Fu'ad Nassar (Arabic: فؤاد نصار, 1914-1976), was a Palestinian communist leader. Nassar became associated with the anti-colonial struggle in 1929. He joined the Palestinian Communist Party and was in charge of the military activities of the party during the 1936-1939 insurgency. He led the Nazareth branch of the Palestinian Arab Workers Society.[1][2]
Fu'ad Nassar | |
|---|---|
فؤاد نصار | |
 Poster of the Palestinian People's Party commemorating the 20th death anniversary of Fu'ad Nassar | |
| General Secretary of the National Liberation League | |
| In office 1943–1951 | |
| General Secretary of the Jordanian Communist Party | |
| In office 1951–1956 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1914 Nazareth, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 1976 (aged 61–62) |
| Nationality | Palestinian |
| Political party | Palestine Communist Party, National Liberation League, Jordanian Communist Party |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Ansar Forces |
Nassar was imprisoned in Iraq. He returned to Palestine in 1943. With the Palestine Communist Party in crumbles, he and other younger Arab communist leaders took the initiative to form the National Liberation League.[1] He and Emile Touma were the co-chair of the Communist Party based in Haifa.[3] Nassar became the General Secretary of the League. In 1944 the Nazareth branch of the Palestinian Arab Workers Society broke away from the mother organization.[4] In the same year, he helped establish the Arab language newspaper Al-Ittihad.
When remaining West Bank elements of the League merged into the Jordanian Communist Party in 1951, Nassar became general secretary in the Jordanian party. He was arrested on 29 December 1951 and sentenced to ten year imprisonment. He was released by the Nabulsi government in 1956, but he had to leave Jordan soon thereafter as King Hussein stepped up repression against communists forces.[5]
With Nassar in exile, a power struggle emerged within the party. The acting general secretary inside Jordan, Fatim as-Salifi, was more prone towards seeking reconciliation with the government. Whilst the sector loyal to as-Salfiti party promoted non-military struggles against Israel, Nassar argued that communists should actively take part in the liberation struggle. Moreover, he opposed United Nations Security Council Resolution 242. He formed the Ansar Forces, a Palestinian communist militia 1970, under joint command of the Jordanian, Syrian and Iraqi parties.[6] The Ansar Forces lasted for three years, and in practice received little assistance from the Jordanian Communist Party.[5]
In January 1973, Nassar was the first communist to be adopted into the Palestinian National Council.[5] Nassar died in 1976.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b Beinin, Joel (March 1977). "The Palestine Communist Party 1919 - 1948". MERIP Reports (55): 3–17. doi:10.2307/3010830.
- ^ a b "Biographies of Palestinian political leaders since 1967". Middle East Reference. Archived from the original on 25 October 2008.
- ^ Ebon, Martin (1948). "Communist Tactics in Palestine". The Middle East Journal. 2 (3): 257. JSTOR 4321987.
- ^ Lockman, Zachary (1966). "Worker Activism and the Arab Labor Movement". Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906–1948. University of California Press.
- ^ a b c "Palestinian Political Parties and Organizations". mideastweb.org. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ الفلسطينيون في سوريا.. التكوينات السياسية والعمل الوطني [Palestinians in Syria: Political Formations and National Work]. Al-Watan (in Arabic). 15 May 2006. Archived from the original on 10 March 2007. Retrieved 26 May 2007.