Talk:1929 Palestine riots

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Contents 1 Old discussion 2 Claims 3 missing info 3.1 what else is missing 4 Unprotected 5 Unthinkable title for this page 6 POV 7 wrong shapira quote 8 Commission of Enquiry 9 Severely POV, immigrants seized Western Wall 10 Zeq's edit on lead-up to the events 11 Required Wiki reading for Zeq, as per above

[edit] Old discussion

Your citing Benny Morris??

There is no discussion page so I am starting it. Zero, if you any sepcific reason to dispute any fact in the article please explain or suggest an alternative. Zeq 12:58, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

This is ridiculous...purely biased. I dont even have time to change it because all of it biased.

A large amount of your addition is historical rubbish. It never happened. I'm wondering if you are really a certain obsessive POV pusher who was banned last year. --Zero 13:26, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

I am not obesssive. I am not pushing any POV. My edit is not rubbish. I can see an RfA coming.

If you have other account of these events, for example if you think that Jews remained in Hebron after 1929, feel free to source it and suggest that the clain of ethnic cleansing is wrong. It is always possible that historic events have more than one version, you are free to bring the minority view into this article. (keep in mind it is the disnabguity article for hebron Massacre Zeq 13:30, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

As I said repeatedly, the surviving Jews of Hebron were evacuated by the British after the massacre. None of them were expelled by the Arabs (which is what your sentences imply) even though of course it was the Arab violence that made the evacuation desirable. After about 2 years many of the Jews of Hebron returned there, but around 1936 the start of the Arab Rebellion made the security situation precarious again and the British authorities convinced those Jews to leave again. That's what happened; it's not an opinion and it is not equal in value to whatever rubbish you can find on the web. Unfortunately, you come across as an obsessive POV pusher with political opinions but no actual knowledge except a Google search box. --Zero 14:20, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

I guess you were actually there and you know the truth. Google is something that we all use. Fell free to add any fact that I forgot. I will do it shortly if you do not. This is a coloborative editing effort and you are more than welcome to take part in it instead of just use the revert option or writing sarcstic comments. Zeq 14:49, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

I see no attempt to highlight other wrong facts (corrected the one about the British). so id this page going to be protected forever ? Zeq 09:17, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Claims

Some brief comments on recent claims.

• Many of the additions consist entirely of vitriolic comment, devoid of facts. Some are simply lies, such as "Observers heard Husseini issue the call: Itback al-Yahud 'Slaughter the Jews!'" Let's see that one reported in a contemporary source or supported by an academic historian. Such crap illustrates the uselessness of the source from which this material is copied.
• "minor disputes between Jews and Arabs about the right of Jews to pray at the Western Wall (Kotel) in Jerusalem" - that is not accurate. The disputes were about the manner of using the Wall. The Arabs insisted that the Jews observe the long-standing agreements (from Ottoman times) that allowed unlimited access but did not allow practices such as erecting barriers and blowing shofars. The Jews wanted to do those things. That's what the disputes were about. It is all meticulously documented in British reports.
• "proceeded to burn Jewish prayer books such as the Tora and Talmud" - the two "examples" were added gratuitously without evidence. Actually Moslems would not knowingly burn the Torah.
• "On Friday, August 23, Arab mobs attacked Jews in Jerusalem, Motza, Hebron, Safed, Jaffa..." - that paragraph is almost entirely emotive repetition of the story which is told dispassionately elsewhere in the article.
• "The Arab violence in Hebron was one of the worst atrocities in the modern histo....mass of frenzied Arab rioters...bloody rampage" - there is no place in the article for such purple polemic. It sounds like a supermarket tabloid.
• "The dead Jews that day included Eliezer Dan Slonim..." - That's true but why does he deserve a whole paragraph of our little article? If he was really an important person, write an article on him.
• "He had many friends among the Arab elders, who had promised to protect him." - A nasty attack on unamed Arabs who may or may not have been in a position to help this person. Btw, there is a list in the Israeli archives of 435 Jews who were saved by Arabs, along with the names of the Arabs who saved them.
• "By the end of the riot, during which the British police did nothing to protect the Jews or stop the violence, sixty-seven Jews were dead and hundreds wounded." - an outrageous slander! There was only one British policeman in the whole town and he did everything he could.
• "The survivors were isolated in a police station for three days while the Arabs rampaged through their houses, stealing and destroying Jewish property, unmolested by the British authorities." - who says? Anyway, shouldn't the over-stretched British authorities have been protecting the lives of citizens from the riots that continued elsewhere, rather than looking after property? (Guess what; they were.)

That's a start. It gives the idea. The big problem is that the article should not be written emotively and should not sound as if it was written by the mothers of the victims. We are here to recount historical events, not to evoke tears or anger or any other emotion. --Zero 10:48, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

This is great. I welcome the new spirit of cooperation.

I will address, each of youir points and remove or altrer the text as needed.

All this under one very important guideline : that the yardstick / policy used will be equal for articles or issues that address events that Palestinians care about in the same way we address the one Jews care about.

Let me give you an example:

• You say:

"The Arab violence in Hebron was one of the worst atrocities in the modern histo....mass of frenzied Arab rioters...bloody rampage" - there is no place in the article for such purple polemic. It sounds like a supermarket tabloid."

On the other hand on article nakba we find:

(Palestinians suffer) "the most intricate and pervasive expression of persistent colonialism, apartheid, racism, and victimization. More than half a century ago [53 years], the Palestinians as a people were slated for national obliteration, cast outside the course of history, their identity denied, "

So when applying the same yardstick of "no place in the article for such purple polemic. It sounds like a supermarket tabloid." - we will apply it equallly across the articles of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict .

One is a quote from a named person and the other is text you want to insert. Those are different things and go by different rules. When we quote we have to use exact words, but when we write ourselves we have to be concise and not emotive. --Zero 23:31, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

• You say:

"Such crap illustrates the uselessness of the source from which this material is copied."

We will apply this yard stick to quotes that arrived from sites that pure propeganda that no one accpet such as quotes from web sites or books of those who deny the holocaust (a claim known to be "crap and illustrates the uselessness of the source".)

• You also say:

"article should not be written emotively and should not sound as if it was written by the mothers of the victims."

And I agree. We will write the facts in an encyclopediac manner and we will present both (sourced) sides when the two POV conflict with each other. This again would apply not just to this article.

Do we have an agreement and can go to work ?

Signed: Zeq 14:58, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

Zero:

You wrote: "We are here to recount historical events, not to evoke tears or anger or any other emotion." This should apply to the quotes we choose to use or not ? Zeq 04:30, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] missing info

The article on the conflict over the Western Wall should start with the general factors and concrete incidents that started it and those were: Meaning of the place: a) for the Jews the Wailing Wall is the most holy place of their religion because it is the last reminder of the site on which Solomon's temple once stood. b) for the Muslims the wall is part of the third holiest site of their religion, the Haram al-Sharif or Temple Mount, on top of which stands the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, where Mohammed once ascended to heaven. Incidents leading up to the conflict: In 1929 there were living quarters next to the wall and only a narrow street went along the wall. Already during the 19th century when the number of Jews praying at the wall was increasing, there were attempts to put up a screen in that street to separate women from men. This was objected by the local inhabitants as an obstruction to their use of the street. In 1919, under the British mandate then Zionist leaders proposed simply buying the wall. This was clearly opposed by the Supreme Muslim Council in Jerusalem, which in turn was supported tentatively by the British administration.

On September 24, 1928, a screen was installed along the wall to divide men from women while praying. The screen blocked the narrow street so the Arab inhabitants protested and British authorities removed the screen. That action was condemned internationally by Zionist officials and taken to the League of Nations. For both Jews and Muslims the issue had become very important and a political face down. Nevertheless for another year matters did not escalate.

In July 1929 the mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Hussaini, ordered building activities to be resumed around the wall. This in turn aroused the Zionist protests by Betar on August 15, which then escalated into the Wailing Wall riots.

This whole part needs to be inserted in the beginning of the article or it doesn't make sense at all. TMSTAPF

[edit] what else is missing

From 1922 through 1928 the relationship between Jews and Arabs in Palestine was relatively peaceful. However, in late 1928 a new phase of violence began with minor disputes between Jews and Arabs about the right of Jews to pray at the Western Wall (Kotel) in Jerusalem. These arguments led to an outbreak of Arab violence in August 1929 when Haj Amin al-Husseini, Mufti of Jerusalem, fomented Arab hatred by accusing the Jews of endangering the mosques and other sites holy to Islam. Observers heard Husseini issue the call: Itback al-Yahud "Slaughter the Jews!"

(we also need to cover the fact that he lost election to Nashibi and wanted to regain public support) the way he choose was to evoke religious hatred against the jews.

On August 15, 1929, rumors spread across the Arab comunity by leaflets - some apparently prepared in advance by Muslims -declared that the Jews were preparing to take control of the holy place and that Muslims should come to Jerusalem to defend them.

On Friday, August 16, 1929, after an inflammatory sermon, a demonstration organized by the Supreme Muslim Council, marched to the Wall and proceeded to burn Jewish prayer books that rae usually found near the wall (books such a "sidur" which include pareyrs from the Tora) supplicatory notes left in the Wall's cracks (considered sacred paryet between a person and his creator) were burned as well.

The acting High Commissioner Harry Luke answered to the jews compliants that "no prayer books had been burnt but only pages of prayer books". The Arab riots continued, and the next day one Jew was killed in the Bukharan Quarter. His funeral was turned into a political demonstration.

On August 20, Haganah leaders proposed to provide defense for 600 Jews of the Old Yishuv in Hebron or help them evacuate, but the community leaders declined these offers, insisting that they trust the A'yan (Arab leadership) to protect them.

On August 22, 1929 the leaders of the Yishuv (Jewish community in Palestine) met with the British Deputy High Commissioner to alert him of their fears of a large Arab riot. The British officials assured them that the government was in control of the situation. The following day the Riots of 1929 erupted throughout the Palestine Mandate, lasting for seven days.

On Friday, August 23, Arab mobs attacked Jews in Jerusalem, Motza, Hebron, Safed, Jaffa, and other parts of the country. The Old City of Jerusalem was hit particularly hard. By the next day, the Haganah was able to mount a defense and further attacks in Jerusalem were repulsed. But, the violence in Jerusalem generated rumors throughout the country, many carrying fabricated accounts of Jewish attempts to defile Muslim holy places, all to inflame the Arab residents. Villages were plundered and destroyed by Arab mobs. While attacks on Jews in Tel Aviv and Haifa were thwarted by Jewish defenses, there were Jewish deaths in Hebron, where 67 Jewish men and women were slaughtered and Safed, where 18 Jews were killed, as well as scattered other losses totaling 133 Jewish deaths, with more than 300 wounded.

The next Friday, August 23, 1929, Arabs, inflamed by false rumors that two Arabs had been killed by Jews started a murderous attack on Jews in the Old City. The violence quickly spread to other parts of the Palestine, Arab policemen often joining the mobs. The Arab violence in Hebron was one of the worst atrocities in the modern history of Palestine: Jerusalem Arabs came to Hebron with false reports of Jews murdering Arabs during the rioting there, even saying thousands of Arabs had been killed. Despite the fact that Jews and Arabs in Hebron had been on good terms, a mass of frenzied Arab rioters formed and proceeded to the Hebron Yeshiva where a lone student was murdered. The next day, the Jewish Sabbath, the killing continued as an Arab mob of hundreds surrounded homes where Jews sought refuge, broke in and murdered scores of Jews in a bloody rampage.

The dead Jews that day included Eliezer Dan Slonim, a man highly esteemed by the Arabs. He was the director of the local English-Palestine bank whose many clients were Arabs, and was the sole Jewish member of the Hebron Municipal Council. He had many friends among the Arab elders, who had promised to protect him. Twenty-two people died in Slonim's house that day including his wife and two young children.

By the end of the riot, during which the British police did nothing to protect the Jews or stop the violence, sixty-seven Jews were dead and hundreds wounded. The survivors were isolated in a police station for three days while the Arabs rampaged through their houses, stealing and destroying Jewish property, unmolested by the British authorities. At the end of the three days the survivers from the Jewish comumnity of Hebron were sent to Jerusalem, by the British authorities, who feared for their lives and were unable to protect them in Hebron. Hebron's ancient Jewish quarter was by that time empty and destroyed.

Throughout Palestine British authorities had only 292 policemen, fewer than 100 soldiers, six armored cars, and five or six aircraft.

While a number of Jews were being killed at the Jaffa Gate, British policemen did not open fire. By August 24, 17 Jews were killed in the Jerusalem area.

The massacre The worst atrocities occurred in Hebron and Safed, where massacres of Jews occurred. In Hebron, Arab mobs killed 67 Jews and wounded many others. The lone British policeman in the town, Raymond Cafferata, was overwhelmed and the reinforcements he called for did not arrive for 5 hours (leading to bitter recriminations).

Cafferata later testified that:

"On hearing screams in a room I went up a sort of tunnel passage and saw an Arab in the act of cutting off a child's head with a sword. He had already hit him and was having another cut, but on seeing me he tried to aim the stroke at me, but missed; he was practically on the muzzle of my rifle. I shot him low in the groin. Behind him was a Jewish woman smothered in blood with a man I recognized as a[n Arab] police constable named Issa Sherif from Jaffa in mufti. He was standing over the woman with a dagger in his hand. He saw me and bolted into a room close by and tried to shut me out-shouting in Arabic, "Your Honor, I am a policeman." ... I got into the room and shot him." On August 24, 1929 the violence reached its zenith with an attack on the Jewish community of Hebron, which numbered approximately 600 at the time. Violence was both imported and home-grown, with witnesses reporting both the arrival of outside elements and the rising up on locals against their neighbors. The worst attacks were carried out against the Slobodko Rabbinical College and a preparatory school in Hebron, 30 students were killed. A group of Arabs rushed into the college, killing, among others, twelve American citizens and wounding fifteen other American citizens. The Shaw commission reports that: About 9 o’clock on the morning of the 24th of August, Arabs in Hebron made a most ferocious attack on the Jewish ghetto and on isolated Jewish houses lying outside the crowded quarters of the town. More than 60 Jews—including many women and children—were murdered and more than 50 were wounded…Jewish Synagogues were desecrated, a Jewish hospital, which had provided treatment for Arabs, was attacked and ransacked"

Some Arab neighbors took in their Jewish friends and hid them from the mob —the family of Avrum Burg, former Speaker of the Israeli Knesset has reported that his family was saved in such a way. With time, the Haganah entered the fray and, together with British forces and mentionable numbers of Arab policemen, the violence was suppressed in Hebron. A British Colonial Office communiqué issued on August 26 stated that, “Up to the present the known casualties include forty-five Jews killed, while fifty-nine Jews were seriously wounded. Moslem casualties were eight killed and ten wounded. The town is now reported quiet, but 450 Jews have been temporarily accommodated in police barracks.” Describing the community, Joseph Levy of the New York Times wrote that “almost all of (the Jewish residents of Hebron) belonged to families who have lived there for three generations and always on the friendliest and most neighborly.” But by the time the riot was over the Jewish community had evacuated the city.

The other major centers of violence were in Safed, where 18 Jews were killed in a brief attack, and in Jerusalem.

During the week of riots, the fatalities were:

Killed: 133 Jews, 116 Arabs. Wounded: 339 Jews, 232 Arabs. The Jews were mostly killed by Arabs, while the Arabs were mostly killed by British-commanded police and soldiers.

On September 1, Sir John Chancellor condemned "the atrocious acts committed by bodies of ruthless and bloodthirsty evildoers... murders perpetrated upon defenseless members of the Jewish population... accompanied by acts of unspeakable savagery."

Zeq 08:16, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

I don't get it. How is the Jews' demonstration to express their desire to blow the Shofar at the Wailing Wall justification for a bloody massacre? This eas nothing but a blood libel, no different from the pogroms of Europe. Why does this page perpetrate the lie that the Jews declared that they wanted to conquer the wall?

See the book of Rabbi Moshe Segal, who organized the march. The demonstration lasted one day and the "perpetrators", incl. R' Moshe, obm, were jailed. The march was aimed at the Brits who had put stringent controls on the prayer rights of the Jews at the Wailing Wall to appease the Arabs. This included the famous ban on blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, which R' Moshe was the first to break. His book, מדור לדור is very worth reading if you understand Hebrew well enough.

This information should be added, instead of the vague implication that the Jews were threatening to conquer the Wall.

Sounds like R' Moshe was an agitator who contributed to the climate of tension. I'm not surprised the Brits arrested him. Btw, you are wrong about ban on shofar blowing. The Brits didn't invent it, they just continued the Ottoman rules. And nobody here, nor the article, said anything about anything justifying the massacre; that's just your imagination. --Zero 14:08, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

Prefect OR by Zero Zeq 15:27, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

To start an article about the massacre of jews by "on .., Jews marching shouted...." does not suggest anything ... sure.

This from a person that deleted the line that started "from 1922 to 1928 relations were good betwen jews and arabs"

The truth is of course that HUsseni (who was defeted in his arce from Jerusalem township council) by Nashibi decided to create tension that he could lead. As an Imam religion gave him the perfect pretext. The text will refelct that. Zeq 15:30, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Unprotected

I've unprotected this page - please do not resort to revert wars if you still don't see eye to eye over everything. If there is a dispute, try one of the established dispute resolution procedures. Thanks. Izehar 12:53, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

As expected, Zeq just put back the same purple text that started this fuss, complete with "frenzied Arab rioters" and similar unacceptable phrases. --Zero 13:52, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

"frenzied Arab rioters" is a cut and paste from other web site but in any case please explain what is wrong with it if it describe what took place. We are talkingabout a mob that comited a massacre so please help me understand why are you complaing . I am listening. Zeq 21:59, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

Cutting and pasting is generally against Wikipedia rules. Also, remember that you have to present each POV in a NPOV fashion. Describing "frenzied Arab rioters" is not NPOV, it is a description of the right-wing page you got it from, and not suitable as is for a Wikipedia article. You could for example, provide a quotation from a notable newscaster back then who "described the rioters as frenzied" (just as an example). But cutting and pasting a POV from a website does not contribute to NPOV. Each POV has to be presented neutrally. It's not hard to understand. Ramallite ^(talk) 22:49, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

You are 100% correct. I did this in a rush way and the result is wrong. Zeq 07:20, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Unthinkable title for this page

The page should be named "Masscare of 1929 in Hebron" and other areas. The atrocious acts done by the arabs to the Jewish communinty is very well documented and although chilling and very sad, this is the truth and it should not be covered up as "riots" which sounds neutral as if both sides are to blame or something (!) Amoruso 02:00, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

I agree, and sionce there was no objections I went ahead and changed the title. In light of Deir Yassin massacre, Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, etc., it is wrong to imply that while the Jews repeatedly commit "massacres", the Arabs merely "riot". ←Humus sapiens ^ну? 21:49, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

thank you. Amoruso 11:41, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

And we start all over again. I renamed the page 1929 Palestine massacre. That is what happened: a simple massacre of Jews by Arabs. It didn't only happen in Hebron; it happened in Jerusalem and Safed also. I assume everybody agrees on the current title. --Daniel575 21:45, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Isn't Hebron massacre the name by which it is most commonly known? Jayjg ^(talk) 22:26, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

A quite Google search gives about 10,000 hits for +"Hebron massacre"+1929, vs. about 300 for +"Palestine riots"+1929, and 1 for "Palestine massacre"+1929. I suggest it be moved back to the common name, following Wikipedia naming conventions. Jayjg ^(talk) 22:33, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

I agree and I also prefer 1929 Hebron massacre. However, some don't agree and want it to be 1929 Palestine riots. My version is a (bad) compromise. I prefer Hebron massacre. --Daniel575 23:56, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

And if anybody wishes to have 'massacre' replaced by 'riots', we will change Deir Yassin massacre into Deir Yassin riots, Cave of the Patriarchs massacre into Cave of the Patriarchs riots etc. --Daniel575 07:23, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

You are talking here about individual events, not a series or riots, demonstrations and massacres such as occured during the 1929 Palestine riots. --Ian Pitchford 07:35, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

That's fine, but why shouldn't there be a separate article about the Hebron massacre itself, given its infamy? The Hebron massacre was one specific event in the "1929 Palestine riots". Jayjg ^(talk) 17:38, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

exactly. The 1929 riots title should be kept. And the information about Hebron should be mentioned briefly and then directed to the 1929 Hebron Massacre. Amoruso 17:51, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] POV

I have found this page to be seriously flawed and biased, using exaggerated and emotionally charged language and citing specious sources. In line with civilised debate, I have made some edits to the page to make it less biased, but keeping many unsubstantiated claims for the sake civility. However, I have found my edits disrespectfully cancelled. Therefore, I am marking this page as NPOV diputed and would like to invite various contributors to an intellegent debate over its content.--Rearticulator 15:32, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Your edits did not consist of anything constructive. Yes, the victims in Hebron were anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews. That deserves mentioning and I put that back, though not in the introduction. I also added some other background information, such as the fact that Muslims control(led) the entire Temple Mount yet refused to grant the Jews the right to pray even just at the Western Well. --Daniel575 16:03, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for incorporating some of my edits, but I still find other problems with the text:

1. The introduction is very misleading: "The Hebron massacre refers to the violent destruction of the ancient Jewish community of Hebron by Arab rioters in late August of 1929." The massacre was not the destruction of an ancient Jewish community. Check the entry Holocaust, does it say it is the destruction of the German Jewish community? Although in the latter it was actually about anihilating the Jews, but not in the former. The massacre was about killing some Orthodox Jews in Hebron in retaliation for a perceived Zionist plan to take over Muslim Holy sites, no more, no less.

2.The part which talks about them being Anti-Zionist Jews is ver important. Well, perhaps it should not be put in the introduction, but it should be highlighted to stress how the ignorant mobs failed to differentiate between Zionist and non-Zionist Jews.

3. Some parts of the text are pure tautology (e.g. "unsubstantiated rumors". All rumors are unsubstantiated, that's why they are called rumors. You cannot say they are "false" either because that can only be said post factum)

4. Some of the sources cited are specious. The parts about burning prayer books and rape of women are ridiculous. Only credible sources should be cited, or else the credibilty of quotes put in doubt.

I would like to keep the NPOV mark on the article until we are through with our discussion. I hope you do not mind.--Rearticulator 16:41, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

the killing and raping of the Jewish people in Hebron is all very thoroughly documented.

the anti zionist claim if not only untrue, but it's irrelevant.

the intro doesn't suggest it was premedidated (in fact the article says the opposite), but the result was the destruction of the old community. your POV about muslim holy sites is ridicolous. you have shown nothing concrete and provided no citations for your abuse of the article. I don't mind leaving the npov for a while , but only temporary to see if someone has something concrete to say and not just anti-semitic propaganda. Amoruso 16:50, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Amoruso, you asked for a citation about Zionist attempts to but the wailing wall and the fact that the massacred Jews were Anti-Zionist. I refer you to Anita Shapira, "Land and Power: The Zionist Resort to Force, 1881–1948" (New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 1992), pp. 176–77. The fact that they were Anti-Zionist is not irrelevant (cf. #2 above). Moreover, even if the result was the destruction of that community, that does not equate the massacre with the destruction. Some sensible replies please :-) --Rearticulator 16:56, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

if you want, you can add her opinion then. Only one not being sensible is you. Amoruso 17:29, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Amoruso, you claim that the killing and raping in Hebron is thoroughly documented. Could you please offer some proper citation for that. I am afraid the sources cited are dubious. They are all web-pages that list some anonymous eyewitness accounts. I am sure you know that eyewitness accounts (even when properly identified) are hardly considered evidence, both academically and legally (cf. Witness). I shall give a full list of unsubstantiated claims in this entry that need proper support before being stated. Who said writing an encyclopedia was easy? Any historians around?--Rearticulator 18:59, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

the witness reports have been documented by established historians time and again. It's not at all dubious sources. Amoruso 19:11, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Being neither a historian nor having access to the references cited, all I can contribute is an observation of the language used in much of the entry.

"...under the leadership of Jeremiah Halpern [Jews] assembled at the Wall shouting 'the Wall is ours.'"

"...after an inflammatory sermon, a demonstration organized by the Supreme Muslim Council marched to the Wall"

The events being described in these two passages are clearly nearly equivalent. The modifiers, "leadership" as opposed to "inflammatory sermon", and "assembled" as opposed to "marched," with its marshal connotations, make the POV of the author quite obvious.

Further, re: the statement:

"133 Jews were killed and 339 wounded (mostly by Arabs); 116 Arabs were killed and 232 wounded (mostly by British-commanded police and soldiers)

It would be nearly impossible to verify this vague claim short of extensive forensics. And, the statement that

"...the leaders of the anti-Zionist community [at "Old Yishuv in Hebron"] declined... offers, [of defense by "Haganah leaders" on "August 20"]

does not imply that the Haganah was not active throughout the following week. The dead and wounded statistics above are for the accrual of the entire period and over the entire area and not just at Old Yishuv.

In fact I would find incredulous any claim that no armed Haganah soldiers were present during at the least some of these events who therefore would certainly have been responsible for a number of Muslim deaths, albeit defensively. In this way "mostly killed by" becomes obfuscative especially as no mention of the Jewish killing is made at all.

These remarks strike me as clear efforts to accentuate the martyrdom of the Jews. Zionist violence was antecedent to these events, and no doubt a similarly biased account could be prepared to accentuate the martyrdom of Muslims as an incitement.

Therefore, IMHO the entry constitutes a biased account and incidentally, I find that the presentation of such biased statements has severely undermined sympathy for and understanding of the genuine suffering many Jews have endured---Nesdon 05:26, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

I have recast this article as being about "the incident" which is related to "the massacre". --Uncle Ed 17:11, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] wrong shapira quote

Shapira doesn't say this, especially not the beginning. the whole paragraph will be rephrased anyway. and additional shapira quotes will be added. Amoruso 00:06, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Commission of Enquiry

The "Commission of Enquiry", i.e the Shaw Report paragraph should probably be shortened quite significantly. I have copied what is in the paragraph now to the main Shaw Report article, as that article was very thin. Regards, Huldra 19:02, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Hi HUldra. It can be in both with cross links. Zeq 20:42, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Well, hi there, Zeq; I think it would look much better if this part was "shrunk" a bit; now the whole article becomes unbalanced, as far too much space/detail is given to the Shaw Report. However, I do not have the Shaw Report available, so I can´t really do the job myself....hope somebody else will, though. Regards, Huldra 21:53, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

I think it should stay. This was the only official enquiry on the topic of this article, so its conclusions are noteworthy. What is here is just the main points from the conclusions section of the report. --Zero^talk 08:17, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Severely POV, immigrants seized Western Wall

The lead "In the summer of 1929, a long-running dispute between Muslims and Jews over access to the Western Wall in Jerusalem escalated" of this article is terrible, I'm flagging it. This was not about access to the Wall, it was about ownership, an attempt at violent takeover, leastways, that's what Morris says about it in Righteous Victims, p.112.

... The contention that the Jews were bent on taking over ... had long been a theme in Arab propaganda. For example, the Palestinian delegation to Mecca during the hajj, or pilgrimage, of 1922 had declared: "the Holy Places are in great danger on account of the horrible Zionist aggressions"

On September 23-24, 1928 ... the SMC complained that Jews had set up a screen to separate men and women at the Wailing Wall (or Western Wall) in Jerusalem's Old City. The screen violated the status quo principle ... Failing to persuade the Jews to take it down, the police forcibly removed it.

In 1928 the Muslims sought British confirmation of their traditional rights at the Wall, after all, they owned the Wall and the adjacent passage where the Jews worshipped.226

... Right-wing Zionists began to demand Jewish control of the Wall On August 14, 1929, some 6,000 Jews marched in Tel Aviv, chanting, "The Wall is ours"; that evening, three thousand gathered at the Wall for prayer. The following day, hundreds of Jews-some of them extremist members of Betar, carrying batons-demonstrated on the site.

Whitehall sent Sir John Hope-Simpson, a retired colonial official, to look into immigration, Jewish settlement, and land sales. "... The helplessness of the fellah appeals to the British official. The offensive assertion of the Jewish immigrant is, on the other hand, repellent:"260 On October 21, 1930, the British government issued the Passfield White Paper, seriously reducing its commitment to the Balfour Declaration. ... By early 1931 well-applied Zionist pressure in the press and lobbying by Weizmann in London bore fruit. PR^talk 15:55, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

Now what exactly about Jewish ownership of the WALL made Muslims think THEIR holy places were in danger? Was it anything any JEW said, or was it was the Mufti and other Muslims falsely claimed the Jews were going to do, that caused the Arab pogroms of 1929?Bigleaguer 23:52, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

Fortunately, Wikipedia policy is clear, we report what the sources say. They say that the owners of the Wall long feared a violent takeover of it, and after at least 7 years of threatening to do it, in 1929 an attempt was indeed made to seize it. PR^talk 22:59, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Zeq's edit on lead-up to the events

I have pasted here the following passage, which is full of grammatical errors, and contains a highly biased, single and partial version of the events leading up to the Palestinian riots. I hope this can be edited collaboratively. As written it certainly does not conform to any standards of NPOV or grammatical writing, for wiki or any other venue.

- Sequence of events

During the late 1920s the Muslims have started to interfere with Jewish access to the wall. They disturbed prayers and throw stones on worshipers in the Jewish wall plaza. Muslims leaders tried to compel the mandatory government to forbids Jews from publicly praying near the wall. After the British government failure to respond the Muslims initiated provocations such as creating noise exactly when the Jews were conducting their prayers. The Muslims created other public nuisance such as smoking on Saturday and throwing waste water on the Jews. The Mulsim have also created an opening in the wall through which they drove cattle next to the Jewish prayer area.^[1]

Meron Benvenisti gives details, also available in several other historians, of Muslim activities harassing Jews at prayer. Other historians contextualize this with Jewish provocations. To rely on Benvenisti only is to ignore the thick description of the context, with its chronology, in which the riot atmosphere developed, and thus makes the text into a Zionist account and not an up-to-date NPOV account.Nishidani (talk) 10:34, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

1. Other sources can indeed be relied upon.
2. You have brought Benvenshti as a source in the Mufti article - and over there you did not mention any problem with using him as source
3. If you want a colborative effort you will need to learn how to share with other editors not just revert their words but to propose modifications that improve text you think can be improved.
4. what you have just did amounts to vandalism: You removed text which is based on a WP:RS source and offered nothing instead or as addition. So I will wait about 24 hours, let you merge the text back with what everr you think can improve the text. I am all for colboration and improvments. Zeq (talk) 10:43, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

Nothing to do with vandalism. I provided ther RS, and you misused it. I brought it in to be discussed here, on the talk page. You have jumped at it, culled what you like, eliminated what you dislike, phrased it in sloppy English, and now ask that those who dislike the edit fix it up. I don't accept this as a correct procedure, because a large, extensive edit which is deeply problematical should not be heedlessly patched in, in the expectation that others do the hard work to make it NPOV. You and I are not the only editors in here. I have no haste, and I hope you will discuss your proposed edit here, properly, before despoiling the page with a rash, highly Zionist POV pastiche of the period. Nishidani (talk) 11:07, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

Before accusaing other editors I suggest you familiar yourself with WP:AGF. I offered my best edit - if all your ability to improve it is to revert than leave it at that. If you think you can do better I wil allow you the time to improve my edit. Zeq (talk) 12:00, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

Before accusing other editors, I suggest you simply click on the following page, the wiki article on the Western Wall (A), or consult the evidence you removed from an earlier version of the Al-Husayni page (see B). To save you time, I have clipped it in here, and we can remove it when you have studied the page, and used these wiki articles to thicken out your one-sided paragraph, and make it NPOV.

[edit] Required Wiki reading for Zeq, as per above

(A) Western Wall

British rule 1917 - 1948===

In December 1917, British forces under Edmund Allenby captured Jerusalem from the Turks. Allenby pledged "that every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, traditional site, endowment, pious bequest, or customary place of prayer of whatsoever form of the three religions will be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of those to whose faith they are sacred".

In 1919 Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann, anxious to enable Jews to access their sacred site unmolested, approached the British Military Governor of Jerusalem, Colonel Ronald Storrs, and offered between £75,000^[2] and £100,000^[3] (approx. £5m in modern terms) to purchase the area at the foot of the Wall and rehouse the occupants. Storrs was enthusiastic about the idea because he hoped some of the money would be used to improve Muslim education. Although optimistic at first, negotiations broke down after strong Muslim opposition.^[4][3] Storrs wrote two decades later:

"The acceptance of the proposals, had it been practicable, would have obviated years of wretched humiliations, including the befouling of the Wall and pavement and the unmannerly braying of the tragi-comic Arab band during Jewish prayer, and culminating in the horrible outrages of 1929"^[2]

In 1922, a status quo agreement issued by the mandatory authority forbade the placing of benches near the Wall. (The last occurrence of such a ban was in 1915, but the Ottoman decree was soon retracted after intervention of the Chacham Bashi)^[5]

In 1926 another abortive effort was made by Palestine Zionist Executive, Colonel F. H. Kisch, who envisaged buying the whole area adjacent to the Wall in order to create an open space with seats for aged worshippers to sit on.^[3] In 1928 the Zionist Organisation reported that John Chancellor, High Commissioner of Palestine, believed that the Western Wall should come under Jewish control and wondered “why no great Jewish philanthropist had not bought it yet”.^[6]

September 1928 disturbances

On 28 September, 1928, the Day of Atonement, British police forcefully removed a screen used to separate men and women at prayer. After protests from the Supreme Muslim Council, the British described the screen as violating the Ottoman status quo that forbade Jews from making any construction in the Western Wall area. In practice a flexible modus vivendi had emerged and such screens had been put up from time to time when large numbers of people gathered to pray. Jews world over objected to the British action and the Vaad Leumi demanded that the British administration expropriate the wall for the Jews.^[7] Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld issued a letter on behalf of the Edah HaChareidis and Agudas Yisroel strongly condemning the desecration of the holy site. Various communal leaders called for a general strike. A large rally was held in the Etz Chaim Yeshiva, following which an angry crowd attacked the local police station in which they believed the British officer involved in the fiasco was sheltering.^[5]

In October 1928, the Grand Mufti organised a series of provocations against the Jews who prayed at the Wall. He ordered new construction next to and above the Wall, with bricks often falling on the worshippers below. The volume of the muezzin was turned up while the Jews were praying. The Jews protested and tensions increased.^[8]

A British enquiry into the disturbances - "The Western or Wailing Wall in Jerusalem: Memorandum by the Secretary of State for the Colonies" - was published in November 1928. It emphasised the need to maintain the status quo and instructed that Jews could only bring “those accessories which had been permitted in Turkish times.” The Chief Rabbinate was asked to verify which apparatus had been permitted, but they refused to do so, arguing that Jews had the right to pray at the Wall without restrictions.^[9]

1929 Palestine riots

In the summer of 1929, the Mufti ordered an opening be made at the southern end of the alleyway which straddled the Wall. The former cul-de-sac became a thoroughfare which led from the Temple Mount into the prayer area at the Wall. Mules were herded through the narrow alley, often dropping excrement. This, together with other construction projects in the vicinity, and restricted access to the Wall, resulted in Jewish protests to the British, who remained indifferent.^[9]

On August 14, 1929, after attacks on individual Jews praying at the Wall, 6,000 Jews demonstrated in Tel Aviv, shouting “The Wall is ours.” The next day, the Jewish fast of Tisha B'Av, 300 youths raised the Zionist flag and sang the Zionist anthem at the Wall.^[7] The day after, on August 16, an organised mob of 2,000 Muslim Arabs descended on the Western Wall, injuring the beadle and burning prayer books, liturgical fixtures and notes of supplication. The rioting spread to the Jewish commercial area of town and was followed a few days later by the infamous Hebron massacre.^[10] [[Image:Wailing Wall, Palestine Post 1934.jpg|thumb|150px|A report in the Palestine Post, 21 September 1934]]

1930 commission to determine the rights of Muslims and Jews at the Wall

In 1930, in reponse to the 1929 riots, the British Government appointed a commission "to determine the rights and claims of Moslems and Jews in connection with the Western or Wailing Wall". The League of Nations approved the commission on condition that the members were not British.

The Jews requested that the Commission take the following actions:

• To give recognition to the immemorial claim that the Wailing Wall is a Holy Place for the Jews, not only for the Jews in Palestine, but also for the Jews of the whole world.
• To decree that the Jews shall have the right of access to the Wall for devotion and for prayers in accordance with their ritual without interference or interruption.
• To decree that it shall be permissible to continue the Jewish services under the conditions of decency and decorum characteristic of a sacred custom that has been carried on for many centuries without infringement upon the religious rights of others.
• To decree that the drawing up of any regulations that may be necessary as to such devotions and prayers, shall be entrusted to the Rabbinate of Palestine, who shall thus re-assume full responsibility in that matter, in discharge of which responsibility they may consult the Rabbinate of the world.
• To suggest, if the Commissioners approve of the plan, to the Mandatory Power that it should make the necessary arrangements by which the properties now occupied by the Moghrabi Waqf might be vacated, the Waqf authorities accepting in lieu of them certain new buildings to be erected upon some eligible site in Jerusalem, so that the charitable purpose, for which this Waqf was given, may still be fulfilled.

David Yellin testifying before the commission stated:

”Being judged before you today stands a nation that has been deprived of everything that is dear and sacred to it from its emergence in its own land – the graves of its patriarchs, the graves of its great kings, the graves of its holy prophets and, above all, the site of its glorious Temple. Everything has been taken from it and of all the witnesses to its sanctity, only one vestige remains – one side of a tiny portion of a wall, which, on one side, borders the place of its former Temple. In front of this bare stone wall, that nation stands under the open sky, in the heat of summer and in the rains of winter, and pours out its heart to its God in heaven.”^[9]

The Commission concluded that the wall, and the adjacent pavement and Mograbi Quarter, were solely owned by the Muslim Waqf. However, Jews had the right to "free access to the Western Wall for the purpose of devotions at all times", subject to some stipulations that limited which objects could be brought to the Wall and forbade the blowing of the shofar, which was made illegal. Muslims were forbidden to disrupt Jewish devotions by driving animals or other means.^[11] During the 1930s, at the conclusion of Yom Kippur, young Jews persistently flouted the shofar ban each year and blew the shofar resulting in their arrest and prosecution. They were usually fined or sentenced to imprisonment for three to six months.

(B) From earlier Amin Al-Husayni page, the evidence you and Armon removed included.

The Mufti's role in the 1929 Palestine riots

Al-Husayni's role in the1929 Palestine riots, including the 1929 Hebron massacre and the 1929 Safed massacre, was hotly disputed at the time. An observer on the committee investigating the riots noted that during the interview, the Mufti held a copy of the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.^[12]. The Jewish Agency charged him with responsibility for inciting the violence. The Shaw commission of enquiry by a majority acquitted the Mufti of legal responsibility for the riot. A minority opinion by Mr Snell held the Mufti as accountable, in that he was fully aware of the dangers of incitement in religious propaganda and had failed to exercise his religious authority to restrain outbreaks of violence. ^[13]. Snell's opinion was endorsed by the League of Nations's Mandatory Commission review, which was conducted later that year. ^[14].

It adduced the Mufti's memorandum, delivered to the British authorities, on October the 8th, in which the Mufti accused the Jews of wishing to take possession of the sector called Al Buraq. This accusation had been challenged in turn by the Jewish National Council in Palestine, in an open letter dated November 1928^[15]. The Mufti did not accept these official assurances, the accusation was repeated, and led to a widespread conviction in the Arab community that the Jews did indeed wish to take possession of the Mosque of Omar. The Mandates Commission concluded that al-Husayni’s accusations had exacerbated Arab hostilities.

Later historians such as Benny Morris, Christopher Sykes, Joseph Schechtman, Yehuda Benari and Walter Laqueur, in reviewing the evidence, have given a more nuanced account. Sykes argued that the withdrawal by Jewish authorities of what turned out to be groundless charges that the British themselves were complicit with the riots may have induced the Shaw Commission thereafter to ignore strong evidence on the other hand that pointed to Zionist incitement as a factor in the riots ^[16] Morris argues that by 1929 the Arabs realized that the Yishuv's growth, abetted by Mandate policies, would turn them into a minority in their own land.' Internal clan politics weakened a united opposition, and the ascendancy of the Nashashibis, in part spurred al-Hussayn's campaign against the Jews, and the violence that resulted from it.

'By exploiting religious passions, he hoped to sway the Muslim masses to back his camp.'^[17]

.

As early as 1922, the Palestinian delegation to Mecca had declared that: 'the Holy Places are in great danger on account of the horrible Zionist aggressions', and the theme reflected a long tradition in Arab propaganda. On Yom Kippur 1925, Jewish worshippers had set up benches before the wall, subsequently dismantled by the police after Arab protests. On September 23-24, 1928, the Supreme Muslim Council complained of a screen fastened to the pavement on Yom Kippur to separate Jewish men and women in orthodox worship. The acts interrupted the Ottoman status quo that had prevailed down until that time. Unable to have it dismantled by persuasion, the Mandatory constabulary removed it by force. As part of the Muslim attempt to have their traditional rights at the Wall confirmed, Husayni reacted to what he took to be provocations by, in turn, engaging in building new structures, and in reviving old and noisy Islamic rituals above the wall. The builders' methods disturbed Jews at prayer below. Husayni opened a long-shut gate that opened into the alley where Jewish worshippers prayed, to allow donkeys to pass.^[18] The English failed to intervene, and Zionists transformed the dispute into one of national honour. There was in fact increasing pressure from 'Right-wing Zionists' to take control of the Wall. As Laqueur notes, the Revisionist newspaper Doar Hayom had begun ‘to agitate the Jews for a fight against the Mufti' over the property, claiming on its pages that, ‘the wall is ours’. ^[19]. On August 14th, 1929 some 6,000 Jews marched in Tel Aviv, chanting The Wall is ours, and prayers by half that number were made at the Wall that night.^[20] A predominantly Betar demonstration followed the next day, with several hundred youths, some with weapons and explosives, marched to the wall, and a detachment with knives and sticks on hand raised the blue-white flag and sang the Zionist anthem at the wall. ^[21]and heated rumours raced round the Arab community to the effect that the haram itself was in danger. Al Hussayni's activists stoked the flames enjoining them to attack Jews and defend the holy sites. Official Jewish assurances that they had no claims to the Wall were to no avail. In the escalating tensions, with the parts of the Arab community inflamed by rumours that the Jews did indeed wish to take possession of the Mosque of Omar, the notorious massacres took place. The force and violence of these disturbances shook Britain's commitment to the Balfour Declaration. Jabotinsky had been out of the country at the time, but his Beterim demonstrations and inflammatory articles in Doar Hayom were, at the time, blamed for provoking the Muslim outrages. On his return he wrote that the rally 'had been a useful and a fine thing', insisting that,

'It is the main thing in all strategy to force the enemy to attack before he is ready. A year later it would have been infinitely worse.'^[22]

.

The British seized the opportunity of his departure from Palestine in December 25 of that year by barring his return.^[23]

By early 1931, however, Zionist pressure in the press and lobbying by Chaim Weizmann in London had rescued the status quo ante. ^[24]

Nishadani, Can you sign your comments please ? thank you. Also I afil to understand the relvancy of the hugh amount of material you have just entered so I'll just repeat what I wrote to you before:

• "revert" is not a normal form of editing. If you think the text i adde needs improvment - please do so using sources. If you don't want to add anything I will not accpet your deletion of WP:RS as it is since it is bordering vandalism. I am willing to wait - either build on my text in colborative way or restore the sourced text you have removed. Zeq (talk) 14:28, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

Your text was too bad to do anything other than revert. Before editing please read up on the subject using all sources. Stop repeating yourself. Could I prevail on you to post less, and read more. As it is I am being forced to waste too much time cleaning up errors no responsible or self-respecting editor would commit. This is my last word, since I think I have already spent far too much time on this, and have not yet seen evidence you actually read what you reply to. From now on, I will simply edit, on occasion, as I think appropriate, and limit my explanations to the edit summary. Best wishes.Nishidani (talk) 15:02, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

• Ithink you again make the mistake of trying to teach other how to edit. Thank you I don't get into this discussion. I invite you to edit amd improve my edit if you think it had a problem. Zeq (talk) 17:01, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

Addendum: 'Zeq '- either build on my text in colborative way or restore the sourced text you have removed.'

I.e. Zeq orders me, gives another editor, two alternatives (1) build on his deeply flawed text, or (b) restore the text he inserted. Catch-22. Heads Zeq wins, Tails you lose.

I doubt any further evidence is required to prove what editors have complained about over the last two years, Zeq's abuse of WP:OWN.Nishidani (talk) 15:09, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

It is a very hard streach Nashidani to claim that I own this or any article in Wikipedia. In any case the "catch-22" situation is something you have created by reverting. Wikipedia is a colborative effort. You either make use of what other editors have started or you at least avoid deleting a prefectly sourced good faith edit .

The options you have are indeed clear: If you think my edit is incomplete - please make it better. If you can not make it better - please restore it as it was a sourced good faith edit.

Clearly this propsal is reasonable and show nothing about "ownership".Zeq (talk) 16:57, 30 January 2008 (UTC)