Political report of the Executive of the Jewish Agency submitted to the ... Zionist Congress and the ... session of the Council of the Jewish Agency · 1937-08-01 · 8.1937 · p. Seite 20

20 But at a hold-up which occurred near Tulkarm on the night of April 15th three Jews were separated from a group of passengers and shot because they were Jews. That outrage charged the atmosphere with grave apprehensions. On Sunday morning, April 19th, while the Executive of the Jewish Agency was holding its regular weekly meeting, the first news arrived of Jews being murdered in the streets of Jaffa by infuriated Arab mobs. 22. The disturbances which broke out on April 19th exceeded in their scope, duration and gravity all previous waves of anti- Jewish rioting in Palestine. They constituted a three-fold threat, In the first place, they faced the Jewish population throughout the country with the physical dangers of death and destruction. From April 1936 to March 1937, 93 Jews were killed and over 400 wounded, while actual damage to Jewish property amounted to some LP.250,000. Secondly — and this was an entirely novel feature — in so far as the disturbances were backed by a countrywide strike and a widespread organisation of sabotage, their aim was to paralyse the economic life of the country and, in particular, to starve the Jewish population. In the third instance, they were the most determined attempt ever made to force by violence the hands of the British Government into abandoning the entire policy of the Jewish National Home: the three demands of those responsible for the disorders were the complete stoppage of Jewish immigration, the prohibition of all land purchase by Jews and the establishment of an Arab national government. 23. The emergency situation itself, which persisted for six months and was followed by an aftermath of sporadic violence on a smaller scale, taxed the energies of the Political Department to the utmost. The political activities of the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem could clearly not be limited to ensuring the protection of life and property and the maintenance of the essential functions of economic life. The unprecedented situation created new political problems, and new dangers seemed daily to threaten the political positions and the whole future of the Jewish National Home. On the other hand, the crisis produced new opportunities of consolidation and progress, compensating and outweighing the losses sustained. It would clearly be impossible to compress into the framework of this report a full narrative of the events and trials, failures and achievements, of those six months