{{Short description|Palestinian politician (1868–1930)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Hajj Sa'id al-Shawwa Effendi | image = Sa'id al-Shawa.jpg | caption = Portrait of Shawwa as mayor of Gaza<ref>{{cite web|last1=Jawharriyah|first1=J: Wasif|title=Before Their Diaspora|url=http://btd.palestine-studies.org/content/said-al-shawwa|website=btd.palestine-studies.org|accessdate=18 September 2016|archive-date=19 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919073330/http://btd.palestine-studies.org/content/said-al-shawwa|url-status=dead}}</ref> | title = [[Mayor of Gaza]] | term_start = 1906 | term_end = 1917 | predecessor = Mohammed Khalil al-Shawwa | successor = Mahmoud Abu Khadra | title2 = Vice President of the [[Supreme Muslim Council]] | term_start2 = 1919 | term_end2 = 1929 | predecessor2 = | successor2 = | birth_date = {{circa}} 1868 | birth_place = [[Gaza City|Gaza]], [[Mutassarifate of Jerusalem]], [[Ottoman Empire]] | death_date = {{death date|1930|10|25|df=y}} | death_place = Gaza, [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate of Palestine]] | office = | party = | spouse = Shaath Kharma | children = [[Rushdi al-Shawwa|Rushdi]]<br>Adel<br>Sa'di<br>Ezeddine<br>[[Rashad al-Shawwa|Rashad]] }}
'''Hajj Sa'id al-Shawwa''' ({{langx|ar|الحـاج سعيد الشوا}}) (1868–October 1930) was a [[Palestinian Arab]] politician and the first mayor of [[Gaza City|Gaza]], serving from 1906 to 1917.<ref name="GM"/> He was also one of the most influential members of the [[Supreme Muslim Council]] from 1921 until his death. He was an opponent of [[Mandatory Palestine|British mandatory rule in Palestine]], supporting the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]]s during [[World War I]] and later the nationalist [[Grand Mufti of Jerusalem]], [[Amin al-Husayni]].
==Biography== ===Early life and career=== Al-Shawwa was born into the prominent Shawwa family of Gaza,<ref>Kupferschmidt, 1987, p. 95.</ref> and his father Mohammed Khalil Al-Shawwa served as the chairman of the Municipality of Gaza when it was founded in 1893. Before entering politics, Sa'id was involved in a career as a grain exporter.<ref name="PASSIA">[http://www.passia.org/palestine_facts/personalities/alpha_s.htm Palestinian Personalities - S] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706041435/http://www.passia.org/palestine_facts/personalities/alpha_s.htm |date=6 July 2010 }} [[Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs]] (PASSIA).</ref><ref name=":0">Khalidi, Walid. ''Before Their Diaspora : A Photographic History of the Palestinians, 1876-1948''. Washington, D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1991, 76.</ref>
=== Mayor of Gaza === In 1904, he was appointed a member of the municipal council and in 1906, he became the first [[Mayor of Gaza]]. During his reign as mayor he built a hospital, several mosques and schools in Gaza, and is credited with introducing the modern plow to the city in 1911.<ref name="GM">{{Cite web |title=سعـيد الشـوا 1906 |url=http://www.mogaza.org/ex-mayors-1.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080614091129/http://www.mogaza.org/ex-mayors-1.htm |archive-date=2008-06-14 |website=بلــدية غــزة |language=Ar}}</ref> Al-Shawa developed close relationships with the [[Ottoman Army]] during [[World War I]] and was awarded honorary decorations by the Ottoman authorities. His sympathy with the Ottomans during the war caused the victorious [[British Army]] to depose him in 1917.<ref name="GM" />
===Activity with Supreme Muslim Council=== Al-Shawwa represented Gaza at the first, fourth and fifth Palestinian National Congress held in 1919, 1920 and 1922.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="PASSIA"/> In 1921, shortly after the founding of the [[Supreme Muslim Council]], al-Shawwa was elected as one of the four members of the council's electoral college—the highest-ranking body. He was chosen to represent the Gaza, southern Palestine, and the District of Jerusalem from 1922 to 1929. By then, al-Shawwa was a major landowner in Gaza,<ref>Kupferschmidt, 1987, p. 25.</ref> as well as [[Beersheba]], owning a total of roughly 50,000 [[dunam]]s. In 1926–27, he took charge in the restoration of the [[Great Mosque of Gaza]] after it was mostly destroyed by British bombardment during the World War.<ref name="GM"/>
=== Death === Al-Shawwa died in 1930 and was replaced Muhi ad-Din 'Abd al-Shafi, a [[Ulema|Muslim scholar]] and opponent of [[Hajj Amin al-Husseini|al-Husayni]].<ref>Kupferschmidt, 1987, p. 34.</ref>
== Dār al-Shawwā (Ash-Shawwa House) == [[File:Georg Gatt 1887-88 map of Gaza City 1-5,000.png|thumb|[[Georg Gatt]]'s 1887-88 map of Gaza City]] Al-Shawwa's home in [[Gaza City]] was included in an 1887 map created by the missionary [[Georg Gatt]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ben-Bassat |first=Yuval |last2=Büssow |first2=Johann |date=2018 |title=Urban Factionalism in Late Ottoman Gaza, c. 1875-1914: Local Politics and Spatial Divisions |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26572317 |journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient |volume=61 |issue=4 |pages=606–649 |issn=0022-4995}}</ref> It was also registered in the Ottoman Census of 1905 with a total of 13 household members. The entry states: "Ḥājj Saʿīd Efendi al-Shawwā, born in Gaza, real estate owner (emlak sahibi), born 1283/1866-7, of middle height, brown eyes, brown skin colour, of good health."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gaza Historical Database |url=https://gaza.ub.rub.de/gaza/?p=map&id=87 |access-date=2024-12-03 |website=gaza.ub.rub.de}}</ref>
According to [[UNESCO]], Al-Shawwa's home was [[Destruction of cultural heritage during the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip|destroyed in the Israel-Hamas War]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-10-11 |title=Gaza Strip: Damage assessment |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/gaza/assessment |website=UNESCO}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mace |first=Marion |date=2024-10-14 |title=n° 011 – Dār al-Shawwā |url=https://gazahistoire.hypotheses.org/2274 |access-date=2024-12-03 |website=Gaza, inventaire d’un patrimoine bombardé |language=fr-FR}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Bibliography== *{{Citation|title=The Supreme Muslim Council: Islam Under the British Mandate for Palestine|first1=Uri|last1=Kupferschmidt|publisher=BRILL|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SiBkMSIZ2LYC&q=Great+Mosque+of+Gaza+minaret&pg=PA134|year=1987|isbn=90-04-07929-7}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shawwa Effendi, Sa'id Al-}} [[Category:1868 births]] [[Category:1930 deaths]] [[Category:Arab people from Mandatory Palestine]] [[Category:People from Mandatory Palestine]] [[Category:Mayors of Gaza City]] [[Category:Arab people from Ottoman Palestine]] [[Category:People from Ottoman Palestine]]