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and enable them to exercise authority and control over Palestine. Britain continued this policy throughout its Mandate over Palestine, sparing no effort to arm the Jews and disarm the Arabs.

The Palestinians made strenuous efforts to obtain weapons by every means they could, but their means and financial resources were limited and could not compare with those available to the Jews, because the British authorities regarded the Jews as friends and allies and the Arabs as enemies and adversaries. Nevertheless, throughout all their revolts during the British Mandate, the Palestinians managed to stand firm against the British forces and the armed Jewish forces. They even overcame the Jews in their revolt of 1947–1948 at many positions and inflicted heavy losses on them during the first five months after the partition decision was issued, until the armies of the Arab states entered Palestine on 15 May 1948 and began isolating the Palestinian forces from the battlefield and depriving them of money, weapons, and all other means of struggle.

Alongside its strenuous efforts to obtain weapons, equipment, and military apparatus, the Arab Higher Committee worked to prepare and train the Palestinian fighters, organize their formations and units and their supply means, designate their targets and plans, and strengthen their spirit of struggle and combat. It drew on the experience of several specialized officers and formed the Holy War Army under the command of the martyr Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni and his assistants, regional commanders known for courage and experience. Several of them had previously completed military courses in Germany and Iraq, in addition to the experience, knowledge, and practice they had gained in earlier Palestinian revolts in which they confronted the British and Jewish forces throughout the British Mandate over Palestine.

The Holy War leadership, with the help of several Syrian, Egyptian, and Iraqi officers, prepared a precise program and selected the targets for jihad operations. They numbered 360 targets, and for each target they prepared a map and details of its execution and specified the men, weapons, and expenses it required.

Part of this target program was carried out in the Jerusalem area, including blowing up the Jewish Agency building, Ben Yehuda Street, Montefiore Street, closing the Bab al-Wad pass between Jerusalem and Jaffa, besieging the 115,000 Jews in Jerusalem, and cutting off all communication with them