Tabawa Revolution

The Tabawa Revolution (': الثورة اتصال') refers to a series of organised protests in the Sultante of Qatif that ended in a military coup d'état'' that saw the overthrow of a centuries long monarchy and the eventual establishment of the Arab People's Republic of Qatif, the predecessor of the modern Qatifi state.

The civil unrest started shortly after the 1961 parliamentary elections of Qatif held in October which saw a coalition of  parties led by the Qatifi regional branch of the  take power within the parliament with Ba'aathist leader Nasser bin Mutaib becoming prime minister. Bin Mutaib upon ascending to power almost instantly called for the Majlis, a group of unelected Islamic scholars who dictated the majority of legislature in Qatif, to be disbanded thus giving parliament the sole power to draft and amend laws outside of the Sultan Al-Qa'im ibn al-Aziz ibn Mohammed al-Tahir himself, as well as stating that the Sultan must break relations with the west and focus on creating a state. The Sultan rejected these demands on the basis that they contradicted the 1948 constitution, which prompted bin Mutaib to instead call for the redrafting of the constitution. Disagreements on how the constitution should be redrafted soon resulted in a political deadlock with the Sultan and the Majlis vetoing most of the Ba'aathist parties policies.

The Sultans unwillingness to compromise saw radical members of the Ba'aathist party as well as the outlawed Communist Party of Qatif call for the removal of the monarchy, with the two groups forming an uneasy alliance intent on bringing revolution to Qatif. The first demonstrations took place in the town of Tabawa in which Ba'aathists and communists assaulted government police and later army units. Soon similar protests were staged around the country, some by pro-monarchists, others by Ba'aathists and communists. bin Mutaib rejected the notion that he was allied with the revolutionaries but soon found himself politically isolated as his leftist coalition started to break apart. Meanwhile the Sultan himself was facing more criticism as he had security forces crackdown harsher on the protesters. Eventually senior members of military led by Mustafa al-Karim, which had supported neither the Sultan nor the Ba'aathists, led a coup d'état that overthrew the Sultan and the Majlis before putting the country under, disbanding the Ba'aathist party and purging both its and the communist parties members including bin Mutaib. The implementation of martial law saw the end of the protests through military suppression, with the country remaining under a transitional government under the Arab People's Republic of Qatif was created on the 18th June 1962.

The Tabawa Revolution, whilst ultimately ineffective, did herald the end of the Sultanate that had existed since the as well as see the rise of the previously unknown Mustafa al-Karim whose reforms would help shape the modern Qatifi state. The revolution also saw the height of support for both and  in Qatif, although these quickly declined following the military coup. According to renowned Qatifi historian Abdel al-Zaki whilst later conflict in Qatif like the failed restoration of the monarchy in 1971, the Qatifi Civil War that lasted five years and the 2011 Palm Revolution may have seen more casualties the Tabawa Revolution was ultimately the most significant of Qatif's modern political upheavals as it directly led to the formation of the modern Qatifi state.