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Aref al-Aref ( ar, عارف العارف, 1892–1973), variously spelled as Arif el Arif, 'Arif el-'Arif, etc., was a
Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
journalist, historian and politician. He served as mayor of
East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the sector of Jerusalem that was held by Jordan during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to the western sector of the city, West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Jerusalem was envisaged as a separat ...
in the 1950s during the
Jordanian annexation of the West Bank The Jordanian annexation of the West Bank formally occurred on 24 April 1950, after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, during which Transjordan occupied territory that had previously been part of Mandatory PalestineRaphael Israeli, Jerusalem div ...
.


Biography

Aref al-Aref was born in 1892 as Aref Shehadeh in Jerusalem in 1892.Tamari & Turjman (2011), pp. 66–68, 71–76 His father was a vegetable vendor. Excelling at his studies in primary school, he was sent to high school in the Ottoman Empire. He attended the Marjan Preparatory School and Mulkiyya College in Istanbul. During his college studies, he wrote for a Turkish newspaper. Later, he worked as a translator for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Wasserstein (1977) He served as an officer in the Ottoman Army in World War I. He was captured on the Caucasus front and spent three years in a prisoner of war camp in
Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk ( ; rus, Красноя́рск, a=Ru-Красноярск2.ogg, p=krəsnɐˈjarsk) (in semantic translation - Red Ravine City) is the largest city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Ye ...
, Siberia. In Krasnoyarsk, he edited a newspaper in handwritten Arabic called ''Nakatullah''
amel of God Amel (; french: Amblève, ) is a Belgian municipality in the Walloon province of Liège, and is part of the German-speaking Community of Belgium (german: Deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft Belgiens). On January 1, 2013, the municipality of Amel had ...
and translated Ernst Haeckel's ''Die Weltraethsel'' (" The Riddles of the Universe") into Turkish. After the Russian Revolution he escaped and returned to Ottoman Palestine. Aref al-Aref died on 30 July 1973, in
al-Bireh Al-Bireh, al-Birah, or el-Bira ( ar, البيرة; also known historically as Castrum Mahomeria, Magna Mahomeria, Mahomeria Major, Birra, or Beirothah) is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank, north of Jerusalem. It is the capital of the ...
.


Political activism

By 1919, al-Aref was involved in political activism in Palestine, agitating for unity of Palestine with Syria.Tamari & Turjman (2011), pp. 78–79 In October 1919, he became editor of the recently established newspaper '' Suriya al-Janubiya'' (Southern Syria), which was the first Arab nationalist newspaper published in Jerusalem and was an organ of the al-Nadi al-'Arabi (The Arab Club). Initially the paper supported the British military authorities, but soon became an opponent of the British Mandate. Al-Aref attended the Nebi Musa religious festival in Jerusalem in 1920 riding on his horse, and gave a speech at the Jaffa Gate. The nature of his speech is disputed. According to Benny Morris, he said "If we don't use force against the Zionists and against the Jews, we will never be rid of them", while Bernard Wasserstein wrote "he seems to have cooperated with the police, and there is no evidence that he actively instigated violence". In fact, "Zionist intelligence reports of this period are unanimous in stressing that he spoke repeatedly against violence". Soon the festival became a
riot A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targeted ...
involving attacks on the local Jews. Al-Aref was arrested for incitement, but when he was let out on bail he escaped to Syria together with co-accused Haj Amin al-Husseini. In another version, he was warned and escaped before being arrested.Ṭauber (1994), pp. 95, 105 He advised Arabs against violence, urging them instead to adopt the "discipline, silence, and courage" of their opponents. In his absence, a military court sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment. In Damascus, al-Aref became a deputy to the
General Syrian Congress The Syrian National Congress, also called the Pan-Syrian Congress and General Syrian Congress (GSC), was convened in May 1919 in Damascus, Syria, after the expulsion of the Ottomans from Syria. The mission of the Congress was to consider the futu ...
and with Hajj Amin and others formed al-Jam'iyya al-'Arabiyya al-Filastiniyya (Palestinian Arab Society). He became its Secretary-General and campaigned against the decisions of the
San Remo conference The San Remo conference was an international meeting of the post- World War I Allied Supreme Council as an outgrowth of the Paris Peace Conference, held at Villa Devachan in Sanremo, Italy, from 19 to 26 April 1920. The San Remo Resolution pa ...
. After the French invasion of Syria in July 1920, he fled to Transjordan. He returned to Jerusalem late in 1920 after being pardoned by the new British High Commissioner of Palestine,
Herbert Samuel Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel, (6 November 1870 – 5 February 1963) was a British Liberal politician who was the party leader from 1931 to 1935. He was the first nominally-practising Jew to serve as a Cabinet minister and to beco ...
, but the government refused to allow his newspaper to reopen.


Political career

In 1921, he was appointed as a district Officer of the British administration by the Civil Secretary, Colonel
Wyndham Deedes Brigadier-General Sir Wyndham Henry Deedes, CMG, DSO(10 March 1883 – 2 September 1956) was a British Army officer and civil administrator. He was the Chief Secretary to the British High Commissioner of the British Mandate of Palestine. E ...
. He served in that capacity in Jenin, Nablus,
Beisan Beit She'an ( he, בֵּית שְׁאָן '), also Beth-shean, formerly Beisan ( ar, بيسان ), is a town in the Northern District of Israel. The town lies at the Beit She'an Valley about 120 m (394 feet) below sea level. Beit She'an is be ...
, and Jaffa. In 1926 he was seconded to the Government of Transjordan as Chief Secretary, where he served for three years. However he continued his political activities on the side to the displeasure of his British superior. He returned to Palestine in 1929, where he served as District Officer in
Beersheba Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...
and later in Gaza. In 1933 he received a special commendation from the High Commissioner for keeping his district quiet during a time of disturbances elsewhere. In 1942 he was promoted and transferred to
al-Bireh Al-Bireh, al-Birah, or el-Bira ( ar, البيرة; also known historically as Castrum Mahomeria, Magna Mahomeria, Mahomeria Major, Birra, or Beirothah) is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank, north of Jerusalem. It is the capital of the ...
. He continued as a Mandate official until 1948. Upon Jordanian control of the West Bank, al-Aref was first appointed military governor of Ramallah governorate, and then, from 1949 to 1955, served as mayor of
East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the sector of Jerusalem that was held by Jordan during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to the western sector of the city, West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Jerusalem was envisaged as a separat ...
.Fischbach (2005) In 1967, he was appointed director of the Palestine Archaeological Museum (
Rockefeller Museum The Rockefeller Archeological Museum, formerly the Palestine Archaeological Museum ("PAM"; 1938–1967), and which before then housed The Imperial Museum of Antiquities (''Müze-i Hümayun''; 1901–1917), is an archaeology museum located in East ...
) in Jerusalem.


Published works

All following books have been published in Arabic, unless mentioned otherwise, and the English titles are literal translations of the Arabic ones. * heBedouin Law/Bedouin Judiciary (''Al Qadaa bayn al Badou''), 1933; new edition published in Beirut, 2001 *History of Beersheba and its Tribes (''Tarikh B’ir al-Sabi‘ wa Qabailiha''), Jerusalem 1934. Probably identical with "The Bedouin Love, Law and Legend: History of Beersheba and Its Tribes", 1934 *My Vision (''Ru'yay''), Jerusalem 1943 *History of Gaza (''Tarikh Ghazza''), Jerusalem 1943 *Gazan-Jerusalemite History (''Tarigh Ghaza-Al Quds''), Jerusalem 1943 *'Aref el-'Aref, in collaboration with/editor Harold W. Tilley, in English. ''Bedouin Love, Law and Legend, Dealing Exclusively with the Badu of Beersheba''. Jerusalem 1944.National Library of Australia
/ref> Also listed as ''Bedouin Love, Law and Legend: History of Beersheba and Its Tribes''. *History of al-Haram al-Sharif (''Tarikh al-Haram al-Sharif'' or ''Tarikh al-Haram al-Qudsi''), Jerusalem 1947 *History of Jerusalem (''Tarikh al-Quds''), Cairo 1951 and/or Summary of the History of Jerusalem (''Al Mijaz fi Tarikh al Quds''), Cairo 1951 *The Disaster (''al-Nakba''), six vols., 1956–1961. Also listed as The catastrophe: The catastrophe of Jerusalem and the lost paradise (''al-Nakba: Nakbat Bayt al-Maqdis wal-firdaws al-mafqud'') *The Detailed History of Jerusalem (''al-Mufassal fi Tarikh al-Quds''), Jerusalem 1961


References


Bibliography

* *, quoting the official history of the
Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the Is ...
* * Very limited access to the text on Google Books. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aref, Aref Arab people in Mandatory Palestine 20th-century Palestinian historians 1890s births 1973 deaths Mayors of Jerusalem Arabs in Ottoman Palestine World War I prisoners of war held by Russia Ottoman prisoners of war Ottoman Army officers Ottoman military personnel of World War I Chief Secretaries of Transjordan Palestine ethnographers