Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
He is Khalil Muhammad Issa Ajak, nicknamed Abu Ibrahim the Great, a Palestinian revolutionary and one of the leaders of the Great Palestinian Revolution 1936-1939. He was a leading member of the League of Sheikh Izz al-Din al-Qassam and participated in its revolution in 1933 and contributed to the dissemination and bombing of the Palestinian revolution in 1936 after the martyrdom of al-Qassam. He was born in the city of Haifa, and his origin goes back to the village of Al Mazraa Al Sharqiah, Ramallah District, which was the center (chair) of the villages of the Bani Murra area in the Ottoman era. and the British to Palestine and was arrested and prosecuted as a result. He was nicknamed "Abu Ibrahim al-Kabir" to distinguish him from his Qassam companion, "Abu Ibrahim al-Saghir" (Tawfiq Ibrahim Qananba) from the village of Indore in Marj bin Amer, Nazareth district. After the Nakba War in 1948, he left for Damascus and then Amman, where he worked for a while as a salesman on a roving cart, and there he spent his last years in poverty until he died in 1979 at the age of eighty.
He was known for integrity, self-determination, and a high degree of wisdom and foresight, which avoided making a number of mistakes made by other leaders of the Palestinian revolution, especially in the issues of making money for the revolution, dealing with suspects in employment and cooperating with the British.
its upbringing
Khalil Issa or Abu Ibrahim al-Kabeer grew up like any simple Palestinian in a peasant family that hails from the village of al-Mazraa al-Sharqiya. He was born in the late nineteenth century in the city of Haifa, where his father moved there to work with his family, then the family moved at the age of six to the village of Shfaram Haifa district to work in agriculture and agriculture there. At the age of fifteen, Abu Ibrahim al-Kabeer, in the prime of his youth, was forced to work to support his family due to the death of his father and the imprisonment of his brother due to a run-over accident in 1914, and he remained in this state until his brother was released from prison with the end of World War I in 1918.
In 1920 the family returned to Haifa and Abu Ibrahim al-Kabir worked there as an employee in the post office, then opened a shop selling burlap bags, wool and grain. In Haifa, specifically in 1927, he got acquainted with the Mujahid Sheikh Izz al-Din al-Qassam. In the following year in 1928, both of them began to establish an armed revolutionary organization in a league of a number of men to resist the Zionist settlement in Palestine and the British authorities loyal to it. He urged Sheikh Izz al-Din al-Qassam to train members of the organization to carry and use weapons.
The beginning of the armed revolutionary action
Abu Ibrahim and his companion bought the first two rifles in the history of organized Palestinian armed action from the village of Jayyous, Qalqilya district. The end of the da'wa sessions itself is the task of training the resistance fighters on the only rifle available at the time.
The British Mandate authorities accused him of opposing it, but they did not find any evidence against him to prove the accusation, as he participated in the planning and implementation of 25 military operations against the English camps and the Zionist settlers without the English police discovering the mastermind behind these operations. Among these operations:
Hump train operation
The killing of settlers in a vegetable car
The attack in 1931 on the colony of Nahilal located in Marj Ibn Amer
The second Nahalal operation on December 22, 1932, after which Abu Ibrahim al-Kabir was arrested along with the mujahideen Mustafa Ali al-Ahmad and his wife, Ahmad al-Ghalayini, Ahmad al-Tawbah and Ibrahim al-Haj Khalil. After their arrest nine months, Mustafa Al-Ahmad was sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out, and Ahmed Al-Ghalayni was also sentenced to death, then he was commuted to fifteen years in prison, and Abu Ibrahim Al-Kabeer and the rest of the Mujahideen were acquitted in early 1935.
Prior to al-Qassam’s exit from Haifa and his declaration of jihad, a dialogue took place between him and Abu Ibrahim al-Kabir stating that al-Qassam wanted to go out and declare the revolution with 15 rifles, 15 combs of bullets and 15 men, while Abu Ibrahim refused to go out in this way because they needed several equipment and money for the revolution and believed that They should wait until the conditions are complete to declare an armed revolution against the British Mandate and Zionist colonialism. Al-Qassam left Haifa because agents of the British colonial authorities were following him and Abu Ibrahim did not join him after declaring the jihad on November 14, 1935, and he and a number of al-Qassam’s companions due to their recent release from prison and their constant monitoring by the British and their agents. It was agreed with Commander Farhan Al-Saadi to reside in the town of Al-Nawras.
Conflict with Al-Qassam
Abu Ibrahim al-Kabeer differed with Izz al-Din al-Qassam in the view of agents and collaborators. With many problems, and led to divisions, which was one of the reasons for the defeat of the revolution. Abu Ibrahim al-Kabir tended to target the settlements while al-Qassam was planning a major attack against the British in Haifa, liberating the city for three days and then withdrawing from it, in order to raise morale and encourage people to follow the path of armed action. Khalil al-Issa opposed this plan because he believed that the Qassam group's capabilities were insufficient to carry it out.
His role in leading the 1936 revolution
After the martyrdom of al-Qassam in November 1935 and his funeral from Haifa to the village of Balad al-Sheikh, Abu Ibrahim al-Kabir, accompanied by al-Qassamist commander Farhan al-Saadi and al-Qassamist commander Yusef Abu Durra, blew up after their meeting in the village of al-Yamoun, and other Qassamists in the Great Palestinian Revolution in 1936, and they belonged to a number of Factions that were active in different areas of Palestine and organized them. As for Abu Ibrahim al-Kabeer, he took command of the northern region of Palestine and led a number of factions, including a faction known as “dervishes,” a name that was given at that time to religious people in general, and not only to Sufis, as is the case today. And this faction worked in the Haifa area during the revolution.
Abu Ibrahim al-Kabeer is credited with participating in the assassination of two senior British agents: Halim Basta and Ahmed Nayef, who were working in the British occupation police, and they are accused of participating in the guidance of al-Qassam and his companions, besieging and killing him at the hands of the British army.
The revolution paused to await the results of the Peel Commission, on October 12, 1936, and in 1937 the revolution broke out again following the decisions of the Peel Commission to partition Palestine. During the period of the revolution’s interruption in 1937 AD, Abu Ibrahim met Mufti Muhammad Amin al-Husseini in the Lebanese town of Qurnayel, and advised him of the necessity of the revolution’s continuation and the return of the revolution’s leaders to the land of Palestine and their staying in it, because their distance from it would destroy the revolution and its sacrifices would be in vain. So Abu Ibrahim returned to the battlefield and resumed the resistance. He refused to stop the transfer of arms to Palestine through the east of the Jordan River.
Abu Ibrahim al-Kabeer used to sign his statements and communications in the name of (Al-Mutawakkil Ali Allah Abu Ibrahim), and the British forces set a reward of 500 Palestinian pounds for anyone who guided them to him.
After the end of the revolution in 1939 and the start of World War II, the militant Abu Ibrahim al-Kabir left Palestine for Damascus. However, due to Britain's alliance with France in World War II, Abu Ibrahim al-Kabir suffered from persecution and harassment from the authorities there, like his fellow revolutionaries and fighters. In Iraq, Abu Ibrahim al-Kabir participated in the revolution of the Iraqi army against the British, which took place in May 1941 under the leadership of Rashid Ali al-Kilani, and with the active participation of Mufti Hajj Amin al-Husseini and his Palestinians. With the failure of the revolution, Abu Ibrahim al-Kabir resorted to Aleppo in Syria and Chtaura in Lebanon, then to Greece, then went to Germany, trained with the German army, and fought on the Russian front, and with the defeat of Germany he returned to Lebanon and then to Syria, and remained there until a decision was issued. The partition of Palestine in 1947.
His participation in the 1948 war
With the announcement of the decision to partition Palestine, Abu Ibrahim al-Kabir returned to his battlefield after gaining military experience in the war in Europe. He joined the ranks of the Salvation Army and led a group under the command of Adib al-Shishakli, and a dispute arose between them due to what Abu Ibrahim al-Kabeer saw as negligence and negligence on the part of al-Shishakli, in the attack on the Jiddin settlement on January 12, 1948, as well as in the failure to fight, not adhering to plans, and underestimating the Zionist forces And carrying out acts that are contrary to religion and military discipline, such as holding a wine-drinking party in the training camps, in which Shishakli and his senior aides participated.
After the Nakba War, he sought refuge in Damascus and then in Amman, where he spent his last days there at the age of eighty years.
His son Salah followed his path and later participated in the Palestinian revolution.
The song "Abu Ibrahim Farewell Izz al-Din"
Abu Ibrahim al-Kabeer was mentioned in Palestinian poetry and songs as a fighter and companion to the martyr Sheikh Izz al-Din al-Qassam.
Its beginning:
Abu Ibrahim bid farewell to Izz al-Din... His blood is Arab and his heart is Palestinian
source
Achievements and Awards
- Years in active
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