The riots in Jaffa ( Heb. מאורעות תרפ"א , tarapa meoraot literally: events (5) 681 years ) - a series of violent riots in Mandatory Palestine from May 1 to May 7, 1921. The strong unrest that began between the Jewish communist and socialist groups turned into numerous Arab attacks on Jews . Riots began in Jaffa and spread to other parts of the country. As a result of these events, 47 Jews and 48 Arabs were killed, 146 Jews and 73 Arabs were injured.
Content
Events before the pogroms start
On the night of May 1, 1921, the Jewish Communist Party (the predecessor of the Palestinian Communist Party ) distributed leaflets in two languages: Arabic and Yiddish , calling for the overthrow of British rule and the proclamation of "Soviet Palestine." The leaflets indicated the intention of the demonstrators in honor of the holiday of solidarity of the workers of the First of May to pass from Jaffa to neighboring Tel Aviv . Despite the warning of one of the senior policemen of the city of Tukfik Bi al-Said, who visited the headquarters of the party, in the morning the demonstrators moved from Jaffa to Tel Aviv through a mixed Jewish-Arab region in the vicinity of Manshiya [1] .
Another group of protesters, organized in Tel Aviv by the Ahdut HaAvoda Zionist Socialist Movement, had official permission to hold a demonstration. When the two processions met, a fistfight began [1] .
The police tried to stop the fight. Arabs, Muslims and Christians, intervened in it and, wishing to help the police, came out against the Jews. The general excitement quickly grew and spread to the southern part of the city [2] .
Hearing cries for struggle and thinking that the Arabs were attacked, the Arabs from Yaffa launched an offensive. Dozens of Britons, Arabs and Jews confirm that Arab men, armed with knives, swords, and some with pistols, broke into Jewish houses and killed their inhabitants, while Arab women followed and plundered. They attacked Jewish pedestrians and destroyed Jewish businesses and shops. They beat and killed Jews in their homes, spared no children, in some cases broke the skulls of victims [1] .
Incidents
At 1:00 pm, a mob attacked an immigrant hostel belonging to the Zionist commission. There were about a hundred people in the building who arrived on May Day holidays a few days or weeks before. They tried to barricade the gates, but the Arab attackers managed to open them. Following the throwing of stones, bombings and rifle shots followed. The Jewish residents of the hostel hid in different rooms. The arrived police did not shoot and disperse the crowd, but, on the contrary, rushed to the building. One of the immigrants was shot dead by a policeman at close range in the courtyard, others were killed and beaten with sticks. Five women fled from a policeman firing a pistol; three were able to escape. The policeman cornered two women and tried to rape them, but, despite the shooting, they managed to escape. A fourteen-year-old girl and several men barely left the building, but they were overtaken and beaten to death with iron rods and wooden planks [1] .
The violence reached Abu Kabir. The Jewish family of Yitsker owned a dairy farm in the area where they rented out rooms. During the riots, Yosef Haim Brenner , one of the pioneers of modern Jewish literature, was at home. On May 2, 1921, despite warnings, the Yitsker and Brenner families refused to leave the farm and were killed. The murderers did not regret either the son of Yitsker, adolescence, or the people who lived on the set [3] .
As during the riots in Nebi Musa, a year before, the mob tore up quilts and pillows of victims, broke and smashed everything in its path. Some Arabs defended the Jews, and offered them shelter in their homes; Many witnesses recognized the attackers and the murderers of their neighbors. Subsequently, everyone remembered that Arab policemen had participated in the robbery [1] .
High Commissioner Herbert Samuel declared a state of emergency , introduced censorship in print media and applied for reinforcements in Egypt . General Allenby sent two destroyers to Jaffa and one to Haifa . Samuel met with the Arab representatives and tried to calm them down. Musa Kazim al-Husseini was dismissed from his post as mayor of Jerusalem because of his involvement in the riots a year before these events. He demanded to suspend Jewish immigration. Samuel agreed; two or three small boats with 300 Jews on board were not allowed to swim to shore, and forced them to return to Istanbul . Musa Kazim al-Husseini’s nephew, Hai Amin al-Husseini, was appointed the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. This decision later caused a lot of criticism.
The unrest continued, and within a few days spread to the neighboring cities of Rehovot , Kfar Sabu , Petah Tikva and Hadera [1] . The British leadership, deciding to stop the violence, sent a plane that dropped bombs "to protect Jewish settlements from Arab raiders" [4] .
After the rebellion
The riot led to the death of 47 Jews and 48 Arabs. 146 Jews and 73 Arabs were injured. Most of the casualties among Arabs are the result of clashes with British forces trying to restore order [5] . Thousands of Jewish residents of Jaffa fled to Tel Aviv and were temporarily stationed on the beach in tent cities. Tel Aviv, which had previously sought independent status, became a separate city, in part due to these unrest. However, Tel Aviv was still dependent on the supply of provisions from Jaffa, it had close ties with the services sector, and it was the place of work for most of the residents of the new city [1] .
The victims were buried in the Trumpeldor cemetery . The newspaper "Ha-tsfira" reported that rallies throughout the country were postponed, all celebrations about the holiday were canceled, schools were closed for four days. The newspapers on May 3 came out with black frames [6] .
The newspaper Kuntress, the author and co-editor of which Yosef Haim Brenner was one of the victims of the riots, published an article entitled “Strengthening”. The article expressed regret that the outstretched hand of the Jews was rejected, but that they would only redouble their efforts, wanting to survive as an independent community [1] . Some of the villages whose inhabitants were involved in the violence were fined, and some insurgents were brought to justice.
When three Jews, including a policeman, were convicted for participating in the killing of Arabs, international protest followed. Although the Supreme Court ultimately recognized their actions as self-defense, the incident spoke of a crisis of trust between the Jewish community and the British administration. Three Arab men were tried for the murder of Brenner, but were acquitted due to the lack of evidence. Tufik Bi al-Said, who left Jaffa Police, was shot dead in the street; the veterans of Ha-Shomer organized an attempt on his life in retaliation for the murder of Brenner; another Jewish man was unjustly accused, but later acquitted [1] .
See also
- Riots in Mandatory Palestine (1920)
- Riots in Mandatory Palestine (1929)
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Segev, Tom. One Palestine, Complete. - Metropolitan Books, 1999. - p. 173–190. - ISBN 0-8050-4848-0 .
- ↑ Huneidi, Sahar. A broken trust: Herbert Samuel, Zionism and the Palestinians 1920-1925 . - Illustrated. - IBTauris, 2001. - P. 127. - ISBN ISBN 9781860641725 .
- ↑ Shapira, A. Days in May 1921 // Yosef Haim Brenner: A Life. - Stanford University Press, 2014. - p. 360-370. - ISBN 978-0804785273 .
- Miss Omissi, David E. Air power and colonial control: The Royal Air Force, 1919-1939 . - Illustrated. - Manchester University Press ND, 1990. - P. 44. - ISBN ISBN 9780719029608 .
- Dist Dist Dist Dist 19 19 1921 C Cmd. 1540, p. 60
- ↑ Keepers of the City, Haaretz
Links
- EARTH OF ISRAEL (EREC-ISRAEL). HISTORICAL ESSAY High Commissioner G. Samuel.