Independence Party (Palestine)

The Independence Party (Hizb al-Istiqlal) was an Arab nationalist party established on 13 August, 1932, in Palestine during the British mandate. Its origins lay in the Istiqlal movement associated with the short-lived Sharifian government in Damascus. It was founded by Izzat Darwaza

The rise of the party marked the turn by some Palestinians to mass resistance to the Zionist project and its British patron. During the 1936-1939 Great Arab Revolt the party called for an Indian Congress Party-style boycott of the British. The leader of the party, Awni Abd al-Hadi, was General Secretary of the Arab Higher Committee. The other founders of the party were Fahmi al-Abboushi, Muhammad Izzat Darwazah, Mu'in al-Madi, Akram Zu'aytir, ‘Ajaj Nuwayhid, Rashid al-Hajj Ibrahim, Subhi al-Khadra, and Salim Salamah.

References

• Choueiri, Youssef M. (2000). Arab Nationalism: Nation and State in the Arab World. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-21729-0
• Hassassian, Manuel Sarkis (1990). Palestine: Factionalism in the National Movement, 1919-1939. Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs.
• Kedourie, Elie (1974). Arabic Political Memoirs and Other Studies. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-3041-1
• Khalidi, Rashid (1997). Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-10514-2
• Khalidi, Rashid (2001). The Palestinians and 1948: the underlying causes of failure. In Eugene L. Rogan and Avi Shlaim (Eds.). The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948(pp. 12-36). Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-79476-5
• Pappé, Ilan (1999). The Israel/Palestine Question. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-16947-X