102 years ago: this is how the confrontation on the Western Wall between Muslims and Jews began

The week of Passover 1920 is probably the watershed in the confiscation of hegemony at the two religious sites.

Following a claim for a change in the status quo on the Temple Mount, the Muslims made a severe pogrom against the Jews of the Old City.

Eight years later, propaganda began to spread that "Jews are plotting to take over the Al-Aqsa Mosque."

Eli Ashkenazi

22/04/2022

Friday, 22 April 2022, 20:30 Updated: 21:41

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"For three days there was in Jerusalem the same terrible thing that was unparalleled and which was unthinkable even during the Turkish rule, even the most difficult. A pogrom against Jews in the streets of Jerusalem lasted three days," the Haaretz newspaper wrote following the difficult events on Passover. "P, early April 1920.

The Passover holiday 102 years ago is probably the watershed in the conflict between the Zionist movement and the Islamic movement over the hegemony over the Western Wall and the Temple Mount. Wounded, several women raped and much property stolen or injured. "The Jews were beaten while praying standing in front of the Western Wall.

"The streets of Jerusalem were reddened with Jewish blood, there were cases of rape of Israeli women, our Torah scrolls were torn to pieces," Haaretz wrote.

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"The pogrom against Jews lasted three days."

Haaretz 1920 (Photo: Official Website, Jewish Historical Press (National Library and Tel Aviv University))

Following the violent incidents that took place this week on the Temple Mount, there is concern that they may slide into more severe violence.

In the last century the place has become the heart of a passionate conflict.

According to a study published in the journal Ariel, the Western Wall in its current location became a holy site for Jews in the 16th century.

Towards the end of the 19th century, struggles for control between Jews and Muslims began to develop around the site, and only at the beginning of the 20th century, when each side sought to strengthen its hold on the site, did the Muslim tradition begin to strengthen.

According to it, the Prophet Muhammad linked to the Western Wall al-Burak, the miraculous horse-like beast with which he took off into the sky.

As the national movements of the two peoples became dominant and tensions arose between them, the conflict around the Western Wall became more and more difficult and passionate.

As mentioned, as early as Passover 1920, the conflict escalated into violence when, on the first day of the week, Arabs attacked the residents of the Jewish Quarter in the Old City.

Disruptions began when the Muslim procession from the Nabi Musa celebrations in the Judean Desert, about 20 km from Jerusalem, returned to the city.

As the Haaretz newspaper described it at the time, the riots continued for three consecutive days.

Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, later the second president of the state, who lived in Jerusalem, wrote at the time: "All of Jerusalem is under siege, from 6:00 PM it is no longer possible to leave. I write in our house, in the Arab neighborhood, and there is no connection with the other neighborhoods. "Evidence of a real pogrom in Jerusalem. We have not had a pogrom like this during the centuries of Turkish rule."

"The worst of all is the attitude of the local authority to the whole matter. All our doubts must have been made for us," Ben-Zvi continued.

"The local English administration knew of all the preparations for the massacre, and not only did not interfere with it, but did everything in its power to adopt the hands of the robbers and murderers and on the other hand took all means to interfere with the Jewish defense and ban its members. "And even mentioned the name Pogrom in the telegram."

"Riots among the Jews of Jerusalem."

"Hadar Hayom" 1920 (Photo: Official Website, National Library)

Disruptions in Jerusalem, as well as the battle of Tel Hai, a month earlier, were a catalyst for the establishment of the Haganah organization.

Following them, two of the most prominent leaders of the Arab public fled to Damascus - Araf al-Araf and

, who became a symbol of resistance to the British and Jews.

Eliyahu Sasson, a 20-year-old from the Jewish community in Damascus, and who in his youth received a prestigious education along with those who became leaders of the Syrian national movement, recognized the danger that might develop from al-Husseini, the new resident of the city.

Husseini engaged in anti-Zionist propaganda and the formation of Palestinian national circles.

Sasson understood the dangerous significance of this organization, and so did Joseph Joel Rivlin, the father of Tenth President Reuven Rivlin.

Rivlin lived in Damascus in those years and served there as the principal of the Hebrew School for Girls.

Dr. Yaron Ran, who has written two books on Eliyahu Sasson, said that "Rivlin was the first to warn the leaders of the Zionist movement about the formation of a Palestinian national nucleus led by al-Husseini, Araf al-Araf and others.

He provided intelligence on the intention to assassinate Herbert Samuel and other individuals, but Zionist leaders Menachem Ussishkin and David Eder disregarded his warnings and warnings. " Dig him and poison and poison dripped under his priestly robe. "

Eight years passed before the Western Wall area was once again the focus of violent events - this happened on Yom Kippur in 1928. The Jewish worshipers set up a temporary cloth partition in the Western Wall plaza, to separate men and women on the holy day.

The Muslims saw this as a violation of the status quo in the place and called on the British police.

British policemen who arrived at the scene severely beat the Jewish worshipers.

"Without any warning or notice, they began to destroy the partition. A terrible panic arose. The praying women hung on the partition frame and the English 'gentlemen' hit them with fists and sticks and the wooden frame part of the partition that broke on them. "Pillows and cycles and hats filled the Western Wall plaza," the newspaper "Davar" wrote.

The tragic event shocked the Jewish community in the Land of Israel.

The British, for their part, examined the case and published conclusions called the "White Paper of the Western Wall," which contained various prohibitions on violating the status quo by Jewish worshipers.

Tensions deepened, and two months later Davar warned that "new actions are being taken by the Supreme Muslim Council near the Western Wall that are a marked violation of the current situation in which the government advocates Jerusalem and London."

One sign of this, according to the report, was that "a muezzin began to call the Muslims to prayer three times a day - in the way they read from the minarets of the mosques - above."

It is also written that this was done from "the roof of the house which is at the other end of the extension, where on Shabbat and holidays the ark stands."

Clashes near al-Aqsa Mosque last year (Photo: Reuters)

The events of the Western Wall in 1928 came after a systematic propaganda campaign by Amin al-Husseini, claiming that the Jews were plotting to take over the holy sites.

Added to the national struggle was a religious dimension in the heart of which Al-Husseini claimed that the Jews' plot was to take over the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Since then, the claim that "al-Aqsa is in danger" has become a source of arson.

In his articles, Eliyahu Sasson attacked what he called "false words that are the root of evil and a source of hatred between Jews and Arabs in Palestine."

Sasson and al-Husseini did not stop confronting and had a sharp debate, during which Sasson quoted from the Koran, but the Mufti repeatedly said that there was no room for dialogue or compromise around the Western Wall.

After the Western Wall riot of 1928, the two even met for the first time.

Sasson asked if there was no room for direct talks between Arabs and Jews, and received a chilling answer: "Only the sword will decide between us and the Zionists."

Towards Yom Kippur the following year, tensions were already high, as early as Tisha B'Av the situation began to escalate: members of the Betar movement held a procession to the Western Wall to demonstrate the right of Jews to pray there. A day later, a young Jew named Avraham Mizrahi was stabbed in a brawl that broke out between Jews and Arabs and three days later died of his wounds. Two more days passed and the conflict reached an even deeper low. 1909.

Following the bloody week, the Western Wall Committee was established and its deliberations were given the name "Western Wall Trial" in the Hebrew press.

The report was submitted in June 1931 and its conclusions violated the rights of the Jews at the Western Wall and imposed various restrictions on them.

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