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. 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.

Death

The authorities put a bounty on Battat for Starkey's death and other alleged crimes, and his whereabouts were made known to them by a Palestinian informant. 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. Battat was consequently killed in the shootout and his men dispersed, with no British fatalities. 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. Al-'Azzi was later killed in 1948 by Battat's sons.

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.