1920 Nebi Musa Riots

1920 Nebi Musa Riots

The 1920 Nabi Musa riots or 1920 Jerusalem riots took place in British Mandate of Palestine on April 4–7, 1920 in and around the Old City of Jerusalem.

The events coincided with and are named after the Muslim Nabi Musa festival and followed rising tensions in Arab-Jewish relations. The events came shortly after the Battle of Tel Hai and the increasing pressure on Arab nationalists in Syria on the course of the Franco-Syrian War. Among the slogans used to incite the riots were the implications of Zionist immigration and the previous tensions which coincided with attacks on outlying Jewish settlements in the Galilee. Speeches by Arab religious leaders during the festival, in which traditionally large numbers of Muslims gathered for a religious procession, led to a serious outbreak of violent assaults on the city's Jews. Five Jews and four Arabs were killed and several hundreds were wounded. In its wake, sheikhs of 82 villages round the city and Jaffa, claiming to represent 70% of the population, issued a document protesting the violence against the Jews.

The British military administration's erratic response failed to contain the rioting, which continued for four days. As a result of the events, trust between the British, Jews, and Arabs eroded. One consequence was that the Jewish community increased moves towards an autonomous infrastructure and security apparatus parallel to that of the British administration.