1920 Nebi Musa Riots - History

History

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 were 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-WW1 arrangements both for Palestine and other Arab societies led to a 'radicalization' of the Arab world.

On March 1, the death at Tel Hai of Joseph Trumpeldor at the hands of a Shiite group from Southern Lebanon, caused deep concerns among Zionist leaders, who made numerous requests to the Mandate administration to address the Yishuv's security and forbid a pro-Syrian public rally. Their fears were largely discounted, however, by the Chief Administrative Officer General Louis Bols, Governor Sir Ronald Storrs and General Edmund Allenby, despite a warning from the President of the World Zionist Organization Dr. Chaim Weizmann that "pogrom is in the air", supported by assessments available to Storrs.

Communiqués had been issued about foreseeable troubles between Arabs, Arabs and Jews. To Weizmann these were reminiscent of instructions that Russian generals had issued on the eve of pogroms. In the meantime, local expectations had been raised to a pitch by the declaration of the Syrian Congress on March 7 of the independence of Syria and Palestine, with Faisal as its king.

Storrs issued a warning to Arab leaders, but his forces included only 188 policemen. The Ottoman Turks usually deployed thousands of soldiers and even artillery to keep order in the narrow streets of Jerusalem during the Nabi Musa procession. Zionist leaders requested that the British authorities allow arming of the Jewish defenders to make up for the lack of adequate 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 which the Zionist Commission kept the British informed of. Many of them members of the Maccabi sports club and some of them veterans of the Jewish Legion, their month of training largely consisted of calisthenics and hand to hand combat with sticks. By the end of March, about 600 were said to be performing military drills daily in Jerusalem. Jabotinsky and Rutenberg also began organizing the collection of arms.