The Jaffa Riots & The Haycraft Commission:

Jaffa Riots – Occurred between 1st and 7th May 1921

CarolC's Version:
The riots started when two different Jewish groups, one Socialist, and one Communist who were demonstrating, started fighting with each other. Arab Muslims and Christians started helping the police to break up the fights.

What actually did happen:
On the night before 1 May 1921, the Jewish Communist Party (precursor of the Palestine Communist Party) distributed Arabic and Yiddish fliers calling for the toppling of British rule and the establishing a "Soviet Union of Palestine". The party announced its intention to parade from Jaffa to neighbouring Tel Aviv to commemorate May Day.

On the morning of the parade, despite a warning to the 60 members present from one of Jaffa's most senior police officers, Toufiq Bey al-Said, who visited the party's headquarters, the march headed from Jaffa to Tel Aviv through the mixed Jewish-Arab border neighbourhood of Menashia.

Another large May Day parade had also been organised for Tel Aviv by the rival socialist Labour Unity group, with official authorisation. When the two processions met, a fistfight erupted, and the Palestine police chased the communists back to Jaffa.

Please note the following:

1.        At this point, i.e. fist fight finished and illegal protesters chased back to Jaffa, there has not been any riot, and nobody has been killed.

2.        No Arab Muslims or Christians have been involved, unless of course they were members of the Palestine Police Force.

CarolC's Version:
Arabs in other areas misinterpreted what was going on and they jumped in thinking that Arabs were being attacked,"

What actually did happen:
Hearing of the fighting and believing that Arabs were being attacked, the Arabs of Jaffa went on the offensive. Dozens of British, Arab, and Jewish witnesses all reported that Arab men bearing clubs, knives, swords, and some pistols broke into Jewish buildings and murdered their inhabitants, while women followed to loot. They attacked Jewish pedestrians and destroyed Jewish homes and stores. They beat and killed Jews in their homes, including children, and in some cases split open the victims' skulls.

At 1:00 pm, an immigrant hostel run by the Zionist Commission and home to a hundred people who had arrived in recent weeks and days was attacked by the mob, and though the residents tried to barricade the gate, it was rammed open and Arabs attackers poured in. The stone-throwing was followed by bombs and gunfire, and the Jewish hostel residents hid in various rooms. When the police arrived, it was reported that they weren't shooting to disperse the crowd, but were actually aiming at the building. In the courtyard one immigrant was felled by a policeman's bullet at short-range, and others were stabbed and beaten with sticks. Five women fled a policeman firing his pistol; three escaped. A policeman cornered two women and tried to rape them, but they escaped. A fourteen-year old girl and some men managed to escape the building, but each was in turn chased down and beaten to death with iron rods or wooden boards.

As in the previous year's Nabi Musa riots, the mob tore open their victims' quilts and pillows, just like in the Russian pogroms, sending up clouds of feathers. Some Arabs defended Jews and offered them refuge in their homes; many witnesses identified their attackers and murderers as their neighbours. Several witnesses said that Arab policemen had participated.

Please Note the following:

1.        Without any doubt whatsoever you now have a full blown "Riot". You now have blood on the streets, people dead and injured, property looted and destroyed. This only occured after the Arabs decided to wade in without any justification whatsoever. – Not Before.

2.        Any explanation offered as to why there should be any misinterpretation? Could someone possibly of "local" significance have replied, "The Jews are fighting", to the question, "Eh what's up Doc?" Instead of replying more correctly that, "The Jews have been fighting amongst themselves".

3.        Undoubtedly somebody caused people (Arabs) remote from events to believe that Jews were attacking Arabs and that CarolC is what caused the Riot, not Jews fighting each other earlier in the day.

CarolC's Version:
"the Haycroft Commission of Inquiry Report into the Jaffa riots stated that the argument made by some Jews that the cause of the riots was propaganda spread by Arab leaders was not what happened.

The report outlined the causes as being discontent with the government in part due to its policy on the Jewish national home, partly to Arab misunderstandings about the policy, and partly because of the manner in which that policy was interpreted 'by some of its advocates outside the government'. It further reported that there was 'no evidence worth considering' that the Jaffa riots were planned"

What the Haycraft Commission actually did say about the Jaffa Riots:
"The investigative commission headed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in Palestine, Sir Thomas Haycraft submitted its report and confirmed the participation of Arab policemen in the riots and found the actions taken by the authorities adequate. The report angered both Jews and Arabs: it placed the blame on the Arabs, but said that "Zionists were not doing enough to mitigate the Arabs' apprehensions".
Highlights from the report include:

•        "The racial strife was begun by the Arabs, and rapidly developed into a conflict of great violence between Arabs and Jews, in which the Arab majority, who were generally the aggressors, inflicted most of the casualties."

•        "A large part of the Moslem and Christian communities condoned it [the riots], although they did not encourage violence. While certain of the educated Arabs appear to have incited the mob, the notables on both sides, whatever their feelings may have been, aided the authorities to allay the trouble."

•        "The [Arab] police were, with few exceptions, half-trained and inefficient, in many cases indifferent, and in some cases leaders or participators in violence."

•        "The raids on five Jewish agricultural colonies arose from the excitement produced in the minds of the Arabs by reports of Arabs being killed by Jews in Jaffa. In two cases unfounded stories of provocation were believed and acted upon without any effort being made to verify them."

In a speech in June 1921, High Commissioner Herbert Samuel stressed Britain's commitment to the second part of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, declared that Jewish immigration would be allowed only to the extent that it did not burden the economy. In line with this interpretation, Jewish immigration was suspended. This was also done to appease Musa Kazim al-Husseini, who had been dismissed as Jerusalem's mayor on account of his involvement in the previous year's Nebi Musa riots. Those who heard the speech had the impression that he was trying to appease the Arabs at the Jews' expense, and some Jewish leaders boycotted him for a time. The High Commissioner Sir Herbert Samuel was a great appeaser as was shown later in the 1930's.

Britain's policy and obligation regarding its League of Nations Mandate to re-establish Jewish National Home in Palestine changed to "fixing by the numbers and interests of the present population" the future Jewish immigration. Thus a popular contemporary criticism was that Samuel had revised the Balfour Declaration and Mandate from establishing the Jewish National Home into creating an Arab National Home.

New bloody riots broke out in Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem on November 2, 1921, when five Jewish residents and three of their Arab attackers were killed, which led to calls for the resignation of the city's commissioner, Ronald Storrs.

The "Riots" in May 1921 were not just restricted to Jaffa, fighting went on for several days and spread to nearby Rehovot, Kfar Saba, Petah Tikva, and Hadera.

Let's take a look at those four villages CarolC:

Rehovot:
Rehovot was built on the site of Doron, a Jewish community that existed in the time of the Mishna. The site was also the location of Khirbet Duran, populated during the Roman, Byzantine and early Arab periods. It was founded in 1890 by Polish Jews who wanted a township independent of the Baron Edmond de Rothschild's aid (and management). Israel Belkind, one of the original founders of the settlement, proposed the name Rehovot (lit. 'wide expanses') based on Genesis 26:22 : "And he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said: 'For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.'" The name was accepted. In 1906 they were joined by immigrants from Yemen.

These early settlers worked hard to make Rehovot the prosperous town it is today. They planted vineyards, almond orchards and citrus groves. Rehovot has become one of Israel's main citrus centers, especially since nearby Ashdod opened its port in 1965. They withstood agricultural failures, plant diseases, and marketing problems.

So land purchased perfectly legally by Jews in 1890. No-one was displaced as a result of this purchase, no other person, or group had any claim whatsoever to this land. So perhaps CarolC can tell us why these people were attacked? In 1890 they had every right to be there, in 1906 they still had every right to be there, ergo in 1921 they still had everyright to be there. Then all attacks against them were unwarranted acts of terrorism designed to do what CarolC? Also please tell us why you seem to approve of those acts?


Kfar Saba:
The land on which the city of Kfar Saba is now located was bought in 1892 by a group of Jewish Zionist settlers, who then offered it for sale to individuals. The acquisition turned out to be unsuccessful, as the land was located in a desolate, neglected area far from any other Jewish settlement. The land was finally purchased in 1896 by Baron Edmond James de Rothschild. In 1903, the Baron sold the land to the farmers of Petah Tikva to be populated by the 2nd generation - the immediate descendants of the farmers. However, they in turn sold the land to others, mostly new immigrants.

The Ottoman government refused to give building permits, therefore the first settlers were forced to live in huts made of clay and straw. They earned their living by growing almonds, grapes and olives. Only in 1912 the settlers moved to permanent housing.

Bought in 1892 eh CarolC, legal transaction, the land desolate and neglected – unwanted, except by some Jewish settlers who were prepared to pay for it and to work it. By 1921, the case had altered a tad hadn't it CarolC? No longer was the land desolate and neglected, it now produced useful crops of almonds, grapes and olives. Now CarolC could that possibly have anything to do with why the Palestinian Arabs wanted the Jews off that land in 1921? – Naw, couldn't possibly could it? – Not bloody much.

Petah Tikva:
Petah Tikva was founded in 1878 by religious pioneers from Jerusalem, who were led by Yehoshua Stampfer, Yoel-Moshe Salomon, Zerach Barnett and David Gutmann as well as Lithuanian Rabbi Aryeh Leib Frumkin. It was the first modern Jewish agricultural settlement in Ottoman Palestine and has since grown to become one of Israel's most populous urban centres.

Originally intending to establish a new settlement in the Achor Valley, near Jericho, the pioneers purchased land in that area. However, the Turkish Sultan cancelled the purchase and forbade them from settling there, but they retained the name Petah Tikva as a symbol of their aspirations.

Undaunted, the settlers purchased a modest area (3.40 square kilometers) from the village of Mulabbis (variants: Mlabbes, Um-Labbes), near the source of the Yarkon River. The Sultan allowed the enterprise to proceed, but because their purchase was located in what was a malarial swamp, they had to evacuate when the malaria spread, founding the town of Yehud near the Arabic village Yehudiyya about 20 kilometers to the south. With the financial help of Baron Edmond de Rothschild they were able to drain the swamps sufficiently to be able to move back in 1883, joined by immigrants of the First Aliyah, and later the Second Aliyah.

Oh dear CarolC, here we have the first modern Jewish agricultural settlement in Ottoman Palestine, not ripped from the hands of struggling Arab peasants but purchased perfectly legally in 1878. They were sold a malarial swamp in 1878, by 1937 it was a city, so I dare say by 1921 there had been some improvements that caused the Arabs to cast envious eyes in its direction.

Hadera:
Hadera was founded in 1891, at the dawn of modern Zionism by Eastern European immigrants who were members of the Zionist group Hovevei Zion on land purchased by Yehoshua Hankin, who was known as the Redeemer of the Valley. The town derives its name from the Arabic word khadra, meaning "green" in reference to the wild weeds which covered the marshes on which the town is built. The first settlers of the town were decimated by nearby malaria-breeding swamps as the city's cemetery bears witness. Initially, Hadera was a lonely outpost of just 10 families and 4 guards but with time others followed and the city has now grown to over 75,000 inhabitants.

Hadera, considered a relatively safe place by its citizens, was jolted by several acts of terrorism over the course of a few years, including a suicide bomber who blew himself up at a falafel stand on October 26, 2005, killing five civilians. However, since the construction of the nearby West Bank barrier, the frequency of such incidents has dropped dramatically. On August 4, 2006, three rockets fired by Hezbollah hit Hadera. Hadera is 50 miles (80 km) south of the Lebanese border and marked the farthest point inside Israel that the terrorist organization hit.

Yet another malarial swamp purchased by Jewish settlers CarolC. No Arab ever gave the place a second look before 1891, maybe on account of the rather unhealthy swamp and all those green "wild weeds". Bit different of course by 1921.

Apparently CarolC there are 42 schools and 15,622 students in the city. They are spread out as 24 elementary schools and 7,933 elementary school students, and 21 high schools and 7,689 high school students.

In 1987 Israel's first Democratic school was started in Hadera, tell me CarolC how many "Democratic Schools" have Hamas and Hezbollah set up in their respective areas? For that matter how many "Democratic Schools" exist in the whole of Iran?

Perhaps it was this school that Hezbollah was attempting to hit on 4th August 2006 eh CarolC? One thing is for certain you would never have uttered one bloody syllable in condemnation of the act if they had succeeded.