Issa Battat
Palestinian Arab commander of rebels From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.[1] 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.[2][3]
The authorities put a bounty on Battat for Starkey's death and other alleged crimes,[2] and his whereabouts were made known to them by a Palestinian informant.[4] 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.[2] Battat was consequently killed in the shootout and his men dispersed, with no British fatalities.[2] 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.[5] Al-'Azzi was later killed in 1948 by Battat's sons.[2]
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