Issa Battat

Issa al-Hajj Suleiman Battat (also spelled 'Isa al-Battat) was a Palestinian Arab commander of rebels during the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine based in the hills around Hebron. Battat was from the town of ad-Dhahiriya in the Hebron Subdistrict of the British Mandate of Palestine.[1] He was a well-known commander in his home region and was suspected by the British authorities of involvement in the killing of British archaeologist J. L. Starkey in January 1938.[2][3]

The authorities put a bounty on Battat for Starkey's death and other alleged crimes,[2] and his whereabouts were made known to them by a Palestinian informant.[4] Battat and his men were ambushed by British forces in the hills around Hebron on 7 May 1938, leading to a heavy, two-hour-long firefight.[2] Battat was consequently killed in the shootout and his men dispersed, with no British fatalities.[2] Rebels retaliated by executing a Palestinian from Beit Ummar charged with tracking Battat on behalf of the authorities. Abd al-Rahman al-'Azzi, a village leader from Beit Jibrin, was suspected by the al-Husayni faction of informing the authorities about Battat's location and was consequently compelled to organize armed rebel activity in his region to compensate for his alleged collaboration.[5] Al-'Azzi was later killed in 1948 by Battat's sons.[2]

References

1. Cohen, p. 187.
2. "Reported Entry of Arab Terrorist Chief Stirs Military Activity; Band Leader Slain". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 1938-05-09. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
3. Keesing's Contemporary Archives, Volume 3. Keesing's Limited. 1941. p. 3059.
4. Cohen 2008, p. 135.
5. Cohen 2008, p. 132, 173.

Bibliography

• Cohen, Hillel (2008). Army of Shadows: Palestinian Collaboration with Zionism, 1917-1948. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520252219.
• Cohen, Hillel (2009). Good Arabs: The Israeli Security Agencies and the Israeli Arabs, 1948–1967. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520944886.