94-868: The Shaw Report , officially the Report of the Commission on the Palestine Disturbances of August 1929 , commonly known as the Shaw Commission , was the result of a British commission of inquiry, led by Sir Walter Shaw, established to investigate the violent rioting in Palestine in late August 1929. The commission's report was issued in March 1930 and led to the establishment of the Hope Simpson Enquiry in May 1930. While
188-483: A Muslim religious court building overlooking the prayer area, mentioned to a constable that he had never seen it at the wall before, although the constable had seen it earlier that day and had not given it any attention. The sheikhs hosting the commissioner immediately protested the screen on the grounds that it violated the Ottoman status quo forbidding Jews from bringing physical structures, even temporary furniture, into
282-1211: A call for an end to the violence. Over the following four days period, the Jerusalem police reported 12 separate attacks by Jews on Arabs and seven attacks by Arabs on Jews. On 21 August, the Palestine Zionist Executive telegrammed the Zionist Organization describing the general excitement and the Arab fear of the Jews: Population again very excited and false alarms caused local panics in various quarters but no further incidents course of day. Arabs also excited and afraid Jews. Desirable insist with home Government need of serious measures assuring public security. We are issuing appeal to public keep calm, refrain from demonstrations, and observe discipline, but feel embarrassed by militant attitude. Doar Hayom and also part of youth influenced by Revisionist agitation. Can you speak to Revisionist leaders? The next Friday, 23 August, thousands of Arab villagers streamed into Jerusalem from
376-428: A change of policy in these matters than a change of mind on the part of the Arab population, who have been encouraged to believe that they have suffered a great wrong and that the immigrant Jew constitutes a permanent menace to their livelihood and future. I am convinced that these fears are exaggerated and that on any long view of the situation the Arab people stand to gain rather than to lose from Jewish enterprise. There
470-561: A debate in the Lords in 1938 he spoke in support of the policy of population transfer of Arabs in Palestine for the purposes of developing the land and creating cohesive settlements, pointing out that similar transfers had occurred in Libya and other Arab countries without any protest. Aged seventy-five and with his health failing, he stood down as leader of the Labour peers in 1940. However, he recovered and
564-646: A demonstration being held at the Wailing Wall, and that it would be a terrible shock to the Jews who regarded the Wall as a place of special sanctity to them. At the Wall, the crowd burnt prayer books, liturgical fixtures and notes of supplication left in the Wall's cracks, and the beadle was injured. The demonstrations spread to the Jewish commercial area of town. Inflammatory articles calculated to incite disorder started to appear in
658-422: A hundred soldiers, six armoured cars , and five or six aircraft in country; Palestine Police had 1,500 men, but the majority were Arab, with a small number of Jews and 175 British officers. While awaiting reinforcements, many untrained administration officials were required to attach themselves to the police, though the Jews among them were sent back to their offices. Several English theology students visiting from
752-629: A leading member of the Trades Union Congress , and was raised to the peerage as Baron Snell , of Plumstead in the County of Kent , on 23 March 1931. Ramsay MacDonald made him Under-Secretary of State for India and, upon the formation of the National Government a few months later, asked Snell to continue in this role. However, Snell refused, choosing to remain loyal to the Labour Party. In
846-629: A parallel action in the whole Moslem world, the responsibility for which will rest with the Jews." The Shaw Commission stated that some sections of the Arabic Press had reproduced documents concerning the Wailing Wall which "were of a character likely to excite any susceptible readers." In addition, it stated that "there appeared in the Arabic Press a number of articles, which, had they been published in England or in other western countries, would unquestionably have been regarded as provocative." One consequence
940-488: A period of days to most outlying centres of population. The Shaw Report found that the "outbreak in Jerusalem on 23 August was from the beginning an attack by Arabs on Jews for which no excuse in the form of earlier murders by Jews has been established." Later on 23 August, the British authorities armed 41 Jewish special constables , 18 Jewish ex-soldiers and a further 60 Jews civilians were issued with staves to assist in
1034-544: A possible overlord of the future". With respect to the triggering of the riots, the Commission found that the incident that contributed most to the outbreak was "the Jewish demonstration [...] at the Wailing Wall " on 15 August 1929. Avraham Sela described the riots as "unprecedented in the history of the Arab-Jewish conflict in Palestine, in duration, geographical scope and direct damage to life and property". The Western Wall
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#17329053940181128-528: A radical change'. The conclusions of the Commission, especially regarding the riots themselves, were as follows. [Material not in brackets is verbatim] The Commission recommended that the Government reconsider its policies as to Jewish immigration and land sales to Jews. This led directly to the Hope Simpson Royal Commission in 1930. The main victims of the rioting were Orthodox Jews, however
1222-531: A sentence later commuted on appeal, after the prosecutor was reportedly bribed, to 15 years on the grounds prior intent had not be established. Hinkis was released from prison under an amnesty in 1935, and died in 1988. On 26 August, the Nebi Akasha Mosque in Jerusalem was attacked by a group of Jews. According to the Shaw Report, the mosque was a "sacred shrine of great antiquity held in much veneration by
1316-627: A strong supporter of Zionism . From 1931 to 1932, he served as President of the British Ethical Union (now known as Humanists UK ), an organisation promoting humanism as a non-religious basis for morality . Snell was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1930 Birthday Honours . Snell resigned his seat in the Commons in 1931, to make way for George Hicks ,
1410-478: A two-month old baby had been struck on the ear, temple and cheek with a blunt instrument. Both survived. A third child, the Sheikh's 9 year old son, survived untouched beneath his mother's body. The husband of one of the women shot, present at the time, in hiding, later testified in court the killer had been a Jewish policeman, as did the material evidence. Hinkis was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by hanging,
1504-527: Is beyond words. In one house I visited not less than twenty-five Jews men and women were murdered in cold blood." Sir Walter Shaw concluded in The Palestine Disturbances report that "unspeakable atrocities have occurred in Hebron. The Shaw Report described the attack, "Arabs in Hebron made a most ferocious attack on the Jewish ghetto and on isolated Jewish houses lying outside the crowded quarters of
1598-521: Is no doubt in my mind that, in spite of errors of judgment which may have resulted in hardship to individual Arabs, Jewish activities have increased the prosperity of Palestine, have raised the standard of life of the Arab worker and have laid the foundations on which may be based the future progress of the two communities and their development into one State. His commentary on the land problem led him to conclude that "progress in Palestine--by which I mean
1692-613: Is one of the holiest of Jewish sites, as it is a remnant of the ancient Second Temple compound destroyed in 70 CE. The Jews, through the practice of centuries, had established a right of access to the Western Wall for the purposes of their devotions. As part of the Temple Mount the Western Wall was under the control of the Muslim religious trust, the Waqf . Muslims consider the wall to be part of
1786-466: The 1922 General Election , being re-elected in 1929 . In late 1929, Snell was appointed to the Shaw Commission , which had been set up to investigate Arab uprisings in Palestine . When the Commission published its findings in March 1931, Snell delivered a Minority Report, disagreeing with the Commission's recommendation that Jewish immigration and land purchase be curtailed. Snell also dissented from
1880-480: The A'yan (Arab notables) to protect them. On 24 August 1929 in Hebron, Arab mobs attacked the Jewish quarter killing and raping men, women and children and looting Jewish property. They killed between 65 and 68 Jews and wounded 58, with some of the victims being tortured, or mutilated. Sir John Chancellor , the British High Commissioner visited Hebron and later wrote to his son, "The horror of it
1974-659: The Al-Aqsa Mosque , the third holiest site in Islam, and according to Islamic tradition the place where Muhammad tied his steed, Buraq , before his night journey to heaven. There had been a few serious incidents resulting from these differences. As a result of an incident that occurred in September 1925, a ruling was made which forbade the Jews to bring seats and benches to the Wall even though these were intended for worshippers who were aged and infirm. The Muslims linked any adaptions to
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#17329053940182068-829: The Bryant and May match factory strike and the London dock strike of 1889 . In 1890, Snell began social work for the Woolwich Charity Organisation Society, and later became secretary to the director of the London School of Economics . He joined the Independent Labour Party and, in 1894, the Fabian Society , travelling extensively around Britain to lecture on socialist topics with speakers including Ramsay MacDonald and Bruce Glasier . Snell also lectured for
2162-637: The Dome of the Rock either below or emblazoned with Jewish symbolism such as the Star of David and the Temple menorah . Zionist literature published throughout the world had also used provocative, Judaized imagery of the Dome of the Rock. One Zionist publication featuring a Jewish flag atop the Dome of the Rock was picked up and redistributed by Arab propagandists. Haj Amin al Husseini ,
2256-646: The Gargždai -born Shlomo Zalman Shach [ he ] who had been invited to the household as guests. Mr. Maklef's wife, Chaya, was tortured by the Arabs who hanged her on a fence. The two daughters of the family were raped and murdered. Several houses including the Maklef's were set on fire. When the British police and Haganah respondents arrived to the town they brought Chaya to the hospital but she died of her injuries. The survivors were three children who managed to jump out
2350-463: The Mandate police suppressing the riots. Around 20 Arabs were killed by Jewish attackers and indiscriminate British gunfire. After the riots, 174 Arabs and 109 Jews were charged with murder or attempted murder; around 40% of Arabs and 3% of Jews were subsequently convicted. During the riots, 17 Jewish communities were evacuated. The British-appointed Shaw Commission found that the fundamental cause of
2444-533: The Mufti of Jerusalem distributed leaflets to Arabs in Palestine and throughout the Arab world which claimed that the Jews were planning to take over the al-Aqsa Mosque . The leaflet stated that the Government was "responsible for any consequences of any measures which the Moslems may adopt for the purpose of defending the holy Burak themselves in the event of the failure of the Government...to prevent any such intrusion on
2538-605: The National Secular Society . After hearing Annie Besant address a meeting of the Secular Society on the subject of socialism, Snell joined the Social Democratic Federation . He worked on John Burns ' campaign for Parliament in 1885, and began to address public meetings himself, appearing alongside the likes of Henry Hyndman , Tom Mann , Eleanor Marx and Ben Tillett . He was active in supporting
2632-632: The Palestine Zionist Executive were reportedly alarmed by the activities of the Revisionists as well as "embarrassed" and fearful of an "accident" and had notified the authorities of the march in advance, who provided a heavy police escort in a bid to prevent any incidents. On Friday, 16 August after a sermon , a demonstration organized by the Supreme Muslim Council marched to the Wall. The Acting High Commissioner summoned Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini and informed him that he had never heard of such
2726-553: The University of Oxford were deputized. While a number of Jews were being killed at the Jaffa Gate , British policemen did not open fire. They reasoned that if they had shot into the Arab crowd, the mob would have turned their anger on the police. Yemin Moshe was one of the few Jewish neighbourhoods to return fire, but most of Jerusalem's Jews did not defend themselves. At the outbreak of
2820-579: The Western Wall in Jerusalem escalated into violence, which also involved the British authorities . The riots took the form, for the most part, of attacks by Arabs on Jews accompanied by destruction of Jewish property. During the week of riots, from 23 to 29 August, 133 Jews were killed by Arabs, and 339 Jews were injured, most of whom were unarmed. There were 116 Arabs killed and at least 232 wounded, mostly by
2914-481: The Arab community. The Haganah had offered to provide protection for the Jewish families in the town, but many such as the Makleff family rejected the offer as they did not believe the Arabs would harm them. In the afternoon of 24 August, Arabs from neighbouring Qalunya entered Motza and invaded the house of the Maklef family. Mr. Makleff [ he ] was murdered along with his son and two rabbis (including
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3008-551: The Arab media and one flyer, signed by "the Committee of the Holy Warriors in Palestine" stated that the Jews had violated the honor of Islam, and declared: "Hearts are in tumult because of these barbaric deeds, and the people began to break out in shouts of 'war, Jihad ... rebellion.' ... O Arab nation, the eyes of your brothers in Palestine are upon you ... and they awaken your religious feelings and national zealotry to rise up against
3102-476: The Arab's concerns and misapprehensions. 1929 Palestine riots The 1929 Palestine riots , Buraq Uprising ( Arabic : ثورة البراق , Thawrat al-Burāq ) or the Events of 1929 ( Hebrew : מאורעות תרפ"ט , Meora'ot Tarpat , lit. Events of 5689 Anno Mundi ), was a series of demonstrations and riots in late August 1929 in which a longstanding dispute between Palestinian Arabs and Jews over access to
3196-647: The British South Place Ethical Society (eventually becoming President) and its American counterpart. Snell stood unsuccessfully in Huddersfield as a candidate for the Labour Party in January and December 1910 and 1918 . He was elected to the London County Council in 1919, serving until 1925, and became Member of Parliament for Woolwich East , the seat formerly held by Will Crooks , at
3290-592: The British and Arab authorities resulted in their anger over the event. Although screens had been set up temporarily at the site before, and other prohibitions were ignored or relaxed at times, the violent confrontation over the latest screen would engender further violence. The internal politics of both sides were also willing to adopt extreme positions and make use of religious symbols to stir up popular support. For some time, Jewish institutions of Jerusalem had given their supporters abroad items such as Challah covers and Passover Seder tablecloths featuring imagery of
3384-489: The British government later issued a statement defending his actions. Rabbi Aaron Menachem Mendel Guterman (1860-1934), the third rebbe of the Radzymin Hasidic dynasty , while visiting Jerusalem from Poland, is described as being the person responsible for erecting the canvas screen that became the center of the 1928 incident. Although Guterman used his own funds to erect the screen, the lack of any prior consultation with
3478-536: The British parliament, Sir Henry Betterton (Conservative), R. Hopkin Morris (Liberal) and Henry Snell (Labour). The aim of the Commission was to look into the reasons for the violent rioting in Palestine in late August 1929, which caused the deaths of 243 Jews and Arabs. The commission of enquiry took public evidence for several weeks, from the first hearing on 25 October to 29 December, hearing 120 witnesses in public testimony, and 20 behind closed doors. Though hearing
3572-447: The British take greater care in protecting the rights and understanding the aspirations of the Arabs. The Shaw report was a blow to Zionists everywhere,’ It found that the purchase of lands by Jewish Companies had been legal and fair to the tenants, but, at the same time, concluded that there was substance to the Arab claim that Jewish land purchase did constitute a present danger to the Arabs' national survival, since highly productive land
3666-473: The Commission's claims that Palestine was overcrowded, agreeing with reports published two years earlier that had found the area to be under-populated and greatly under-cultivated. He described the impact of Jewish immigration as having raised the standard of living for Arab workers, and asserted that the Commission was wrongly and dangerously encouraging the view that immigration was a menace to Arabs and threatened their economic future. Following this, Snell became
3760-530: The Jewish congregants in Jerusalem, given the police's inability to protect them. Second, he criticized the Palestinian Government "for not having issued an official communiqué denying that the Jews had designs on the Moslem Holy Places.” Notably, he questioned the report's conclusions regarding Jewish land procurement and immigration. He argued, What is required in Palestine is, I believe, less
3854-461: The Jewish people will not rest and will not remain silent until its national home is built on our Mt Moriah," a reference to the Temple Mount. In September 1928, Jews praying at the Wall on Yom Kippur placed a mechitza that looked like a simple room divider of cloth covering a few wooden frames to separate the men and women. Jerusalem's British commissioner Edward Keith-Roach , while visiting
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3948-579: The Kibbutz returned on 7 September. In Safed on 29 August, 18-20 Jews were killed and 80 wounded. The attackers looted and set fire to houses and killed Jewish inhabitants. The main Jewish street was looted and burned. The members of the Commission of Inquiry visited the town on 1 November 1929. The Shaw Report stated: At about 5:15 pm, on the 29th of August, Arab mobs attacked the Jewish ghetto in Safed...in
4042-598: The Lords, he spoke on agricultural issues, with particular concern for rural workers, and on foreign affairs, and was a member of the British Institute of Parliamentary Affairs and the Empire Parliamentary Association. He was also appointed to the British Council , eventually becoming vice-chairman. In 1935, when Arthur Ponsonby chose to resign with George Lansbury , Snell became Labour's leader in
4136-559: The Lords, serving under Clement Attlee . He published an autobiography, Men, Movements and Myself , in 1936, and was made a Privy Counsellor in 1937. As leader in the Lords, Snell took a strong line against the growing threat of fascism, and attacked the Government's appeasement of Nazi Germany and its refusal to intervene to help the Republican government during the Spanish Civil War . He also continued to champion Zionism. During
4230-509: The Maccabi grounds near Mea Shearim and the Bukharim quarter , on the outskirts of the village lands of Lifta , following a quarrel which began when he and his friends tried to retrieve their lost football from an Arab girl after it had rolled into an Arab-owned tomato field. A Jewish crowd attacked and severely wounded the policeman who arrived to arrest the Arab responsible, and then attacked and burned neighbouring Arab tents and shacks erected by Lifta residents and wounded their occupants;
4324-414: The Mandate safeguarding the rights of non-Jewish communities, and if it laid down more explicit directives on such vital issues as land and immigration. (ii) Immigration policy should be clearly defined, and its administration reviewed "with the object of preventing a repetition of the excessive immigration of 1925 and 1926" Machinery should be devised through which non-Jewish interests could be consulted on
4418-467: The Moslems." The mosque was badly damaged and the tombs of the prophets which it contained were desecrated . The kibbutz of Mishmar HaEmek was attacked on 26 August by an Arab mob, which was dispersed by the locals and British police. On the following day the British authorities ordered the kibbutz members to evacuate. On 28 August an Arab mob attacked the empty kibbutz again, burning its barn, uprooting trees and vandalizing its cemetery. The members of
4512-414: The Orthodox community took a decision to boycott the Commission. According to the report (p. 169), all sides were eager to cooperate, and there was no shortage of testimony or evidence. (i) His Majesty's government should issue a clear statement of the policy they intend to pursue in Palestine. The value of this statement would be greatly enhanced if it defined the meaning they attached to the passages in
4606-412: The Temple Mount, apparently to work up the crowd. Luke telephoned the Mufti to come and calm a mob that had gathered under his window near the Damascus Gate , but the commissioner's impression was that the religious leader's presence was having the opposite effect. By midday friction had spread to the Jewish neighborhood of Mea She'arim where two or three Arabs were killed. The American consulate documented
4700-475: The Wall is "restored to us." On 6 August the British police force in Palestine established a police post beside the wall. On 14 August the Haganah and Brit Trumpeldor held a meeting in Tel Aviv attended by 6,000 people objecting to 1928 Commission's conclusion that the Wall was Muslim property. Joseph Klausner who formed the Pro–Wailing Wall Committee helped organize several demonstrations, beginning on 14 August 1929 when 6,000 youths marched around
4794-428: The Wind Shall Reap the Whirlwind": "The poison of propaganda was dripping from its columns daily until it poisoned the atmosphere and brought about the Thursday demonstration.... and this served as a pretext to the wild demonstration of the Arabs." The next day an incident which "in its origin was of a personal nature" was sparked when a 17-year-old Sephardic Jew named Abraham Mizrachi was fatally stabbed by an Arab at
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#17329053940184888-460: The age of ten and became an indoor servant at the farm aged twelve. Dissatisfied with this work, Snell left and travelled around the county, taking a variety of jobs including work as a groom and at Hazelford Ferry on the River Trent and as a French polisher in Nottingham . During long periods of unemployment he occupied himself with extensive reading, and was particularly influenced by the writing of Henry George . Inspired by Charles Bradlaugh and
4982-401: The area due to Muslim fears of Zionist expropriation of the site. The sheikhs disclaimed responsibility for what could happen if the screen was not taken down, and Keith-Roach told the Ashkenazic beadle to remove the screen because of the Arabs' demands. The beadle requested that the screen remained standing until the end of the prayer service, to which Keith-Roach agreed. While the commissioner
5076-408: The balcony and hide in the Jewish Broza family's house. In later years one of these children, Mordechai Maklef , would become the Israel Defense Forces ' third chief of staff. On 20 August, Haganah leaders proposed to provide defence for 600 Jews of the Old Yishuv in Hebron , or to help them evacuate. However, the leaders of the Hebron community declined these offers, insisting that they trusted
5170-524: The burnt body of a woman tied to a window. Several people were brutally killed. A schoolteacher, wife, and mother and a lawyer, were cut to pieces with knives and the attackers entered an orphanage and smashed children's heads and cut off their hands. Another victim was stabbed repeatedly and trampled to death. David Hacohen , a resident of Safed, described the carnage in his diary: Harry Snell, 1st Baron Snell Henry Snell, 1st Baron Snell CH CBE PC (1 April 1865 – 21 April 1944),
5264-478: The campaign of propaganda and incitement, and not on the economic situation. Mr. Snell also voiced additional criticisms of the British government in Palestine. First, while acknowledging that "the general question whether in a country of racial division one race should be supplied with arms by the Government for possible use against another is admittedly a difficult one," he questioned the decision to allow Arabs to gather en masse with clubs and sticks while disarming
5358-400: The cause of secularism in Nottingham 1881, he joined the National Secular Society . He rejected the austere and literalist Anglicanism of his up-bringing, but retained some religious faith and decided to join the Unitarian Church, impressed by its scientific approach to Christian doctrine and its progressive and tolerant values. A Unitarian teacher, John Kentish-White, introduced Snell to
5452-399: The claims of both sides, the Commission made its recommendations primarily on the basis of material submitted by Mandatory officials The Commission addressed two aspects of the disturbances, the immediate nature of the riots and the causes behind them. In the words of Naomi Cohen: ‘Delving beneath the immediate causes – i.e., the Western Wall dispute, inflammatory publications on both sides,
5546-422: The context of increased Jewish immigration and land purchases, which were threatening to produce a significant Arab landless class. This was later reiterated in the Hope Simpson Enquiry and subsequent Passfield white paper , both which called for limited Jewish immigration to Palestine. The British Commission of Inquiry was chaired by Sir Walter Shaw , a distinguished jurist, and consisting of three members of
5640-430: The course of which some 45 Jews were killed or wounded, several Jewish houses and shops were set on fire, and there was a repetition of the wanton destruction which had been so prominent a feature of the attack at Hebron. An eyewitness describing the pogrom that took place in Safed, perpetrated by Arabs from Safed and local villages, armed with weapons and kerosene tins. He observed mutilated and burned bodies of victims and
5734-403: The defense of Jewish quarters in Jerusalem. The following day, Arab notables issued a statement that "many rumours and reports of various kinds have spread to the effect that Government had enlisted and armed certain Jews, that they had enrolled Jewish ex-soldiers who had served in the Great War; and the Government forces were firing at Arabs exclusively." The Mufti of Jerusalem stated that there
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#17329053940185828-438: The difficulties of the administration were greatly aggravated by the absence of any measure of self-government. The report includes a 12-page "Note of Reservations" written by Lord Henry Snell . While accepting much of the report's findings, he challenges some points and makes a number of additional criticisms and recommendations. The following is a list of some of them. Mr. Snell placed a much higher degree of responsibility on
5922-473: The enemy who violated the honor of Islam and raped the women and murdered widows and babies." On the same afternoon, the Jewish newspaper Doar HaYom – of which Jabotinsky was the editor – published an inflammatory leaflet describing the Muslim march, based partially on statements by Wolfgang von Weisl , which "in material particulars was incorrect" according to the Shaw Report. On 18 August, Haaretz criticised Doar HaYom in an article entitled "He Who Sows
6016-426: The enlargement of the Jewish Agency, inadequate forces to maintain order, the report called attention to the underlying causes of friction in England's wartime pledges and in the anti-Jewish hostility that had resulted from the political and economic frustrations of the Arabs. It went on to criticise the immigration and land-purchase policies that, it said, gave Jews unfair advantages. The commission also recommended that
6110-534: The event in detail, reported that the killings had taken place between 12:00 and 12:30. The Shaw Report described the excited Arab crowds and that it was clear beyond all doubt that at 12:50 large sections of these crowds were bent on mischief if not on murder. At 13:15, the Arabs began a massacre of the Jews. Reacting to rumors that two Arabs had been murdered by Jews, Arabs started an attack on Jews in Jerusalem's Old City . The violence quickly spread to other parts of Palestine. The British authorities had fewer than
6204-439: The government payroll, attacked the home of Sheikh ‘Abd al-Chani ‘Awn (50), the imam of the neighbourhood mosque. On breaking in, according to the Arab account, they disemboweled him and killed six members of his family. His wife, nephew, and 3 year old son were also mutilated by having their heads smashed in. A subsequent investigation stated 5 adults had been killed, but no children died: a five year old child had been shot, and
6298-399: The infirmary, the pharmacy and the synagogue on the top floor. Arab rioters destroyed the pharmacy and torched the synagogue and destroyed the Torah scrolls inside. Cases of Jews attacking Arabs and destroying their property were also noted by the Shaw Commission. On the 25 August, reports stated that a group of Jews accompanied by a Jewish policeman, later asserted to be Simha Hinkis on
6392-415: The joint progress of the two peoples--is to be looked for not along the lines of political concession but rather through social and economic reconstruction and the establishment of public security." In this respect, he held that the Palestine Government should be administratively and financially responsible for ensuring that no Arabs went landless. He also spoke to the need of Jewish leaders to help alleviate
6486-418: The leadership of Jeremiah Halpern . Rumors circulated among the Arabs that the procession had attacked local residents and cursed the name of Muhammad . The Shaw Report later concluded that the crowd was peaceful and allegations that the crowd were armed with iron bars were not correct, but that there may have been threatening cries made by some "undesirable elements" in the Jewish procession. Leaders of
6580-419: The mob by hiding them in their own houses while others survived by taking refuge in the British police station at Beit Romano on the outskirts of the city. When the massacre ended, the surviving Jews were evacuated by the British. The Hebron Yeshiva , a branch of the famed Slobodka yeshiva , was also attacked during the riots. On Friday, 23 August, an Arab crowd gathered outside it and threw stones through
6674-414: The morning, the constable sent ten armed policemen to remove it. The policemen charged the small group near the screen and were urged by nearby Arab residents to attack the assembled Jews. Jewish worshipers who had gathered began to attack the policemen. The screen was eventually destroyed by the policemen. The constable had infuriated his superiors due to his use of excessive force without good judgement, but
6768-465: The one British Police Officer in the town – prevented the outbreak from developing into a general massacre of the Jews in Hebron." The lone British policeman in the town, Raymond Cafferata, who, "killed as many of the murderers as he could, taking to his fists even," was overwhelmed, and the reinforcements he called for did not arrive for 5 hours–leading to severe recriminations. Hundreds of Jews were saved by Arab neighbours who offered them sanctuary from
6862-562: The part of the Jews." A memorandum issued by the Moslem Supreme Council stated, "Having realized by bitter experience the unlimited greedy aspirations of the Jews in this respect, Moslems believe that the Jews' aim is to take possession of the Mosque of Al-Aqsa gradually on the pretence that it is the Temple," and it advised the Jews "to stop this hostile propaganda which will naturally engender
6956-504: The shoulders of the Muslim spiritual and political leaders, including the Mufti and the Arab Executive. He also emphasized that the violence did not represent the will of the majority of Arabs, and that many took great risks to protect Jewish lives. Furthermore, he agreed that the "animosity and hostility toward the Jews were the fundamental cause of the outbreak," but he blamed this attitude on
7050-450: The site with "the Zionist project" and feared that they would be the first step in turning the site into a synagogue and taking it over. Several months earlier Zionist leader Menachem Ussishkin gave a speech demanding "a Jewish state without compromises and without concessions, from Dan to Be'er Sheva, from the great sea to the desert, including Transjordan." He concluded, "Let us swear that
7144-463: The situation deteriorated and a police officer succeeded in warding off an attack on the quarter between Jaffa and Tel Aviv by firing on an Arab crowd. The administrative director of Haddasah hospital in Jerusalem sent a cable to New York describing the casualties and that Arabs were attacking several Jewish hospitals. According to the Shaw Report, the disturbances were not premeditated and did not occur simultaneously but spread from Jerusalem through
7238-615: The son of the Rabbi of Hebron, but were massacred by an Arab mob. Survivors and reporters recounted the carnage that occurred at the Slonim residence. Moses Harbater, an 18-year-old was stabbed and two of his fingers were severed. He described at a later trial of some Arab rioters how a fellow student had been mutilated and killed. Forty-two teachers and students were murdered at the yeshiva. The Hadassah Medical Organization operated an infirmary in Hebron. The Beit Hadassah clinic had three floors with
7332-418: The subject of immigration. (iii) A scientific enquiry should be made into the possibilities of land development in Palestine, having regard to "the certain natural increase in the present rural population." Meanwhile, the "tendency towards the eviction of peasant cultivators from the land should be checked." (iv) While making no formal recommendations on constitutional development, the commission observed that
7426-506: The surrounding countryside to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque , many armed with sticks and knives. The gathering was prompted by rumors that the Zionists were going to march to the Temple Mount and claim ownership, as they had belligerently marched on the Western Wall demanding Jewish ownership 9 days earlier. Harry Luke requested reinforcements from Amman . Towards 09:30 Jewish storekeepers began closing shop and at 11:00, 20–30 gunshots were heard on
7520-420: The town. More than 60 Jews – including many women and children – were murdered and more than 50 were wounded. This savage attack, of which no condemnation could be too severe, was accompanied by wanton destruction and looting. Jewish synagogues were desecrated, a Jewish hospital, which had provided treatment for Arabs, was attacked and ransacked, and only the exceptional personal courage displayed by Mr. Cafferata –
7614-576: The violence and again in the following days, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi demanded that weapons be handed to the Jews, but was both times refused. By 24 August, 17 Jews were killed in the Jerusalem area. The worst killings occurred in Hebron and Safed while others were killed in Motza , Kfar Uria , Jerusalem and Tel Aviv . There were many isolated attacks on Jewish villages, and in six cases, villages were entirely destroyed, accompanied by looting and burning. In Haifa and Jaffa,
7708-507: The violence was the direct result of an ongoing dispute over the Jews' ability to worship freely at the Western Wall , the Commission concluded that the conflict was not religious in nature, and that the holy site had become a "symbol of racial pride and ambition." It determined that the cause of the violent outbreak was "racial animosity on the part of the Arabs, consequent upon the disappointment of their political and national aspirations and fear for their economic future." They explained this in
7802-407: The violence, "without which in our opinion disturbances either would not have occurred or would have been little more than a local riot, is the Arab feeling of animosity and hostility towards the Jews consequent upon the disappointment of their political and national aspirations and fear for their economic future", as well as Arab fears of Jewish immigrants "not only as a menace to their livelihood but
7896-485: The wall of the old city of Jerusalem. On Thursday, 15 August, during the Jewish fast of Tisha B'Av , several hundred members of Klausner's right-wing group – described by Professor Michael J. Cohen as "brawny youths with staves" – marched to the Western Wall shouting "the Wall is ours," raised the Jewish national flag , sang Hatikvah (the Jewish anthem). The group included members of Vladimir Jabotinsky 's Revisionist Zionism movement Betar youth organization, under
7990-604: The wall; some went as far as to call openly for the rebuilding of the Temple, increasing Muslim fears over Zionist intentions. Ben-Gurion said the wall should be "redeemed," predicting it could be achieved in as little as "another half a year." During the spring of 1929 the Revisionist newspaper edited by right-wing leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky , ran a long campaign claiming Jewish rights over the wall and its pavement, going as far as calling for "insubordination and violence," and pleading that Jews not stop protesting and demonstrating until
8084-457: The windows. Only two people were inside, a student and the sexton. The student was grabbed by the Arab crowd, who stabbed him to death; the sexton survived by hiding in a well. The next day, a crowd armed with staves and axes attacked and killed two Jewish boys, one stoned to death and the other stabbed. More than 70 Jews, including the Yeshiva students, sought refuge in the house of Eliezer Dan Slonim,
8178-728: The works of Lord Byron and Samuel Taylor Coleridge . Through acquaintances made in the Unitarian movement, Snell was able to find a job in London as a clerk at the offices of the Midland Institute for the Blind. Here he continued his self-education at the reference library of University College London , being influenced by the writings of Thomas Paine , William Morris , John Ruskin and John Stuart Mill . Eventually Unitarianism would grow even too strict for him, and he became an agnostic and member of
8272-503: The wounded included an Arab youth named 'Ali 'Abdallah Hasan who was chosen at random to be stabbed in retaliation. Mizrachi died on 20 August and his funeral became the occasion for a serious anti-Arab demonstration. It was suppressed by the same force that had been employed in the initial incident. A late-night meeting initiated the following day by the Jewish leadership, at which acting high commissioner Harry Luke , Jamal al-Husayni , and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi were present, failed to produce
8366-635: Was a British socialist politician and campaigner. He served in government under Ramsay MacDonald and Winston Churchill , and as the Labour Party 's leader in the House of Lords in the late 1930s. Born in Sutton-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire, the son of agricultural workers, Harry Snell was educated at his local village school before beginning work as a farm hand at the age of eight. He worked full-time from
8460-500: Was a large crowd of excited Arabs in the Haram area who were also demanding arms, and that the excited crowd in the Haram area took the view that the retention of Jews as special constables carrying arms was a breach of faith by the Government. The Government initially denied the rumours, but by 27 August they were forced to disband and disarm the special constables. The Jewish village of Motza , west of Jerusalem, had good relationships with
8554-620: Was appointed by Winston Churchill as Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (Deputy Leader of the House of Lords ) a year later (having been considered as Leader, but passed over in favour of a Conservative ). He chaired several committees and inquiries during the Second World War , and was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1943. Whilst still in
8648-448: Was being bought, suggesting that 'immigrants would not be content to occupy undeveloped areas', with the consequence that 'the economic pressure upon the Arab population was likely to increase' With regard to the conflict arising from the land settlement and purchase problem, it concluded that 'taking Palestine as a whole, the country cannot support a larger agricultural population than it at present carries unless methods of farming undergo
8742-653: Was that Jewish worshippers frequently were subjected to beatings and stoning. In October 1928, the Grand Mufti organised new construction next to and above the Wall. Mules were driven through the praying area often dropping excrement, and waste water was thrown on Jews. A muezzin was appointed to perform the Islamic call to prayer directly next to the Wall, creating noise exactly when the Jews were conducting their prayers. The Jews protested at these provocations and tensions increased. Zionists began making demands for control over
8836-403: Was visiting a synagogue, Attorney General Norman Bentwich had his request to keep the screen until after the fast rejected by the commissioner, who ordered the constable to ensure that it was removed by morning. The constable feared that the screen meant trouble, and had the commissioner's order signed and officially stamped, speaking again with the beadle that evening. When the screen remained in
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