The Arab Revolt

The 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine was a nationalist uprising by Palestinian Arabs in Palestine against British colonial rule, motivated by opposition to enforced mass Jewish immigration. (Wikimedia)

During the Palestinian revolt the British army trained Zionist forces and participated together in the brutal collective punishment of entire villages.

From late 1938 into 1939 the Great Revolt was relentlessly ground down.Villages were bombed (Arthur Harris of second World War fame), the commander in Palestine , advocated 'one 250lb or 500lb bomb in each village that speaks out of turn'. In 1938 one RAF squadron alone dropped 768 20lb and 29 112lb bombs. .....The Special Night Squads , Zionist volunteeers under British officers , who would today be called 'death squads' were torturing and summarily executing prisoners and suspects. John Newsinger 'The blood never dried'

After 3 years with brutal and ruithless attacks on the Palestinian countryside, the British military subdued the revolt. British officers succeeded in attaching Hagana (Zionist ) troops to the British forces during the Arab revolt so that they could learn what a 'punitive mission' to an Arab village could entail. Ilan Pappe 'The ethnic cleansing of Palestinians'

One in ten of Palestinians of fighting age between 25-40 were either killed, wounded, in prison or exiled.So that the generation that could have formed an army to resist the Zionist movement in the 1940s was simply missing. Eugene Rogan, Oxford University. Author with Avi Shlaim of "The war for Palestine" 2008. on 'Al Nakba' TV Aljazeera

From 1939 there was no Palestinian political or military leadership on the ground in Palestine. There was a leadership in exile but they had very loose connections to events in Palestine.. Ilan Pappe on 'Al Nakba' Al Jazeera 2008