Hassan Bey Shukri (; 1876–1940) was a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

and president of the

Muslim National Associations The Muslim National Associations (MNA)Among them was ''al-Jam'iyya al-Islamiyya al-Wataniyya'' (), founded in 1921, and was active until 1923. was a Zionist-inspired and funded organization founded in Mandatory Palestine in the 1920s. It had branch ...

Biography

Hassan Shukri was born in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

and moved to Haifa as a child. The Turks appointed him mayor of the city in 1914. In 1914, as the military governor of

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

, Shukri issued a directive ordering Jewish workers at a

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

flour mill to work on

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

despite their religious beliefs. The workers’ refusal and Shukri’s subsequent punishment of the owner of the flour mill,

Eliyahu Golomb Eliyahu Golomb (; 2 March 1893 – 11 June 1945), also referred to as Eliyahu Ben-Naftali, was the "unofficial founder" of the Haganah, and one of the architects of the Jewish defense organizations in Mandatory Palestine, Palestine during the Br ...

, with "falakas" (whipping) is well known as being a catalyst for Golomb’s formation of the first organised Jewish self defense organisation in

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

, the

Haganah Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist political violence, Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the reg ...

. In July 1921, Shukri sent a telegram to the British government, declaring support for the

Balfour Declaration The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British Government in 1917 during the First World War announcing its support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, then an Ottoman regio ...

and Zionist immigration to British Mandate Palestine:

We strongly protest against the attitude of the said delegation concerning the Zionist question. We do not consider the Jewish people as an enemy whose wish is to crush us. On the contrary. We consider the Jews as a brotherly people sharing our joys and troubles and helping us in the construction of our common country. We are certain that without Jewish immigration and financial assistance there will be no future development of our country as may be judged from the fact that the towns inhabited in part by Jews such as Jerusalem, Jaffa, Haifa, and Tiberias are making steady progress while Nablus, Acre, and Nazareth where no Jews reside are steadily declining. Cohen, Hillel '' Army of Shadows: Palestinian collaboration with Zionism, 1917-1948''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009. p. 15-17

1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the BBC, British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith, 1st Baron Reith, John Reith becomes the first ...

, Shukri was reelected as mayor of Haifa with Jewish support. Shukri added Hebrew to municipal documents, which were formerly in Arabic. In 1933, he opened up city tenders to Jewish contractors. In 1936, explosives were planted at his home. He escaped without injury, but several months later an Arab fired four shots at Shukri as he entered Haifa City Hall. While the assassination attempt failed, Shukri was shaken and fled to

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

. When Shukri died on January 29, 1940, many of Haifa’s Jewish leaders attended his funeral.

References

{{Mayors of Haifa Mayors of Haifa Arab people in Mandatory Palestine 1876 births 1940 deaths Muslim supporters of Israel Political office-holders in the Ottoman Empire Arab people from Ottoman Palestine Arab supporters of Israel