85 years since the Hebron massacre

 It is 85 years ago this month since the 1929 Hebron massacre. This massacre claimed 67 Jewish lives – 133 Jews were killed across Palestine. It preceded ‘occupation’, the establishment of Israel, ‘Palestinian’ claims, and marks the abandonment, on British advice, of Jewish communities on the ‘West Bank’, parts of Jerusalem and Gaza. I am re-posting this blog from the 80th anniversary.

Wrecked synagogues and Jewish homes, stained with the blood of 67
Jews. Such was the scene on this day in 1929 when a mob rampaged through
the ancient Jewish community of Hebron. Here are some rarely-seen
photos of the destruction from the Picture-a-day American Colony
collection. The leaders of the Hebron Jewish community have admitted
not having seen them before.

On Yom Kippur 1928, Jews
brought chairs and screens to prayers at the Western Wall. This
purported change of the status quo was exploited by the Mufti, Haj Amin
el Husseini, to launch a jihad against the Jews.Husseini’s campaign continued and escalated after a Jewish demonstration at the Kotel on Tisha B’Av in August 1929.Rumors spread that Jews had attacked Jerusalem mosques and massacred Muslims.The fuse was lit for a major explosion. 

Starting
on Friday, August 23, 1929 and lasting for a week, attacks by enraged
Arab mobs were launched against Jews in the Old City in Jerusalem, in
Jerusalem suburbs Sanhedria, Motza, Bayit Vegan, Ramat Rachel, in
outlying Jewish communities, and in the Galilee town of Tzfat.Small
Jewish communities in Gaza, Ramla, Jenin, and Nablus had to be
abandoned.The attack in Hebron became a frenzied pogrom
with the Arab mob stabbing, axing, decapitating and disemboweling 67
men, women and children.At
least 133 Jews were killed across Palestine. In 1931, there was a
short-lived attempt to reestablish the Jewish community in Hebron, but
within a few years it was abandoned until the Israel Defense Forces
recaptured Hebron in 1967.

The British indulged the Arabs and responded by limiting Jewish immigration and land purchases.

See post in full



Synagogue desecrated Large common grave of Jewish victims. Later the grave was destroyed   Jewish home plundered   Today in Hebron: A recent Jewish service in the rebuilt Avraham Avinu Synagogue (with permission of photographer)  

Scars of a  Hebron  survivor (Haaretz)

Lessons for coexistence of the Hebron massacre (This post has been updated to take account of errors in the original source article.)