Hawārī, Muḥammad Nimr, 1908-1984

Muhammad Nimr al-Hawari (Arabic: محمد نمر الهواري; 1908 – July 11, 1984) was a Nazareth-born Palestinian 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 practicing 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. Muhammad Nimr Al-Hawari, during the termination of the British mandate, formed and commanded al-Najjada, a paramilitary armed movement. Al-Hawari was in command of the militia in the defence of Jaffa until he fled in the mass exodus of Palestinians in late December 1947. Al-Hawari fled from Jaffa to Ramallah in December 1947. Al-Hawari together with ‘Aziz Shihada (also spelt Shehadeh) a lawyer from Ramallah opened an office in the West Bank for refugee affairs. Hawari returned to Palestine and years later became judge in the District Court of Nazareth. In 1955, Muhammad Nimr Al-Hawari wrote and published a significant historic book titled, Sir Al-Nakba [The Secret Behind the Nakba]. As well as his native Arabic, Al-Hawari was fluent in English and Hebrew.