Attacks on Jews before Israel declared independence

1920 -1939, was a time of ruthless attacks on unarmed Jews, it was inevitable that Jews would form militias after the aggression and violence of the Arabs, especially the formation of the Haganah.

1) During the Nebi Musa riots on Sunday, 4 April 1920, 60,000–70,000 Arabs had congregated in Jerusalem’s old city square for the Nebi Musa festival, groups had been attacking Jews in the Old City’s alleys for over an hour.

The editor of the newspaper Suriya al-Janubia (Southern Syria), Aref al-Aref, an Arab Club member, delivered his speech on horseback at the Jaffa Gate. The nature of his speech is disputed.

According to Benny Morris, he said “If we don’t use force against the Zionists and against the Jews, we will never be rid of them”

The crowd reportedly shouted “Independence! Independence!” and “Palestine is our land, the Jews are our dogs!” Arab police joined in applause, and violence started.The local Arab population ransacked the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem. The Torath Chaim Yeshiva was raided, and Torah scrolls were torn and thrown on the floor, and the building then set alight.

During the next three hours, 160 Jews were injured.Khalil al-Sakakini witnessed the eruption of violence in the Old City. He said that all shouted, “Muhammad’s religion was born with the sword”.On Monday, as disturbances grew worse, the Old City was sealed off by the British army and no one was allowed to exit the area. Martial law was declared, but looting, burglary, rape, and murder continued.

The Old City’s Jewish community had no training or weapons, and Jabotinsky’s men had found themselves outside the walled Old City, and shut out by British soldiers.

Two volunteers were able to enter the Jewish Quarter disguised as medical personnel to organize self-defense – using rocks and boiling water.Five Jews and four Arabs died in the riots. Two-hundred and sixteen Jews were injured, 18 critically, and 23 Arabs, one critically. About 300 Jews were evacuated from the Old City.

2) The Battle of Tel Hai was fought on 1 March 1920 between Arab irregulars and a Jewish defensive paramilitary force protecting the village of Tel Hai in Northern Galilee. In the course of the event, a Shiite Arab militia, accompanied by Bedouin from a nearby village, attacked the Jewish agricultural locality of Tel Hai.

In the aftermath of the battle eight Jews and five Arabs were killed. Joseph Trumpeldor, the commander of Jewish defenders of Tel Hai, was shot in the hand and stomach, and died while being evacuated to Kfar Giladi that evening.

Tel Hai was eventually abandoned by the Jews and burned by the Arab militia.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tel_Hai

3) The Hebron massacre refers to the killing of sixty-nine Jews on 24 August 1929 in Hebron, then part of Mandatory Palestine, by Arabs incited to violence by rumors that Jews were planning to seize control of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

The event also left scores seriously wounded or maimed. Jewish homes were pillaged and synagogues were ransacked. Soon after, all Hebron’s Jews were evacuated by the British authorities.

Many returned in 1931, but almost all were evacuated at the outbreak of the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine.

The massacre brought the centuries-old Jewish presence in Hebron to an end.

4) The 1929 Arab riots in Palestine, or the Buraq Uprising, also known as the 1929 Massacres, refers to a series of demonstrations and riots in late August 1929 when a long-running dispute between Muslims and Jews over access to the Western Wall in Jerusalem escalated into violence.

The riots took the form, in 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 and between 198–241 others were injured, a large majority of whom were unarmed and were murdered in their homes by Arabs, while at least 116 Arabs were killed and at least 232 were injured, mostly by the British police while trying to suppress the riots, although around 20 were killed by Jewish attacks or indiscriminate British gunfire.

During the riots, 17 Jewish communities were evacuated.

5) The 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, later came to be known as “The Great Revolt”, was a nationalist uprising by Palestinian Arabs in Mandatory Palestine against the British administration of the Palestine Mandate, demanding Arab independence and the end of the policy of open-ended Jewish immigration and land purchases with the stated goal of establishing a “Jewish National Home”.

During the revolt 5000 Arabs were killed, 262 British soldiers and 300 Jews were killed.

The United Nations UN Partition plan of 1947 sparked conflict between Jewish and Arab groups within Palestine. Fighting began with attacks by irregular bands of Palestinian Arabs attached to local units of the Arab Liberation Army composed of volunteers from Palestine and neighboring Arab countries. These groups launched their attacks against Jewish cities, settlements, and armed forces.

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/arab-israeli-war#:~:text=Fighting%20began%20with%20attacks%20by,%2C%20settlements%2C%20and%20armed%20forces.