On the fifth day of the Arab merciless attacks on the Jewish population in Palestine urban and agricultural centers, evidence is accumulating that the attack was well planned in advance.
In all authorative Jewish quarters beginning with the official Zionist spokesmen and ending with the man in the street, the view is held and expressed that the Moslems’ attack was the direct result and product of the British administration’s policy. The Palestine administration was inclined to pay too much attention to the presumed Moslem susceptibilities, on the authority of one highly reactionary leader, namely, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohamed Amin El Hussini. On the other hand the government again and again failed to take into consideration the susceptibilities of the Jews.
ATTEMPTS TO HOLD BALANCE BLAMED
Amidst the greatest tragedy which has befallen Palestine in recent years the view is expressed that if the previous policy is persisted in it is to be feared that the sacrifice of men of all creeds will have no end. They are victims of the conflicts growing out of the disastrous attempts at holding the balance between presumably opposing claims, but which invariably result in the cruellest injustice to Jews.
PALESTINE JEWS WILL NOT ALLOW INTIMIDATION
The scores of heroic Jews who fell defending the honor and tradition of their race will have died in vain and the misguided Moslems who were incited to murder and plunder will also have died vainly. Peace in Palestine cannot be had by an attempt to intimidate and terrorize the Jews, was the statement of a leading authority to the correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency here.
"The Jews who made Palestine their home live unafraid of pogroms. Experience taught them the art of self-defense. The attempts at pogroms in Jerusalem in 1920 and in Jaffa and other parts of Palestine in 1921 were miscarried because if there is one spot in the world where Jews will not allow themselves to be pogromized, with or without the tacit consent of the authorities, it is Palestine, where the British government has solemnly pledged its best endeavors toward the establishment of the Jewish National Home.
CONSTERNATION SET IN WHEN PALESTINE GOVERNMENT TOOK MOSLEMS SIDE
"Consternation among the Jews of Palestine became greatest," the Jewish leader continued, "when the British law officers rendered the opinion to allow the Moslems to build and augment their facilities for their access to the Wailing Wall, when the British officials countenanced the presence of the Muzzim (sexton) and his calling to prayers during the customary hours of Jewish worship at the Wall, from a minaret directily overlooking the Temple remnant. Against this opinion, the Sixteenth Zionist Congress held several weeks ago in Zurich, Switzerland, and subsequently the Jewish Agency Council, held in the same city, uttered a solemn protest, the Zionist Congress sending a special committee to London to make vigorous representations.
"The Palestine government cannot claim that it had not been advised against pursuing its disastrous policy and the Jewish people in Palestine are united in demanding; first, that an end be put to the bloodshed which is rapidly taking the form of an Arab revolt against British authority; second, that a thorogoing investigation be ordered into the course of the events; third, the removal of officers who, having been warned, were not forearmed; fourth, a definite declaration of policy from the British government that it is not its intention to encourage the Arabs who believe that they can effect a change of policy by riots and massacres.
"The Jews of Palestine feel that when the world will balance the historic claim of the Jews to the Temple wall against the legendary connection of the Prophet’s horse with the passage in front of it, there will be no hesitation in deciding in favor of the Jews.
"The Moslems’ claim, as generally admitted in Jerusalem, is being exaggerated and insisted upon by the Grand Mufti whose ambition it is to consolidate his position by making his term of office a lifetime one," the Jewish leader said.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
