Palestinians, International Brigades. Spanish Civil War. Palestinos, Brigadas Internacionales, Guerra Civil Española ENG ESP

ENGLISH

Palestinians fought against Franco's fascists in the Spanish Civil War. International Brigades

In 1936, tens of thousands of people from around the world came to Spain to defend the Republic against the fascist forces led by General Francisco Franco. Called the International Brigades, the men and women who came to fight came from around the world: from Bulgaria to India, from China to Palestine.

Yes, Palestine. It is very hard to know who came from Palestine to Spain, because the records are not accurate.

For example, Mahmud al-Atrash al-Maghribi, a Palestinian Communist, left behind an autobiography — Path of Struggle in Palestine and the Arab Levant: The Memoirs of the Communist Leader Mahmud al-Atrash al-Maghribi; remarkably, it is often said that he was in Spain, even though there is no mention of a journey to Spain in his otherwise detailed and informative autobiography.

But we do know that at least three people from Palestine came to Spain: Ali Abd al-Khaliq, Fawzi Sabri Nabulsi, and Muhammad Najati Sidqi.

They were members of the Palestinian Communist Party and came to Spain via the Communist International. Sidiqi left behind an autobiography — Mudhakkarat Najati Sidqi – which was published posthumously in Beirut by the Institute for Palestine Studies in 2001.
In his autobiography, Sidqi recalls how the Spanish Republicans took him to the frontline so that he could, in Levantine Arabic, shout to the Moroccan soldiers who fought in Franco’s Ejército de África — Army of Africa.

They were transported by Nazi German Junkers from Morocco to Spain to form the main troops at the front against the Republican army. "Listen brothers," Sidqi yelled across the front. "I am an Arab like you, coming from a distant Arab country. I beseech you brothers to abandon the ranks of your generals, who are oppressing you in your country. Come to our side where you will be well-treated and given a daily allowance. Those of you who do not want to fight will be returned to his land and family. Viva el Front Popular Viva la Republica. Viva Marruecos!"

As far as Sidqi recalls, no Moroccan soldier defected to the Republicans. Perhaps because they, speakers of Darija, or Moroccan Arabic, did not understand him at all.

In his book Diario De La Guerra De España (1938), the Soviet journalist for Pravda Mikhail Koltsov recounted an anecdote about Sidiqi. Because of the failure of defections, Sidiqi took a name more suitable to the Moroccan Arabs – Mustafa Ibn Jala; under this name, Sidiqi wrote for the Spanish Communist paper, Mundo Obrero.

During this genocide in Gaza, I have often thought about people such as Sidiqi who broaden our understanding of solidarity. To be in solidarity, for them, was not to be with someone else or in someone else’s struggle. It was to be with themselves.

These were people who wanted to expand their own humanity, to fight to defend humanity on the doorstep of Madrid. If Madrid fell, they felt, their own humanity would be compromised. "Madrid is the heart," wrote W. H. Auden in his superb poem, Spain, 1937.

ESPAÑOL

Los palestinos lucharon contra los fascistas de Franco en la Guerra Civil Española. Brigadas Internacionales