Radwan Al Hilu (1909–1975) was a Palestinian Arab politician who was the leader of the

Palestine Communist Party The Palestine Communist Party (, ''Palestinische Komunistische Partei'', abbreviated PKP; ) was a political party in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate of Palestine formed in 1923 through the merger of the Palestinian Communist Party (192 ...

between 1934 and 1943. He was the first Arab to hold the post and used the pseudonym ''Musa''.

Biography

Al Hilu was born in

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 ...

Ottoman Palestine The region of Palestine (region), Palestine is part of the wider region of the Levant, which represents the land bridge between Africa and Eurasia.Steiner & Killebrew, p9: "The general limits ..., as defined here, begin at the Plain of ' ...

, in 1909, into a poor working-class Christian Orthodox family. He was a member of the Palestine Communist Party being part of the mainstream faction. He and

Bulus Farah Bulus Farah (1910–1991) was a Palestinian trade unionist who founded the Federation of Arab Trade Unions and Labor Societies in 1942. He began working in the Haifa workshops in 1925 as a fifteen-year-old apprentice. Farah was one of the first Ar ...

were sent to Moscow for leadership training at the

Communist University of the Toilers of the East The Communist University of the Toilers of the East (, KUTV; also known as the Far East University) was a revolutionary training school for important communist political leaders. The school operated under the umbrella of the Communist Internatio ...

. In 1934, Al Hilu was appointed by the

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

as the secretary general of the party. His appointment was a result of the Comintern's efforts of the Arabization in the party of which most members were Jewish. He held the post until November 1943 when he resigned from the party due to internal conflicts. Al Hilu had an affair with Simha Tzabari who was also a member of the Palestinian Communist Party. Al Hilu died in

Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

in 1975.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hilu, Radwan 1909 births 1975 deaths People from Jaffa Palestine Communist Party politicians Palestinian Christian socialists Eastern Orthodox Christians from Palestine Communist University of the Toilers of the East alumni Arab people in Mandatory Palestine Arab people from Ottoman Palestine Date of birth missing Date of death missing