Muhammad Nimr al-Hawari

Who is Muhammad Nimr al-Hawari?

Muhammad Nimr al-Hawari was a Nazareth-born Bedouin who studied law in Jerusalem, graduating in 1939. al-Hawari served in the British Mandate administration as chief interpreter in the district court of Jaffa and chairman of the Association of Government second-division officers. He was transferred to Haifa where he resigned his government position in 1942. On his resignation he returned to practising law in Jaffa. al-Hawari started his career as a devoted follower of Amin al-Husseini but broke with the influential Husseini family in the early 1940s. al-Hawari during the termination of the British mandate commanded al-Najjada, a paramilitary scout movement. al-Hawari was in command of the militia in the defence of Jaffa until he fled in late December 1947. Morris comments that al-Hawari may also have been an Haganah Intelligence Service informant. al-Hawari had met and did discuss an agreement for Jaffa with Ezra Danin. Fearing assassination by the Husseinis, al-Hawari fled from Jaffa to Ramallah in December 1947. al-Hawari together with ‘Aziz Shihada a lawyer from Ramallah opened an office in the West Bank for refugee affairs. Hawari was allowed to return to Israel and was later appointed judge in the municipal circuit court of Nazareth.