Shukri Badr Qutaina: A Journalist Fighting The British Mandate
It is the photo of the Palestinian martyr Shukri Badr Qutaina who was born in Jerusalem. He had worked in journalism in the 1920s during the British Mandate period, and contributed to the founding of several news publications, including the newspaper called Falastin (Palestine).
He was among 136 prominent Palestinian figures from Jerusalem—doctors, lawyers, writers, professors, and union leaders—who issued a document on 1 May, 1936, a week after the declaration of the Great General Strike. In it, they called upon Palestinian society to engage in civil disobedience and refuse to pay taxes to the British Mandate authorities.
Akram Zu’ayter said: “This call to refrain from paying taxes was the first serious political step that had to be taken at this stage of the struggle, knowing that the country was heading towards armed revolution and that revolutionary sentiment was rising at an astonishing rate.”
Journalist and activist Shukri Qutaina was martyred on 13 April, 1948, after participating in the attack on the Zionist Hadassah convoy. Palestinian fighters from the Army of the Holy War (Arab Destruction Brigade) ambushed a Zionist convoy transporting fighters, supplies, and medical equipment to Zionist settlements east of Jerusalem (Mount Scopus and the Hebrew University), killing 78 Zionists.
This battle was in retaliation for the martyrs of al-Qastal and Deir Yassin earlier that week. It played a significant role in halting the Zionist offensive on the eastern neighborhoods and villages of Jerusalem. Twelve fighters were martyred in the battle, as documented by Bahjat Abu Gharbiya in his book.
If you are in Jerusalem and wish to know the location of this great battle in the history of the Palestinian struggle, it is opposite the Nashashibi Ambulance House in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, Jerusalem.
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