The Paramilitary Organization ‘Al-Najjada’

On 20 July 1946, an article was published in the daily Filastin. The week before, the general parade of Al-Najjada had taken place in Jaffa, six months after the establishment of its first new branches. The article carried a pseudonymous signature. It described how the idea of founding Al-Najjada had crystallized and in what ways the founders had managed to cope with the initial problem. It said: On a summer day in the year 1944 the Islamic Sports Club in Jaffa received a telegram bearing the news of the immediate arrival of a group of Lebanese Najjadas [members of the Najjada organization] to Jaffa, where they would remain overnight, on their way to Egypt. It was on that moonlit evening . . . that the idea of establishing a Palestinian Najjada organization took shape. It took two to three months before the idea crystallized. It was then decided to start putting it into practice. It was then that a group of educated youth met in one of the halls of the Islamic Sports Club. The expected decision was then taken and the Najjada Organization was registered with the Government of Palestine as an official organization. . . 2 Then the idea indeed spread and membership increased. Then those responsible felt the need of enacting general regulations for the Najjada if it was to prosper and spread; Muhammad Nimr al-Hawari was the lawyer entrusted with the task of preparing this constitution. The result was a comprehensive code that comprised all particulars. It was divided into two sections: the administrative part dealt with functions of the administration, such as district command committees and the Council of the High Command; the practical part dealt with local committees and a higher command council. One man at the top co-ordinated the work: this was the top leader and the general commander. The code was unanimously adopted and became effective soon after. When the idea became widespread, it was deemed feasible to rent special premises which were found on Railway Station Street [Jaffa], where the Council Centre and the General Commander still are. It was then that the General Commander, Nimr al-Hawari, and the Secretary General, Rashad al-Dabbagh, as well as some members of the Higher Council, began scouring the villages and towns, so that by now there is a Najjada branch in every town and village, under the High Command.