Army of the Holy War

Army of the Holy War Jaysh al-Jihad al-Muqaddas جيش الجهاد المقدس
Participant in the 1948 Palestine war
Flag of the Arab Revolt, used by Palestinian Arab nationalists
Active	1947–1949
Ideology	Anti-Zionism
Leaders	Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni, Hasan Salama
Headquarters	Bir Zeit
Area of operations	Palestine
Strength	At least 1,306
Allies	Pan-Arab States Arab Liberation Army
Opponents	before 26 May 1948 : Yishuv Haganah Palmach Irgun Lehi After 26 May 1948 :  Israel IDF
Battles and wars	1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine 1948 Arab–Israeli War Battle of Al Qastal Siege of Jerusalem

The Army of the Holy War or Holy War Army (Arabic: جيش الجهاد المقدس; Jaysh al-Jihad al-Muqaddas) was a Palestinian Arab irregular force in the 1947-48 Palestinian civil war led by Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni and Hasan Salama.^[1] The force has been described as Husayni's "personal" army.^[2] The Arab League set up the Arab Salvation Army (Jaysh al-Inqadh al-Arabi) as a counter to the Army of the Holy War and as part of its plan to contain the Palestinian Arab leadership and to prevent it from exercising independent political or military options, although in practice the Arab governments prevented thousands of volunteers from joining either force.^[3]

Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni arrived in the Jerusalem sector in December 1947 and by March 1948 had about 128 men. He established his headquarters at Bir Zeit and started to conduct a blockade of Jerusalem by attacking the Jewish convoys to the city. Hasan Salama, with 950 men of the Jihad and 228 irregulars, took responsibility for the operations in the Lydda and Ramle sectors, at the entry of the Tel-Aviv-Jerusalem road.^[4][5]

The Army of the Holy War had over 50,000 Palestinian Arabs available for local defense but a force of only 5,000 to 10,000, both foreign fighters from Arab states and Palestinian Arab militiamen, available to be sent where needed during the Israel war of Independence.^[6]

Husayni was killed during the battle for control of Qastal Hill on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem road, on 8 April 1948. His forces captured Qastal from the Haganah, which had occupied the village at the start of Operation Nachshon six days earlier with a force of about 100 men.^[7] They retreated to the Jewish settlement of Motza.^[8] Palmach troops recaptured the village on the night of 8–9 April; most of the houses were blown up and the hill became a command post.^[9][10] Husayni's death was a factor in the loss of morale among his forces.^[11]

When the All-Palestine Government was formed on 22 September 1948, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, it revived the Holy War Army, with the declared aim of "liberating Palestine." However, the Government had no money of its own, and operated only under the supervision of Egypt, and was generally ineffective.

In October 1948, Jordan gave an order to its forces, the Arab Legion, to surround and forcibly disarm various units of the Holy War Army.^[12]

A leaflet, distributed after the U.N partition resolution, by the Mufti High Command, which calls the Arabs to attack and conquer all of Palestine, to ignite all of the middle east and to curtail the U.N partition resolution Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni returned to Palestine after an exile of ten years, and began organizing Palestinian resistance to forcible partition of the country. He is seen here (standing center) with aides and Palestinian irregulars, Jerusalem district, February 1948 Husayni's funeral at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Notes

1. Hourani, 2004, p. 537.
2. Pappé, 1994, p. 65.
3. Sayigh, 1999, p. 14.
4. Khalaf, 1991, p. 207.
5. Morris, 2008, p. 107.
6. Dupuy (1978) p. 41.
7. Morris, 2003, p. 234.
8. Dana Adams Schmidt, 'Arabs Win Kastel But Chief is Slain', New York Times, 9 April 1948, p. 8 (A brief biography and account of the battle).
9. Benveniśtî, 2002, p.111.
10. Morris, 2003, p. 235.
11. Time Magazine, War for Jerusalem Road, April 19, 1948
12. Simon, Mattar and Bulliet, 1996, p. 114.

References

• Benveniśtî, Mêrôn (2002). Sacred Landscape: The Buried History of the Holy Land Since 1948. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-23422-7
• Hourani, Albert Habib, Philip S. Khoury, and Mary C. Wilson.(2005). The Modern Middle East: A Reader. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-86064-963-9
• Khalaf, Issa. (1991). Politics in Palestine: Arab Factionalism and Social Disintegration, 1939-1948. Albany: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-0707-3
• Morris, Benny (2003). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-00967-7
• Morris, Benny (2008). 1948: A history of the first Arab-Israeli war. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12696-9
• Pappé, Ilan. (1994). The Making of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1947-51. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-85043-819-9
• Ṣāyigh, Yazīd Yūsuf. (1999). Armed Struggle and the Search for State: The Palestinian National Movement, 1949-1993. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-829643-0
• Simon, Reeva S., Philip Mattar, Richard W. Bulliet (1996). Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East 1, A - C. New York: Macmillan Reference. ISBN 978-0-02-896011-1
• Dupuy, N. Trevor (1978). Elusive Victory—The Arab-Israeli war 1947–1974, New York, N.Y. 10022. ISBN 0-06-011112-7