and life generally modelled on the Koran. Women should be educated too and allowed to take part in public life, though Government service should be open to them only if they have no other means of existence. All public services must be drastically overhauled, he urges, adding the special point that gatherings of friends and acquaintances in Government offices must stop. Some such reforms will strengthen the Arab cause, Darwaza thinks, and enable a nationalist generation to do away with that "stain of disgrace," the Jewish State . In a tirade of characteristic 'Arab antisemitism,' Darwaza accuses the Jews of falsely claiming [sic. Darwaza] to be a Semitic people... They are said to be seeking domination [sic. Darwaza:] over the Arabs just as they have done [sic. Darwaza:] in Germany before Hitler and as they were doing in the United States.

Call for Terrorists

The Arab States are called upon to recruit an army of commandoes among the Arab refugees, which would infiltrate every night into the territory of Israel in order to kill, to rob and to destroy. By doing so, he hopes, Arabs would sow fear among the Jews and break their morale. The hope is somewhat uncertain as he shows himself greatly impressed by the determination of the erstwhile Jewish [sic] "terrorist groups" and speaks with appreciation about the spirit of Jewish youth and the high ability and skill of Jewish officers.

Nothing is said about the links between Arab nationalists and the Nazis. The Ex-Mufti simply "came back from Europe where he had stayed during the war." A strong denial is made of the reports ("Jewish [sic] lies") that in the 1936-39 riots the Arabs received money and weapons from Germany and Italy.

Pro-Nazi activities in Syria and the Lebanon did not cease with the British occupation. Most of the pro-Nazi leaders fled the country (Nabih al-Azma, Izzat Darwaza, Adil Arslan, etc.)

A group of Arab leaders was concentrated in Turkey where they conducted espionage activities on behalf of the Germans. Some of these sent to Germany intelligence received from agents in the different Arab countries was concentrated in Turkey.

Among them were: Izzat Darwaza, Akram Zuaytar, Muin al-Madi, Adil Arslan, Adil al-Azma, Nabih al-Azma and some of the Iraqi rebels. One group of Arab leaders did not succeed in reaching Germany, but was arrested by the British authorities in Iran and sent to Rhodesia. This group included Jamal al-Husseini, who was permitted to return to Palestine in 1946.