ثورة فلسطين - أسبابها ونتائجها
The Palestine Revolt: Its Causes and Consequencesby Muḥammad Rashīd Riḍā

Page 465

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Printed page 465

الهندية، وكيف كانت سببًا لتأسيس حكومة وطنية فيها كما تقدم قريبًا، ثم رأوا الثورة السورية، وما أبلت في القوى الفرنسية، على قلة الموقدين لنارها، وقلة ما أتيح من الوقود لها، وكونها كانت في دائرة ضعيفة من البلاد لم تتعد النار إلى غيرها.

فهل تظن هذه الطغمة من اليهود الصهيونيين أنهم ينتزعون من قلب هذه الأمة العزيزة قطرًا من أشرف أقطارها وأعزها، بعد أن استيقظت من رقدتها، وشعرت بقيمة نفسها، وهبت لاستعادة وحدتها، على اختلاف مواطنها وعقائدها وتربيتها؟ وما كان ضعفها الماضي إلا بتفرقها وجهلها بقوتها ومكانتها، ومتى كان الغنى والثراء، والمكر والدهاء، والكيد والرياء، من الضعفاء الجبناء، يطرد الأمم القوية من أوطانها، ويغلبها على ملكها وسلطانها، والحق لها، والسيف بيدها؟

وهم إنما يعتمدون على قوة غيرهم، ولن يدوم لهم تسخيرهم، وعلى تفرق خصومهم وقد زال، ولم يبق لاتحادهم إلا النظام وهو إن شاء الله قريب المنال.

تأثير ثورة فلسطين في العرب والمسلمين

(11) لقد كانت الثورة التي أوقد اليهود الصهيونيون نارها في فلسطين بعد تلك الثورات الموضعية على أقوى دول الأرض، وبعد تلك اليقظة الشرقية العامة التي أحدثتها الحرب، وبعد خيبة آمال بعض الشعوب الشرقية، التي كانت مخدوعة ببعض الدول الغربية - آخر صيحة داعية إلى وحدة الشعوب العربية، وتعاطف الشعوب الإسلامية، فقد اضطرب لها المسلمون والنصارى جميعًا في سورية ولبنان والعراق والحجاز ونجد واليمن ومصر وتونس والجزائر ومراكش، واهتز لها المهاجرون من العرب في العالم الجديد من الشمال إلى الجنوب، وظهر أثر ذلك جليًّا قويًّا في جرائد هذه البلاد وجماعاتها بالاحتجاج والانتصار وجمع الإعانات، وهي أول حركة عربية سياسية أظهر العطفَ عليها ملوكُ العرب المستقلون، فقد أرسل صاحب الجلالة السعودية عدة كتب وبرقيات في إظهار عطفه وعطف أهل مملكته النجدية والحجازية على عرب فلسطين - على بعده واشتغاله بقمع ثورة داخلية في نجد - منها ما هو باسم سماحة زعيمها السيد أمين

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and how it brought about a national government there, as explained shortly above. They then saw the Syrian revolt and what it inflicted on French forces despite the few who lit its fire, the little fuel available to it, and its confinement to a weak part of the country without spreading elsewhere.

Does this clique of Zionist Jews think it can wrest from the heart of this proud nation one of its most honored and cherished lands after the nation has awakened, recognized its own worth, and risen to restore its unity across its different homelands, beliefs, and education? Its earlier weakness came only from division and ignorance of its strength and standing. When have wealth, guile, plotting, and pretense by the weak and cowardly driven strong nations from their homelands or defeated them in their rule and power, when right is on their side and the sword in their hand?

They rely only on another's power, which they cannot keep under their control forever, and on the division of their opponents, which has ended. Only organization is needed for unity, and God willing it is near.

The effect of the Palestine revolt on Arabs and Muslims

(11) The revolt whose fire the Zionist Jews kindled in Palestine came after those local revolts against the strongest states on earth, after the general awakening in the East brought about by the war, and after some peoples of the East lost hope in Western states that had deceived them. It was the latest call to unite the Arab peoples and stir sympathy among Muslim peoples. Muslims and Christians alike were stirred in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, the Hijaz, Najd, Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. Arab emigrants throughout the New World, from north to south, were also stirred. This was clear in the newspapers and associations of those lands, in protests, support, and the collection of aid. It was the first Arab political movement to which independent Arab kings openly showed sympathy. His Saudi Majesty sent several letters and telegrams expressing his sympathy and that of the people of his Najdi and Hijazi kingdom for the Arabs of Palestine, despite his distance and his work putting down a revolt in Najd. Some were addressed to their respected leader, Sayyid Amin

Analysis

Riḍā cites revolts in Iraq and Syria as proof that European power can be resisted. A British parliamentary statement says the 1920 Iraqi rebellion frustrated planned troop reductions and recounts the move from a June 1920 announcement toward a provisional Arab government, an elected assembly, and an Arab ruler. This supports a close policy link and sequence, but it does not prove that the revolt was the sole cause or that full independence followed. Riḍā calls Zionist Jews a clique seeking to take an Arab land, says Arab division is ending, and claims Jews kindled the revolt in ארץ ישראל EREẒ YISRAʾEL. The charge of a single Jewish cause is his, not established by this page. His list of Arab and Muslim responses is evidence of what he reported, but the actions and scale need checking against the newspapers, letters, and records he mentions. The list continues on p. 466.

Scholarship on the Great Syrian Revolt supports Riḍā's claim that it seriously strained French forces. The revolt began in Hawran in 1925, reached Damascus, and continued in several regions until French mandate control was reasserted in 1927. It was the mandate's most significant revolt and a serious challenge to French rule. That record also corrects Riḍā's description of the revolt as confined to one weak locality, although it did not become a wider revolt across the region.

The Saudi ruler's simultaneous conflict in Najd is independently documented. British archival records describe 1929 operations against rebel tribes, and scholarship dates his defeat of the Ikhwan at Sibilla to that year. This supports Riḍā's statement that Ibn Saud was suppressing an internal revolt while sending expressions of support. It does not verify the particular letters or donations named on the next page.

The Shaw Commission rejects Riḍā's single-cause label for the 1929 violence. It found that the outbreak in Jerusalem began as an Arab attack on Jews and that most of the disturbances took the form of Arab attacks on Jews, while recording some later Jewish attacks. The accepted death totals were 133 Jews and 116 Arabs, with many Arab casualties caused by police or military fire. The commission treated a series of Western Wall incidents and demonstrations as immediate causes. This does not erase Arab political and economic grievances, but it does not support saying that Zionist Jews alone kindled the violence.

One part of Riḍā's regional-response claim has independent support. A study of the Algerian newspaper al-Najāḥ documents sustained coverage, support for the Arab response, condemnation of Zionist actions at Islamic holy sites, and calls to cancel the Balfour Declaration. This confirms a strong Algerian press response. It does not establish that all Muslims and Christians in every named country reacted alike, or verify the wider claims about migrants, donations, and official acts.