Jamil Mardam Bey
Al-Haffar was an active participant and organizer in the 1936 Syrian general strike. The strike lasted sixty-days, and al-Haffar was arrested during a demonstration against the French-appointed prime minister, Taj al-Din al-Hasani. To end the protests, France invited the Bloc to Paris for negotiations which eventually resulted in the Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence. In July, parliamentary elections were held and the National Bloc was elected with an overwhelming majority. Al-Atassi was elected president, and Jamil Mardam Bey prime minister. Al-Haffar served as Minister of Finance in Mardam Bey's cabinet until July 1938.