“We Will Take Our Independence by Force!”: The Role of ‘Izz al-Din al-Qassam in the Transformation of the Palestinian National Movement

Abstract

The article, based on Palestinian and British sources, reconstructs the journey of the ideologist and propagandist of Palestine’s national movement’s radicalization — shaykh ‘Izz al-Din al-Qassam (1882–1935), one of the inspirers of the Great Arab revolt of 1936–1939. ‘Izz al-Din al-Qassam was the person behind the formation of underground cells of political organizations that became the mainstay of the Great Arab revolt, the most famous of which was the paramilitary group “Black Hand” created in 1930. Despite active confrontation with the British military administration and Jewish settlers, ‘Izz al-Din al-Qassam and the “Black Hand” failed to achieve the independence of Palestine, but al-Qassam’s person and his activities served as a source of inspiration for the Palestinian people in their struggle for independence, and the very name of shaykh al-Qassam has become a household name for modern paramilitary structures of the Palestinian resistance.

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