Fawzi al-Qawuqji | |
---|---|
Native name | فوزي القاوقجي |
Born | Beirut, Ottoman Empire | January 19, 1890
Died | June 5, 1977 | (aged 87)
Allegiance |
|
Service/ | Arab Liberation Army |
Years of service | ?-1948 |
Battles/wars |
Fawzi al-Qawuqji (Arabic: فوزي القاوقجي; 1890–1977) was Arab nationalism's leading military figure in the interwar period, based in Germany during World War II, who served as the Arab Liberation Army (ALA) field commander during the 1948 Palestine War.
Biography
Before World War II
Qawuqji was born in 1890 in Beirut, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire.[nb 1] An Arab nationalist, he served as an officer in the Ottoman Army during World War I. He was awarded an Iron Cross, second class, for his service as Ottoman Army lieutenant fighting alongside General Otto von Kreiss' Prussians, who had opposed the British in Palestine during World War I.[3]
Gilbert Achcar calls him "Arab nationalism's leading military figure in the interwar period ... served as a commander in all the Arab national battles of the period." [4]
After Syria became a French Mandate, Qawuqji joined the French-Syrian Army and received formal training at the French École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr. During the rebellion of 1925–1927, he deserted the French Army to join the rebellion, leading the uprising in Hama in early October 1925.[5] Qawuqji remained an outlaw thereafter.[6]
In 1929 Shakib Arslan brought Qawuqji to the Hejaz to help train the army of Saudi monarch Abdul-Aziz. Al Qawuqji relates that he was unimpressed with Abdul-Aziz, depicting him as self-infatuated and suspicious, who disappointingly attempted to justify his collaboration with the British.[7]
Qawuqji fought against the British in the Mandate of Palestine during the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. He was associated with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini, and followed him in October, 1939, from Lebanon to Iraq, along with other members of the Mufti's entourage, such as Jamal Huseini, Amin Tamimi, Aref And er-Razek, and Sheikh Hasan Salama. In Iraq Husseini's group, including, al-Qawuqji, played critical roles in the pro-Axis coup.[8]
Collins and LaPierre summarization of al-Qawuqji's pre-WWII career includes the following observations:
The high point of his military career had come during the Arab revolt against the British in Palestine in 1936. His frequently demonstrated prowess won him fame among the Arab population and the esteem of Haj Amin Husseini. His popular following, however, was not altogether to the Mufti's liking, and, equipped with arms and money, he was shunted off to Iraq to foment a rebellion there. Instead of promoting an uprising, the Mufti's aides later claimed, "he swallowed up the arms, the money and the rebellion."[9]
World War II
He was in the Kingdom of Iraq during the Rashid Ali coup of 1941 and, during the subsequent Anglo-Iraqi War, he again fought against the British. Al-Qawuqji led approximately 500 "irregulars" in the area between Rutbah and Ramadi.[10] He established a reputation as bold fighter who would execute or mutilate his prisoners.[6]
When the Rashid Ali regime collapsed, Qawuqji and his irregular forces were targeted for destruction by the Mercol flying column and were chased out of Iraq. While still in Iraq, a British plane strafed and almost killed him.[2] After entering Vichy French-held Syria, Qawuqji made his way to Nazi Germany.[6][11] He remained in Germany for the remainder of World War II, recuperated from his wounds, and married a German woman.[12]
In Germany al-Qawuqji continued to oppose the Allies in cooperation with other Arabs who were allied with the Axis powers, including the two competing leaders of the pro-Nazi Arab factions, Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Hussein and exiled Iraqi former Prime Minister Rashid Ali. In June 1941, Wehrmacht High Führer Directive No. 30 and the "Instructions for Special Staff F" (Sonderstab F) designated the Wehrmacht's central agency for all issues that affected the Arab world. General der Flieger Hellmuth Felmy was the appointed central authority for all Arab affairs concerning the Wehrmacht.[13][14]
Al Qawuqj's sojourn in Germany has been the subject of considerable controversy.[15] Dr. Achcar recounts stories of conflicts during his Berlin period:
In his memoirs, he tells how, during his stay in hospital, he came under heavy pressure from German civilian and military officials to declare his allegience to the führer. He even had an altercation with an SS officer who proffered threats when Qawuqji insisted that Germany first formally acknowledge the Arab's right to independence. The next day, his son died of poisoning. Qawuqji, convinced that the Nazis had murdered the young man, refused to take part in the funeral they organized.[16]
In July 1941 al Qawuqji wrote a memorandum addressed to General Felmy.[17] This memorandum's subject was the need for German-Arab alliance in Iraq, and included discussions of geography, dessert warfare, and combined propaganda efforts directed against Jews.[18] In post-war memoirs written when he was a prisoner of the allies, Gen. Felmy wrote about al-Qawuqji's 'active interest' and support of the military training of Arabs by the Nazis:[19]
... the Arabs came to the conclusion that they were already regarded as full-fledged partners in the Axis. One of the major issues ... was the conflict engendered by the difference in the political loyalties of the volunteers. Some of the latter professed their faith in one Arab chieftain, while the others argued the merits of his opponent. Thus a number of the volunteers had already secretly contacted Fauzi Kaikyi, the Syrian army leader. After his escape by plane from the British, Fauzi had established himself in Berlin and begun to take an active interest in the Arabs at Sunium.[20]
Al-Qawuqji was officially transferred to Sonderstab F after he was fully recovered from the wounds he received fighting against the British in Iraq.[21] On September 4, 1941 al Qawuqji told a comrade in Syria "I will come with Arab and German troops to help you."[22] In May 1942, after the Axis powers signed secret documents to support the Arab nationalists, al Qawuqji expressed dissatisfaction with the results, commenting that the they were "just symbolic and not an agreement."[23]
Gilbert Achcar reports that al-Qawuqji was as bewilderd by rivalries between competing Arab leaders (Haj Amin al-Husseini and Rashid Ali) as by the Axis foot-dragging over support for Arab nationalist goals. He opposed incorporating Arab units into the Axis armed forces, since he preferred their formation into an independent Arab nationalist army.[16]
In 1945 he was captured by Soviet forces, and held prisoner until February 1947.[2] He then traveled to Egypt via France, and proclaimed that he was "at the disposition of the Arab people should they call on [him] to take up arms again."[24]
On August 1947, Fawzi al-Qawuqji threatened that, should the (U.N. partition) vote go the wrong way, “we will have to initiate total war. We will murder, wreck and ruin everything standing in our way, be it English, American or Jewish"[25]
Arab Liberation Army
In 1945 he was captured by Soviet forces, and held prisoner until February 1947.[2] He then traveled to Egypt via France, and proclaimed that he was "at the disposition of the Arab people should they call on me to take up arms again."[24]
After the UN Partition vote, the Arab League appointed him to be field commander of the Arab Liberation Army in the 1948 Palestine War. This appointment was opposed by Haj Amin Husseini, who had appointed his own kinsman Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni as the commander of the Army of the Holy War.[26] The execution of the 1948 Palestine War was marked by the personal, family, and political rivalry between al-Qawuqji (who fought mainly in northern Palestine) and al-Husayni, who fought mostly in the Jerusalem area.[27]
In early March 1948, Qawuqji moved some of his forces from the Damascus area and crossed (unmolested by British troops) into Palestine over the Allenby Bridge, leading hundreds or Arab and Bosnian volunteers[28] in a column of twenty-five trucks.[29] The British troops' inaction infuriated General Sir Gordon MacMillan, who stated that al-Qawudji should not be allowed "to go openly rampaging over territory in which Britain considered herself a sovereign power." General MacMillan did not want to confront al-Qawudji's force, however, since he saw "no point in getting a lot of British soldiers killed in that kind of operation."[29]
Inside Mandatory Palestine al-Qawuqji commanded a few thousands armed men who had infiltrated the area. They were grouped into several regiments concentrated in Galilee and around Nablus.[30] Al-Qawuqji told his troops that the purpose was "ridding Palestine of the Zionist plague".[25] According to Collins and LaPierre, he anticipated a short campaign, and announced:
"I have come to Palestine to stay and fight until Palestine is a free and united Arab country or until I am killed and buried here," ... His aim, he declared, borrowing the slogan that was becoming the leitmotiv of the Arab leadership, was "to drive all the Jews into the sea."[30]
In April 1948 the ALA mounted a major attack on the Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmak which sat near the strategic road that connected Haifa to Galilee panhandle. He used field guns to fire on the kibbutz for a 36-hour barrage. During this battle al-Qawuqji issued a number of announcements that were subsequently proven false. In the first 24-hours he announced victory; on April 8 he announced he had taken Mishmar HaEmek, and after the battle was lost he claimed the Jews had been assisted by non-Jewish Soviet troops and bombers. Copies of these mendacious telegrams are preserved in the Jordanian archives.[31] The Haganah and Palmach counter-attacked and the ALA were routed. The battle was over by April 16, and most of the Arabs in the area, disheartened by the defeat of the ALA or demoralized by the Jewish victory. Surrounding Arab villages were depopulated by Jewish forces.[32]
In July al-Qawuqji launched a rolling offensive of counterattacks, focusing on Ilanya (Sejera), a Jewish settlement deep in ALA territory.[dubious ] Although he deployed armored cars and a battery of 75 mm artillery to support the ALA infantry, his troops suffered from lack of artillery ammunition and host of other deficiencies. The opposing Golani Twelfth Battalion withstood the attack, inflicting heavy losses on the ALA. The battle ended on 18 July, with the ALA losing the Arab village of Lubiya, which had been their main base in Central Eastern Galilee.[33]
The ALA established control of upper central Galilee, from the Sakhnin–Arabe–Deir Hanna line through Majd al-Krum up to the Lebanese border until October 1948. On 22 October, the date of the third UN Security Council cease-fire order, the ALA attacked Sheikh Abd,a hilltop overlooking Kibbutz Manara and put the kibbutz under siege. Al-Qawudji told the UN observers that he demanded depopulation of nearby Kibbutz Yiftah forces, and diminish the Jewish forces in Manara. The Jewish forces responded by demanding that ALA withdraw from it's positions. Al-Qawuqji rejected these counter-demands.
After the cease-fire, IDF launched Operation Hiram. Shortly thereafter the last of the ALA forces were driven out of the Galilee and Qawuqji escaped to Lebanon.[34]
After the end of the war he moved to Syria and lived in Damascus.
Published works
- al-Qawuqji, Fauzi (1972): Memoirs of al-Qawuqji, Fauzi in Journal of Palestine Studies
See also
Notes
- ^ Nafi, p. 226
- ^ a b c d Time, I Have Returned
- ^ Collins, Larry and Lapierre, Dominique (1972): O Jerusalem!, Simon and Schuster, ISBN 0-671-66241-4., pp. 158–160
- ^ The Arabs and the Holocaust: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives, by Gilbert Achcar, (NY: Henry Holt and Co.; 2009), pp. 92
- ^ Provence, 2005, pp. 95-–103.
- ^ a b c Lyman, p. 21
- ^ "Achcar," p. 121n.
- ^ Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World by Jeffrey Herf (Yale University Press, 2009) ISBN 978-0-300-14579-3. p, 37
- ^ Collins & Lapierre, p 160
- ^ Lyman, p. 88
- ^ Lyman, p. 87
- ^ Collins & Lapierre, pp. 159, 160
- ^ Nazi Palestine: The Plans for the Extermination of the Jews in Palestine by Klaus-Michael Mallmann and Martin Cuppers, tran. by Krista Smith, (Enigma Books, published in association with the United States Holocaust Museum, NY; 2010), pp. 69, 75, 83, 163
- ^ "German Exploitation of Arab Nationalist Movements in World War II" by Gen. Hellmuth Felmy and Gen, Walter Warlimont, Foreword by Generaloberst Franz Haider, Historical Division, Headquarters, United States Army, Europe, Foreign Military Studies Branch, 1952, p. 11, by Gen. Haider
- ^ "Palestinian Arab National Movement, 1929 - 1939: From Riots to Rebellion," by Yehoshua Porath, (London: Cass; 1977), pp. 236, 237
- ^ a b "Achcar," p. 92
- ^ Mallmann & Cuppers, p. 126
- ^ Mallmann & Cuppers, p. 126, 127
- ^ Felmy, et al, p. 13
- ^ Felmy, et al, , p. 12–13
- ^ Mallmann & Cuppers, p. 75
- ^ Mallmann & Cuppers, p. 85
- ^ Mallmann & Cuppers, p. 92
- ^ a b Collins & Lapierre, pp. 160, 161
- ^ a b Benny Morris (2008). 1948: a history of the first Arab-Israeli war. Yale University Press. p. 61. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
As early as mid-August 1947, Fawzi al-Qawuqji—soon to be named the head of the Arab League's volunteer army in Palestine, the Arab Liberation Army (ALA)—threatened that, should the vote go the wrong way, "we will have to initiate total war. We will murder, wreck and ruin everything standing in our way, be it English, American or Jewish." It would be a "holy war," the Arabs suggested, which might even evolve into "World War III." ; p. 396- al-Qawuqji told his troops that the purpose is "ridding Palestine of the Zionist plague
- ^ Collins & Lapierre, pp. 156--163
- ^ "One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate," by Tom Segev, (New York: Henry Holt and Co., LLC; 1999), p. 510
- ^ Gelber (2006), pp.51-56.
- ^ a b Collins & Lapierre, p. 206
- ^ a b Collins & Lapierre, p. 207
- ^ "The War for Palestine," by Eugene L. Rogan and Avi Shlaim, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2007), p. 111.
- ^ 1948: A history of the first Arab-Israeli war," by Benny Morris (New Haven: Yale University Press; 2008), pp. 133-137.
- ^ "Morris, 2008," p. 282
- ^ "Morris, 2008," pp. 330-339
References
- Laila Parsons, Soldering for Arab Nationalism: Fawzi al-Qawuqji in Palestine, Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. XXXVI, 2007, pp. 33–48.
- Lyman, Robert (2006). Iraq 1941: The Battles for Basra, Habbaniya, Fallujah and Baghdad. Campaign. Oxford, New York: Osprey Publishing. p. 96. ISBN 1-84176-991-6.
{{cite book}}
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(help) - Provence, Michael (2005). The Great Syrian Revolt and the Rise of Arab Nationalism. University of Texas Press. ISBN 9780292706804.
- Nafi, Basheer M. (1998), Arabism, Islamism and the Palestine question, 1908-1941: a political history, Garnet and Ithaca Press, ISBN 0-86372-235-0
External links
- "I Have Returned". Time Magazine. March 15, 1948. Retrieved October 31, 2009.
- "War for Jerusalem Road". Time Magazine. April 19, 1948. Retrieved October 31, 2009.