On this day, 20 April 1936, an Arab National Committee was formed in Nablus, Palestine, and resolved to call a general strike across the then-British colony. On April 21, other Palestinian leaders met and agreed to support the strike call, which would call out all Palestinian Arabs engaged in labour, transport and retail the following day.
Zionists were escalating their efforts to colonise the country, Jewish immigration from Europe had increased, and groups like the Jewish Colonisation Association were establishing settlements and buying up huge swathes of land with open intentions of forming a Jewish colonial ethno-state.
In response, the strikers demanded: a stop to Jewish immigration; prohibition of Arab Palestinian land being transferred to Jewish settlers; and the establishment of a democratic government.
The general strike was a key early escalation in what became known as the Arab revolt of 1936. The following month, Palestinians also began to withhold taxes, and armed insurrection broke out in the countryside.
British authorities responded with violent repression, drafting in thousands of soldiers, and enlisting armed Zionists and police to help crush the rebellion. Britain declared martial law, and British and Zionist forces killed up to 5000 Arabs, wounded up to 15,000, arrested 9000 and blew up thousands of homes, leaving tens of thousands of Palestinians homeless.
In October, the Arab Higher Committee called off the strike and the revolt, but rebellion of poor peasants in the countryside continued until 1939. Eventually, British and Zionist repression succeeded in gradually crushing the movement. Although a British government White Paper, issued in 1939, did make concessions to Palestinians, agreeing to limit Jewish immigration and land purchases, and consider establishing an independent Palestinian state within 10 years. But these were not later honoured.
More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/11248/Palestinian-general-strike
Pictured: Palestinians gather in Abou Ghosh during strike https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=611965164310036&set=a.602588028581083&type=3
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