The Hebron Massacre

 

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.

Haycraft commission summary report

 

Throughout the 1920s tension had been brewing between the Palestinian Jews and Arabs. The mandate government took no action to alleviate the situation, and the resulting riots did an enormous amount of damage to the Zionist cause. The Arabs of Palestine were dominated by two clans – the Husseinis and the Nashashibis. The Husseinis controlled the Palestine Arab Executive and Supreme Muslim Council and the Nashashibis became the mu’aridan, or the opposition.

 

Haj Amin Al-Husseini

 

Haj Amin al-Husseini was appointed Mufti of Jerusalem by the British in 1921, and he was the most prominent figure in Palestine during the Mandatory period. Al-Husseini was born in 1893 in Jerusalem and served in the Ottoman Army during World War I. His appointment as mufti was, in itself, controversial as he had been sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the British for inciting riots in 1920. However, al-Husseini served none of the ten years, and he fled to Transjordan, where he was later given amnesty by Herbert Samuel, first high commissioner of Palestine. Samuel was a British Jew, and it was his decision to appoint al-Husseini as mufti, with the promise that he would use his influence as a high official to quell any further disturbances. In the following year he expanded his already significant powers by being appointed Supreme Muslim Council and he soon established himself as the pre-eminent Arab power in Palestine. Al-Husseini did not keep his promise to the high commissioner when he helped to incite the series of pogroms, which lasted from 1936 to 1939, in which hundreds of Jews were killed.

 

Tension Mounts

 

There had been a long-running dispute between Muslims and Jews over access to the Muslim Wall in Jerusalem, and in the summer of 1929 the situation grew steadily more and more volatile. The riots began when al-Husseini falsely accused Jews of defiling and endangering local mosques, including Al Aqsa. The call went out to the Arab masses: ‘Izbah Al-Yahud!’ – ‘Slaughter the Jews!’ The prime reason for the discontent was the proximity of the Al Aqsa mosque to the wailing wall. Islamic law states that only Muslims may pray in the proximity of a mosque while prayers are being held in the mosque itself. The Muslims claimed that the prayers at the wailing wall were disturbing the prayers of the Muslims and that action must be taken to stop the Jewish sector.

Propaganda literature started to appear stating that the Jews were getting ready to take control of the holy places, and it told the Muslim people to come to Jerusalem to defend their rights. A demonstration organized by the Supreme Muslim Council took place on August 16, 1929. They marched to the wailing wall, where they proceeded to burn prayer books and the humble notes that had been left in the cracks of the walls by the worshippers.

Haj Amin al-Husseini helped to foment the Arab hatred by accusing the Jews of endangering the mosques and the other holy sites of Islam. On August 22, 1919, leaders of the Yishuv (the Jewish settlement in Palestine) had a meeting with the British Deputy High Commissioner to warn him that they feared widespread riots. However, the British officials placated them by saying they were completely on top of the situation. However, the following day the worst riots seen in the area erupted and lasted for a full seven days.

On Friday, August 23, inflamed by false rumours that two Arabs had been killed by Jews, Arabs started to attack the Old City of Hebron. The violence quickly spread to other parts of Palestine, but Hebron definitely caught the worst of the action with at least 68 people killed. The carnage was horrendous, with the gangs actually slicing off their victim’s body parts. Some of the victims caught up in the violence were American students who had come over to study at the famous yeshiva.

On the following day, as early as 8 o’clock in the morning, Arabs started to gather in mobs. They were armed with knives, axes and clubs. They ransacked the homes of the Jews and destroyed their property, and with only one single police officer in Hebron, they met with no opposition. He called for reinforcements, but to his disgust he did not get any backup for a further five hours.

Rabbi Slonim attempted to shelter as many as the Jewish population as he could, and when the Arab rioters found out they offered him a deal. They told him that if he handed over all the Ashkenazi yeshiva students over to the Arabs, they would spare the lives of the remainder of the Sephardi community. When Rabbi Slonim refused to comply with their request, he was killed instantly. By the end of the day, 55 Ashkenazi and 12 Sephardi Jews were slaughtered.

Many Arabs not involved in the rioting tried to shelter the Jews, and a total of 19 families saved dozens, possibly hundreds of Jewish people. Warding off the rioters with swords, many of the families hid the Jews in their cellars until they could be escorted to safety to the police station in Beit Romano. On the morning of August 24, not only did the police station turn into a refuge for the fleeing Jews but it also acted as a synagogue, where the Orthodox members said their morning prayers. Not long after they had completed their prayers, the inhabitants of the police station heard noises outside the building. Thousands of Arabs had gathered from Hebron and they were shouting, ‘Kill the Jews! Kill the Jews!’ trying their hardest to break down the doors. The Arabs besieged Beit Romano for three days before eventually giving up.

Although the worst of the fury flared up in Hebron, the rioting was also very bad in Safed, another religious community, which was once a centre for kabbala. The Jewish quarter was burned down, leaving hundreds without homes, and almost 24 Jews were killed. Throughout Jerusalem and the surrounding area, the violence continued for seven days until in total 133 Jews and 116 Arabs were killed, and 339 Jews and 232 Arabs were injured. When the massacre was finally over, the surviving Jews were forced to leave their home city and settle in Jerusalem. During the following years the Arabs had found pogroms were an effective political tool because of the lack of British response towards violence directed at the Jewish population.

However, as a direct result of the rioting throughout Palestine, the British established a Commission of Inquiry, with the intent of determining the cause of the violence. They formed the Shaw Commission, headed by Sir Walter Shaw, which introduced policies that they hoped would prevent any further violence from erupting in Palestine.

Through their investigations the Shaw Commission found that the pogroms occurred due to:

 

. . . racial animosity on the part of the Arabs, consequent upon the disappointment of their political and national aspirations and fear for their economic future.

 

Basically the report claimed that the Arabs were afraid of being displaced by Jewish immigrants, and they feared political domination by a group who, they felt, seemed to have some form of funding from outside of Palestine. The Commission also blamed the ambiguity of British statements that had been made to both Arabs and Jews, and it recommended that in future the government clearly define its intentions for Palestine. Also on the Commission’s recommendation, immigration was halted until they could find a resolution to the problem.

Of course the Arabs were very pleased with the outcome of the Shaw  ommission as it was considered to be very much in their favour. However, on the other side of the counter there was a strong outcry from Jews all over the world.

Although a few Jewish families returned to Hebron in 1931, the community never re-established itself, and by the end of 1936 there were no Jews remaining in Hebron.

Haj Amin al-Husseini’s part in the 1929 riots was a matter of controversy at the time. The Jewish Agency, which was originally formed for the singular purpose of rebuilding the Jewish national home in the Land of Israel, charged him with inciting the violence. The Shaw Commission, however, were not in agreement with their decision and concluded that:

 

. . . no connection has been established between the Mufti and the work of those who either are known or are thought to have engaged in agitation or incitement . . . After the disturbances have broken out the Mufti co-operated with the Government in their efforts both to restore peace and to prevent the the extension of disorder.