By Lloyd Levy
LONDON, England — A century has passed and nothing has changed. It is a depressing thought that nothing seems to have changed in the last hundred years in regard to Arab/Jewish relations in Israel/Palestine.
Almost exactly 100 years ago the Holy Land was riven by a series of Arab riots aimed at the Jewish population. 101 years ago, in April 1920, rioting broke out against the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem, in which five Jews were killed and 211 wounded. This then spread to Jaffa and other mixed towns on May 1st , in which many more Jews were killed.
However the most serious rioting was in 1929. As in the current situation, access to the Wailing Wall and Al Aqsa Mosque was the spark that helped stoke the troubles. On Yom Kippur 1928, Jewish groups erected a screen in the alley way in front of the Western Wall, in order to divide men and women worshippers. This screen blocked the path way, but most of all was regarded as a provocation by the Arabs and as a potential threat to the Mosque above. ( Attached is a photograph that the author took of the Wall in 1967, soon after the Six Day War. Note what a tight space there was in front of the Wall at that time.)
Tensions increased until August 1929, when a march was organized by Jewish right wing groups to the Wall. On Friday 23 August, after prayers, the Arab population rioted across the country. 64 Jews were murdered in Hebron, and others in Safad.
The British Police (Palestine was British Mandated territory) came in for a lot of criticism from the Jewish community for not saving the Jews, but in truth the Police were overwhelmed. The situation now, 100 years later is almost identical. The recent Jerusalem Day march to the Wall, by right wing Jewish groups was a major factor again in sparking the crisis. The Israeli Police are like the British Police before them, finding it very difficult to control the situation.
It is interesting to note that in 1929, the Jews established a “Committee for the defence of the Wall”. Remarkably, the current Israeli action against Gaza is also called “Guardian of the Walls.” Is that a coincidence, or a deliberate reminder of 100 years ago ?
It is said that History doesn’t repeat itself, but unfortunately in Israel , events do appear to repeat themselves in a “groundhog day” manner. The awful similarities 100 years apart are apparent and bode ill for attempts at reconciliation in the future.
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Lloyd Levy is a London-based freelance writer who previously owned a business in Israel. He may be contacted via lloyd.levy@sdjewishworld.com