1920 Nebi Musa riots

s, April 1920 The contents and proposals of both the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and Paris Peace Conference, 1919, which later concluded with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, were the subject of intensive discussion by both Zionist and Arab delegations, and the process of the negotiations was widely reported in both communities. In particular, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire led to an undertaking by the victorious powers, predominantly Great Britain and France, to assume a 'holy mission of civilization' in the power vacuum of the Middle East. Under the Balfour Declaration, a homeland for the Jewish people was to be created in Palestine. The principle of self-determination affirmed by the League of Nations was not to be applied to Palestine, given the foreseeable rejection by the people of Zionism, which the British sponsored. These post-World War I arrangements both for Palestine and other Arab societies led to a radicalization of the Arab world. On 1 March 1920, the death of Joseph Trumpeldor in the Battle of Tel Hai at the hands of a Shia group from Southern Lebanon caused deep concern among Jewish leaders, who made numerous requests to the OETA administration to address the Yishuv's security and forbid a pro-Syrian public rally. However, their fears were largely discounted by the Chief Administrative Officer General Louis Bols, Military Governor Ronald Storrs and General Edmund Allenby, despite a warning from the head of the Zionist Commission Chaim Weizmann that a "pogrom is in the air", supported by assessments available to Storrs. Communiqués had been issued about foreseeable troubles among Arabs, and between Arabs and Jews. To Weizmann and the Jewish leadership, these developments were reminiscent of instructions that Russian generals had issued on the eve of pogroms. In the meantime, local Arab expectations had been raised to a pitch by the declaration of the Syrian Congress on 7 March of the independence of the region of Syria in the Kingdom of Syria, with Faisal as its king, that included the British-controlled territory within its claimed domain. On 7 and 8 March, demonstrations took place in all cities of Palestine, shops were closed and many Jews were attacked. Attackers carried slogans such as "Death to Jews" or "Palestine is our land and the Jews are our dogs!" Jewish leaders requested that OETA authorise the arming of the Jewish defenders to make up for the lack of adequate British troops. Although this request was declined, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, together with Pinhas Rutenberg, led an effort to openly train Jewish volunteers in self-defense, an effort of which the Zionist Commission kept the British informed. Many of the volunteers were members of the Maccabi sports club and some of them were veterans of the Jewish Legion. Their month of training largely consisted of calisthenics and hand to hand combat with sticks. Jabotinsky and Rutenberg also began organizing the collection of arms. It had apparently existed since the time of Saladin. Arab educator and essayist Khalil al-Sakakini described how tribes and caravans would come with banners and weapons. The Ottoman Turks usually deployed thousands of soldiers and even artillery to keep order in the narrow streets of Jerusalem during the Nebi Musa procession. However, Storrs issued a warning to Arab leaders, but deployed only 188 policemen. ==4–7 April 1920, Old City==

By 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, 4 April 1920, 60,000–70,000 Arabs had congregated in the city square for the Nebi Musa festival, and groups had been attacking Jews in the Old City's alleys for over an hour. A speech marked by anti-Zionist rhetoric was delivered by Amin al-Husayni from the balcony of the Arab Club. Musa al-Husayni, his uncle, the mayor, was also with him and spoke from the municipal building's balcony in similar terms. According to testimony given by Fayyad al-Bakri to the Palin Commission, however, the rioting began when the Hebron banner he was holding while standing on Jaffa Street outside the Crédit Lyonnais Bank was spat on by a Jew and when the latter was pushed away, Jewish bystanders began throwing stones. The editor of the newspaper Suriya al-Janubia (Southern Syria), Aref al-Aref, another Arab Club member, delivered a speech on horseback at the Jaffa Gate. In fact, Wasserstein adds, "Zionist intelligence reports of this period are unanimous in stressing that he spoke repeatedly against violence". The local Arab population ransacked the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem. The Torath Chaim Yeshiva was raided, and Torah scrolls were torn and thrown on the floor, and the building then set alight. The British imposed a nighttime curfew on Sunday night and arrested several dozen Arab rioters, but on Monday morning they were allowed to attend morning prayers and were then released. Arabs continued to attack Jews and break into their homes, especially in Arab-majority mixed buildings. On Monday, as disturbances grew worse, the Old City was sealed off by British authorities and no one was allowed to exit the area. Martial law was declared, but looting, burglary, rape, and murder continued. Several homes were set on fire, and tombstones were shattered. British forces found that the majority of illicit weapons were concealed on the bodies of Arab women. On Monday evening, all forces were evacuated from the Old City, a step described in the Palin Report as "an error of judgment". Even with martial law, it took British authorities another four days to restore order. The Old City's Jewish community had no training or weapons, and Jabotinsky's men had found themselves outside the walled Old City and were unable to enter it before the British sealed the area off. Two volunteers were able to enter the Jewish Quarter disguised as medical personnel to organize self-defense – using rocks and boiling water. Five Jews and four Arabs died in the riots. Two-hundred and sixteen Jews were injured, 18 critically, and 23 Arabs, one critically. About 300 Jews were evacuated from the Old City. ==Accusations of British complicity==

, Herbert Samuel, on a visit to Palestine a few days prior to the riots. Published in The Times. In Hebrew the incidents were described as meoraot, connoting targeted attacks reminiscent of what had often occurred especially in Russia, whereas Palestinian Arabs referred to them as an heroic witness to an 'Arab Revolt'. The use of the word pogrom to describe such outbreaks of communal violence bore with it the implication that the governing authorities, in this case the British administration, had actively connived in an anti-Jewish riot. The term drew an analogy between the classic form such actions took in Eastern Europe, where Jews were the victims of racist, anti-Semitic terror campaigns supported by the ruling authorities, with the situation in Palestine where Zionism was promoting a colonial adventure that was ethnically exclusive and challenged local Arab nationalist aspirations. It was asserted soon after, by Chaim Weizmann and Lieutenant-colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, that Haj Amin al-Husseini had been put up to inciting the riot by Field Marshal Edmund Allenby's chief of staff, Colonel Bertie Harry Waters-Taylor, to demonstrate to the world that Arabs would not tolerate a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Their assertions were never substantiated, and Meinertzhagen was discharged. The Zionist Commission noted that before the riots Arab milkmen started to demand their customers in Meah Shearim pay them on the spot, explaining that they would no longer be serving the Jewish neighbourhood. Christian storekeepers had marked their shops in advance with the sign of the cross so that they would not be mistakenly looted. A previous commission report also accused Storrs of inciting the Arabs, blaming him for sabotaging attempts to purchase the Western Wall as well. A petition circulated among American citizens and presented to their consul protested that British authorities had prevented Jews from defending themselves. ==Palin Commission of Inquiry==

The Palin Commission (or Palin Court of Inquiry), a committee of inquiry sent to the region in May 1920 by the British authorities, examined the reasons for this trouble. According to the Survey of Palestine: Savage attacks were made by Arab rioters in Jerusalem on Jewish lives and property. Five Jews were killed and 211 injured. Order was restored by the intervention of British troops; four Arabs were killed and 21 injured. It was reported by a military commission of inquiry that the reasons for this trouble were:-- :(a) Arab disappointment at the non-fulfilment of the promises of independence which they claimed had been given to them during the war. :(b) Arab belief that the Balfour Declaration implied a denial of the right of self-determination and their fear that the establishment of a National Home would mean a great increase in Jewish immigration and would lead to their economic and political subjection to the Jews. :(c) The aggravation of these sentiments on the one hand by propaganda from outside Palestine associated with the proclamation of the Emir Feisal as King of a re-united Syria and with the growth of Pan-Arab and Pan-Moslem ideas, and on the other hand by the activities of the Zionist Commission supported by the resources and influence of Jews throughout the world. The Palin Report on the April riots was not signed until July 1920, after the San Remo conference and replacement of the British OETA by a High Commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuel. and singled out Amin al-Husayni and Ze'ev Jabotinsky in particular. However, they incorrectly identified the anti-socialist Jabotinsky as organizer of the "definite Bolshevist" Poalei Zion ('Zionist Workers') party. The report was critical of some of the actions of OETA military command, particularly the withdrawal of troops from inside Jerusalem early on the morning of Monday, 5 April and that, once martial law had been proclaimed, it was slow to regain control. ==Aftermath==

, the mayor of Jerusalem, was dismissed by the British after the April riots. Over 200 people were put on trial as a result of the riots, including 39 Jews. Amin al-Husayni and Aref al-Aref were arrested for incitement, but when they were let out on bail they both escaped to Syria. In their absence, a military court sentenced them to 10 years imprisonment. a position which came with life tenure. Also, General Storrs became the civil governor of Jerusalem under the new administration. As the riots began, Jewish immigration to Palestine was temporarily halted by the British. Also, feeling that the British were unwilling to defend Jewish settlements from continuous Arab attacks, Palestinian Jews set up self-defense units, which came to be called the Haganah ("defense"). Furthermore, the riots increased the feeling of Palestinian nationalism within the Palestinian Arab community. == See also ==