Figure 1.--From the beginning of the British Mandate, Palistinian Arabs resorted to violence in dealing with Jews. This included both organized violence as ell as scattered vilence ininitated by induciduals, both adults and childrem. Here an Arab boy in Jerusalem is slining rocks from a roof top vantage ponts toward Jewish residence in 1945.

Palistinian Arabs resorted to violence against Jews from the very inception of the British Mandate. This was not inusal. Mob violence nd persinal attacks against Jews were not unusual in the Muslim world, especilly the Arab world. There was at first little organized Jewish resistnce. The Brutish oposed Jewish self-fefense units, even thouhh they were incapable of protecting the Jewish community. This only began to change as Arabs esclated the violence targeting Jews. The result was that the Jews had to organize secret defense groups and acquire weapons in secret. There is no doubt that both Arabs and Jews were involved in violence. The historical reci=ord is very clear. From the very beginning of the Mandated, Arabs attempted to deal with the Jews by resorting to violence. The idea that the Palistinians were a peaceful people assaulted by vilent Zionits is simply a historical fiction. And as a result by the time of World War II, the Jews in Palistine were organizing o answer violence with violence, including terrorism..

Anti-Jewish Riots (1920-21)

After World War I, Feisal who would become King of first Syria and then Iraq, proposed to the Zionist leader Chaim Weizman, a mutual partnership in developing a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Arabs leaders subsequently rejected this understanding, claiming that the Allies had not met their commitment to the Feisal's father Sherif Hussein. Arabs mobs conducted the first major anti-Jewish riots in Palestine (1920-21). The first Arab riots occurred in Jerusalem around Passover--"Bloody Passover (March 1920). Attacks on Jews had occurred in Muslim and Christian countries for centuries. Unfounded rumors of Jewish attavks on Arabs caused the riots. British military authorities did not at first intervene to protect Jews after the Arab attacks begun. The British did arrest Vladimir Jabotinsky and other Jews for organizing a self-defense league. Arab violence spread to other areas. Arabs killed Joseph Trumpeldor and others defending Tel Hai, a settlement in the Upper Galileeb (April 1920). Jews seeing that the British authorities were not defending them, founded the Haganah (June 15, 1920). While there is no conclusive evidence that Haj Amin al-Husseini was responsible for initiating the riots, there is ample evidence that he became one of the leaders urging Palestinians to kill Jews and loot their homes. Further violence occurred in Jaffa. Arabs brutally murdered Jewish author Y. Brenner in Jaffa. This was followed by attacks on Rehovot, Petah Tikva, and other Jewish areas (May 1921). When the violence subsided, the Jewish death toll was 47 with 140 wounded. Among those killed was Yosef Hayyim Brenner, the respected socialist pioneer and author. Arab casualties totaled 48 killed and 73 wounded. Almost all the Arab casualties were at the hands of the British military trying to restore order. The Jews learned an important lesson. They were vulnerable to Arab violence and had virtually no self defense capabiklity. main lesson was the power of the Arab masses and the relative ineffectiveness of the Jewish defense. Sir Herbert Samuel, British High Commissioner, in an effort to restore order, attempted to appease the Arab rioters. He ordered a temporary halt to Jewish immigration. He also began negotiations with the Arab Executive Committee. One outcome of the effort to restore order was the White Paper issued by Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill (June 1922). The Haycraft Commission investigated the violence and found, "The racial strife was begun by the Arabs, and rapidly developed into a conflict of great violence between Arabs and Jews, in which the Arab majority, who were generally the aggressors, inflicted most of the casualties."

Disturbances (1929)

As the number of Zionist immigrants increased and the area of land expanded, conflicts began to develop with the Arabs. Here Haj Amin el-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, played a central role. Both sides blamed the other as scattered acts of viloence occurred. There were more Arabs attacks on Jewish settlements than Jewish attacks, but there were violent actions perpetrated by both sides. The Jews had learned the lesson of the 1920-21 no self-defense preparations. The worst Arab attack occurred at Hebron where Arabs massacred 69 Jews (1929).

Arab Revolt (1936-39)

The Jerusalem Grand Mufti Haj Amin el-Husseini helped inspire riots and disorders throughout Palestine (April 1936). Six prominent Arab leaders formed the Arab High Command to to protest Zionist activities, especially land purchases and immigration. The Arab High Command organized a general strike of Arab workers and a boycott of Jewish products (April 1936). Soon the initial peaceful actions escalated into attacks on Jews as well as the British authorities. Riots occured in Jerusalem and other cities . These dusorders, seen as the first stage of the "Arab Revolt" continued until November, 1936. Another stage of disorders began in September, 1937. The cause was the Peel Commission which suggested the partition of Palestine. The second stahe was much more violent. There were more intense fifgting with British forces as well as attacks on more Jewish settlements. The British were hard pressed at the time and actually authorized the arming of the Haganah. The British and the Haganah worked togrther. Effecive operations were organized by Charles Orde Wingate who later became famous in Burma. Wingate established Special Night Squads of Jewish volunteers. The British sucessfully defeated the Arab Revolt. Husseini was able to find refuge in Iraq. The British government cocerned about the British position in the Arab world sought to apease Arab opinion with the 1939 White Paper.

World War II (1939-45)

The Grand Mufti had to fle Pa.istine after the failure of the Arab Revolt. Hee managed to stir up anti-Jewish violence in bith Iraq and Iran before finding refuge in NAZI Germany. In Germany he made anti-Semetic propaganda broadcasts for the NAZIS. He was briefed on the Holocaust by NZI officials and incouraged the NAZIS to kill more Jews. Palestinian Arabs continue carring out scttered attacks on Jews which had become common during the pre-War Arab Revolt. With German military strength collapsing, the Grand Mufti in Berlin managed to obtain NAZI support for Operation ATLAS, an attack on Jews in Palistine (October 1944). It was a Jewish population beyond the reach of NAZI Einsatzgruppen. A joint German-Arab commando unit is parchuted into Palestine with chemical weapons to murder as many Jews as possible in Tel Aviv. This was not a military opertion, the idea was to kill Jewish civilians by poisoning the Tel Aviv water supply. The comandos with chemical weapons were caught near Jericho by Jordanian and British Police forces. [Bar-Zohar] The Grand Mufti continued propaganda brodcasts from Berlin, urging Arabs to kills Jews.

Post-War Attacks (1945-48)

The runp NAZI Government surrndered (May 8, 1945). The French arrest the Grand Mufti, but he escapes and finds refuge in Egypt. From Egypt he helps organize attcks on Jews and the British. Following the U.N. vote on the Partition Plan, Palestinian Arabs reacted violently and fighting broke out with Jews in what became known as the 'Civil War' (November 30, 1946). The Arab Higher Committee declared a strike and public protest in Jerusalem of the U.N. partition vote. Arabs organized a march to Zion Square, but were stopped by the British (December 2). The Arabs instead turned towards the undefended commercial center of the city where many Jewish buildings and shops were attacked. This becane known as the Jeruslem Riots. By this time, the Jews were both organized and possessed some small arms. Violence in the center of the city continued for two more days. The Arabs iniitiated the violence, but once the figting began, Jews not only resisted, but carried out attacks of their own. After the British restored order, 70 Jews and 50 Arabs laid dead.

Sources

Bar-Zohar, Michael. The Quest for the Red Prince (1983).

Created: 1:15 PM 7/5/2016
Last updated: 3:10 PM 11/4/2017