Unveiling my grandfather's past: ‘Palestine 1936′ — A book review and personal odyssey of the Arab Revolt

Decoding the Palestine 1936 conflict: tragedy and shattered lives

We’ve just wrapped Global Citizen Now, a big summit here in New York City. I’ll be back later this week with a recap and update. In the meantime, I wanted to share one of my latest book reviews about a period of history that struck a chord with me. It was published on Global Voices and you can find the original posting here.

Below, you will find a longer, unedited version that I originally submitted.

The ongoing dispute between Palestine and Israel has been a major source of tension for decades. For many of us not directly involved, it can feel distant and removed from our daily lives. However, this changed for me when I discovered that my grandfather, David, had spent his teenage years in The Holy Land during the 1930s. This revelation inspired me to delve deeper into the region's history, politics, and people during this critical period.

Oren Kessler’s book, Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict, provides valuable insights into the tragedies and human stories in the 1936-1939 Arab Revolt in Palestine. As one of the first general interest books on this critical period, it serves as a timely reminder of the immense suffering on both sides. The “Arab Revolt” was a significant armed struggle between Palestinian Arabs and the British authorities (who had been given control over the region by virtue of a mandate of the League of Nations in the aftermath of World War 1), sparked by tensions between Arab leaders and Jewish immigrants settling in the region. Kessler's work highlights the importance of understanding and empathy as essential components in pursuing a peaceful resolution to the ongoing dispute.

I first came across the 1936-1939 Arab Revolt in Palestine when my dad’s step-sister found an old box containing my grandfather’s belongings. It was like something out of a movie. Inside the box was a janbiya, a characteristic form of a dagger that is worn throughout the Arab World; a 1934 edition of British soldier, diplomat, and writer TE Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom; postcards send back to Scotland from what was then British controlled Palestine; and, an old black and white, carefully annotated photo album. The album held photos presumably taken by my grandfather, then aged 17-19, throughout the Holy Land- the old city of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nablus, Galilee, and many other historical sites.

David Sheldrick, featured in a vintage photograph from the 1930s, serving in the British army in Palestine.

As I delved into my grandfather's past, I discovered that he had joined the British Army - Scotland’s Black Watch - in search of economic opportunities and was sent in 1937 to British mandate Palestine as part of a second wave of reinforcements to quell social unrest. Such unrest had initially been sparked in 1936 by the call for a general strike and civil disobedience by the Arab Higher Committee, led by the then Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, in response to perceived British pro-Zionist policies. 

Photos from my grandfather's collection, showing his time serving in the British army in Palestine in the 1930s

However, finding books about the 1936-1939 Arab Revolt, which Kessler refers to on page 3 of his book as the “forgotten insurgency,” proved challenging. Most publications focused on the later conflict in 1948 when the British withdrew, leading to the establishment of the State of Israel and the displacement -  of around 700,000 Palastinians- which accounted for about 85% of the Palestinian population in the territories that later became Israel.

Before his passing, my grandfather rarely shared his firsthand experiences with his family or anyone else. This was a common phenomenon among the World War II-era generation of British soldiers due to a culture of silence around emotional wellbeing, a stigma against discussing such struggles, and a feeling of dislocation and a belief that their families wouldn't understand what they went through.

Thus Palestine 1936 proves to be a valuable resource, offering an accessible and digestible account of the events from the vantage point of critical players, including their motivations, identities, and backgrounds. It is an engaging read regardless of whether one has a lot of background knowledge or not. It offers a concise overview of how the British first took control of the region and how many of their decisions led to the tensions of the 1930s.

The volatile years in Palestine: British actions, Jewish immigration, and Arab resentment

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 expressed British support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, but it also stipulated that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.” Simultaneously, the British had strategic and economic interests in the region that went beyond their commitment to Zionism. 

During the First World War, to win support from the Arabs, the British had given assurances of support for Arab nationalism and independence in the region, for instance. Kessler notes that these two assurances alone were not the sole cause of the eventual outbreak of hostilities. In fact, he observes how the aspirations of both sides may have been complementary to one another if events had transpired differently (p. 41).

In response to the rise of persecution against Jews in Europe and the closure of many countries, including the United States, to Jewish migrants, Jewish migration to the region increased dramatically in the 1920s and 1930s. Between 1925 and 1930, for example, the number of Jewish arrivals was equal to the number that had arrived in the previous two decades combined (p. 23). 

Photos from my grandfather's collection, showing his time serving in the British army in Palestine in the 1930s

The road to tragedy: Palestine 1936 and its lasting impact

The tensions between Jews and Arabs in Palestine came to a head due to various factors, including increased Jewish immigration, but also a history of land ownership and economic competition, political aspirations, and cultural differences. As a result, the local Arab population increasingly began to feel that their lands, resources, and livelihoods were under threat. 

Meanwhile, the British, despite their efforts to mediate tensions through multiple commissions and inquiries, ultimately failed due to their ineffectiveness and sometimes outright incompetence. As the tensions between Jews and Arabs in Palestine continued to escalate, these various factors at play created a "time bomb" that, in Kessler's words, was bound to explode by the late 1930s (p. 125). The violence began to erupt in 1936, leading to a cycle of retaliation, further violence, and ultimately, horrific casualties on both sides.

In an effort to quell the 1936-1939 Arab Revolt in Palestine, the British sent additional troops to the region (my grandfather, David, being one of them!) who had discretion to deploy a wide range of often brutal counterinsurgency measures (p. 157). However, the British decision to severely restrict Jewish immigration through the controversial "white paper" policy of 1939 added another layer of tension to an already volatile situation. This policy not only failed to address the concerns of either Jews or Arabs, but also aggravated them. For Zionist leaders, the policy effectively closed off the possibility of a Jewish homeland in Palestine and betrayed the British commitment to the Zionist cause. Meanwhile, it further infuriated the Arab population, who saw the policy as yet another example of British favoritism towards the Jewish community at their expense.

Tensions between Jews and Arabs continued to simmer throughout World War II. In 1947, the United Nations voted to partition Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. While the Jews accepted the plan, the Arab leaders rejected it, viewing it as a violation of their rights and interests. Following the British withdrawal from the region, ongoing tensions and actions by both sides, as well as the neighboring Arab countries, ultimately culminated in the 1948 Arab-Israel War with far-reach consequences for both Palestine and the whole region.

Kessler argues that the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939 was the decisive conflict, marking "a story of two nationalisms and the first major explosion between them" (p.2). Essentially, 1936-1939 Arab Revolt in Palestine can be seen as the precursor to the first Intifada, a series of uprisings that began in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1987. Kessler also suggests that this earlier conflict set the stage for the later ones of 1947-48. Indeed, Kessler concludes that due to the way the Arab Revolt played out, the final outcome of these latter conflicts was already a foregone conclusion.

Photo from my grandfather's collection

At the heart of Palestine 1936 is a pervasive sense of tragedy that permeates throughout. Each party involved has an overarching tragedy that defines them. 

The Jewish people, having suffered persecution for centuries, sought a secure haven but struggled to find it. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Arabs were compelled to make “morally outrageous” sacrifices to alleviate the persecution of another national group. As the Arab writer and nationalist George Antonius put it, they were "bullied" into accepting this situation, which he deemed a "miserable evasion" of the civilized world's duty to address the underlying issues (p. 167). This tragedy was compounded by the fact that the Palestinians were uprooted, displaced, and lost their indigenous home.  

And, of course, the tragedy of the British, motivated by the desire to safeguard their empire, arguably already in decline by that time. Their decisions had calamitous consequences that resulted in the deaths of at least 5,000, and perhaps more than 8,000, Arabs, as well as approximately 500 Jews and 250 British soldiers who were not as lucky as my grandfather (p. 211).

Like most good narrative works of history, at its core, Palestine 1936 is a tragedy of individuals. David Ben-Gurion and Musa Alami, are two of the book’s main characters and provide a poignant throughline for the story. 

Ben-Gurion, a Zionist leader who would later become Israel's first prime minister following the declaration of the establishment of Israel in 1948, and Alami, a prominent Palestinian Arab intellectual, reveal the humanity and tragedy of the situation through their intersecting paths. The book recounts a series of meetings between the pair, beginning in 1934 (p. 38), when it appeared the two might be able to broker an agreement allowing Jews and Arabs to coexist.  However, as history shows, this possibility was ultimately dashed. In the last pages of the book, Kessler turns to Ben-Gurion and Alami's perspectives, bringing the story full circle and underscoring the human toll of the conflict in an incredibly moving way. 

The events documented in Palestine 1936 also expose the shameful role played by the British on numerous occasions. It reveals the colonial mindset of rulers who saw themselves as saviors of the “natives,” (p. 48), while simultaneously giving their soldiers free reign to ”give 'em hell” in retaliation for any attacks on them (p. 158). Entire villages were burnt to the ground, and houses were demolished on a regular basis in acts of collective punishment (p. 157). As Kessler observes, today “when Israeli troops detains suspects without charge, raise checkpoints, and raze homes, they rely on tactics and laws inherited from their British forerunners” (p. 7). In a particularly chilling account of the Revolt, a group of Al-Bassa men were coerced onto a bus and ordered to drive over a land mine, resulting in the complete obliteration of the vehicle and the maiming and mutilation of all those on board, whose disfigured bodies were scattered in every direction (p. 155). 

The story presented by Palestine 1936 is both compelling and important, especially given the ongoing unresolved dispute that continues to erupt into frequent outbreaks of violence and bloodshed up to this day. It is a chapter of history that has been neglected for too long, and Kessler has done a tremendous service by bringing it to light.

Every time I revisit my grandfather's photo album, there's one image that never fails to send a shiver down my spine. It's a photo of a man lying on the ground, presumably dead, with the caption "a good rebel" written next to him. Much like Palestine 1936, this haunting picture serves as a powerful reminder that the dispute in The Holy Land is not a distant, abstract issue, and is very much a part of my own history. The human toll continues to grow, and it demands the world's attention.