Palestine: A Modern History (ص 66)

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عنوان

Palestine: A Modern History (ص 66)

المحتوى

138 = The Lull: 1923-1929
Renewed Zionist Initiative
Before the end of 1928 there were, indications that. the, period of
political stagnation was giving way to renewed Zionist initiative. and
correspondingly renewed Palestinian Arab agitation and coynter-
measures. The Zionist Organisation pressed for a loan of two million
sterling to be raised under the auspices of the League and guaranteed by
HM Government, for more State lands to be given to Jewish colonisation
and agricultural bodies. and concluded a pact with non-Zionist Jewish
Organisations in America which aimed at raising funds and supporting
the building of the Jewish National Home in Palestine.*!
Even as early as April 1928, the Chief. Secretary, sounded, a well-
timed note of caution in :a memorandum to Lord Plumer on the
necessity of instituting a Legislative Council containing popular
representatives in spite of Jewish opposition. The memorandum warned
of the political influence of the ‘Intelligentsia’ and their desire for
popular representation.in the Government-which was prompted, apart
from motives of personal interest:
by a sense of Nationalypreservation. Their fear is that our system.of
administration and our laws«may create general conditions prejudicial
to what they conceive to, be their political rights and material
advantage. This fear is the ,chigf ingredient in the quasi-Nationalist
sentiment which is common to Palestinian Arabs as to other Oriental
peoples at the present time and which fan be quickened into popular
agitation by any disaffected minority .°?
Wailing Wall or Buraq?
The issue of political representation and the economic grievances of the
Arabs constituted the, underlying factors of renewed tension and Arab-
Jewish, animosity,-on the eve of the fateful year of 1929, 3 Yet, it was a
religious issue, that,of the Buraq or Wailing Wall, that triggered off the
disturbances of 1929.
An incident which occured in Jerusalem on 24 September 1928, the
Jewish Day of Atonement, proved to be the starting | point of a series of
events which culminated in the first and only feligious clash in August
41929. '
The incjdent was triggered by a Jewish attempt to introduce screens
to divide the men from the women worshippers while praying before
the Wailing Wall, a Holy Muslim property, which constituted the
Western face of the platform of the Haram-ash-Sarif. 34 In accordance
with their duty to maintain the status quo the Government ordered the
The Lull: 1923-1929 139
removal Of the screen,-and when the order was not complied -with the
screen was forcibly removed by the police.
; A widespread campaign of protest against Jewish intentions and
designs to take possession of the Al-Aqsa Mosque swept, Palestine. A
‘Society for the Protection of thé Muslim Holy Places’ was established,
and secret messages were despatched to the Muslims of India. In the
course Of the following months -Muslim building operations in’ the
neighbourhood of the Wali were instituted which the Jews believed to
be intended ,to interfere with their devotions. ‘An attempt by the
Government to settle the various questions in dispute by mutual agree-
ment between the two communities were baffled as much as Jewish
reluctancé as by, Arab’.*5 ,
An examination of the respective attitudes of the parties involved in
the dispute — Arabs, Zionists and the Government reveals that the
various leaderships availed themselves of the opportunities provided by
the turn of events. ‘
To begin with’ the Government stood to profit from the diversion of
an increasingly anti-Government oriented Palestinian Arab nationalist
movement to an anti-Jewish Muslim movement. As for the Zionists the
incident of 24 September 1928, came at a critical moment when
Weizmann was touring America trying to stir enthusiasm and elicit
funds for the stagnant fortungs of the JNH in Palestine. It is not
unlikely thatthe incident helped-bring about a partnership between the
Zionists and the non-Zionists in the United States during the latter part
of 1928. Writing to Shuckburgh from New York on the lucrative new
partnership Weizmann stated that the incident at the Wailing Wall ‘has
stirred the feelings of the Jewish, Communjty throughout this
country’.*© A religious conflict in Palestine could be used as a major
propaganda weapon for a successful money-raising campaign. Jewish
apathy in the Diaspora was among Zionism’s greatest enemies and the
Wailing Wall dispute was guaranteed to overcome lack of interest and
funds.,
The Peel Commission observed that until 1929, the
. highly incendiary element of religion had had little to do with the
growth of Arab antagonism to the National Home. In Palestine, as
elsewhere in the Moslem woyld, nationalism had been more political
than religious. But, if the religious cry raised, if it were widely and
genuinely believed that the coming of the Jews to the country would
mean not merely their economic and political ascendancy but also
the full re-establishment of ancient Judaism, the invasion and

هو جزء من

Palestine: A Modern History

تاريخ

1978

المنشئ

Abdul-Wahhab Kayyali

مجموعات العناصر

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