“The Great Palestinian Revolt 1936-1939:
The Great Palestinian Revolt was an uprising by the majority of Palestinian fellahin in Mandatory Palestine, demanding independence and the end of the policy of open-ended Jewish immigration and land purchases, with the stated goal of establishing a “Jewish National Home.”
The revolt weakened the military strength of the Palestinians in advance of their ultimate confrontation with the Jewish settlement in the 1947-48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine. According to Benny Morris, it was thus counterproductive. During the uprising, British authorities attempted to confiscate all weapons from the Arab population. This, and the destruction of the central Arab political leadership in the revolt, greatly hindered their military efforts in the 1948 Palestine war, where imbalances between the Jewish and Arab economic performance, social cohesion, political organization, and military capability became apparent.
The revolt was violently suppressed by the British colonial forces, with about 5.000 casualties on the Palestinian side and around 300 on the British side.
The Revolt is generally credited with forcing the issuance of the White Paper of 1939, which withdrew Britain from the partition arrangements in favor of the creation of a binational state within ten years. However, the League of Nations commission held that the White Paper was in conflict with the terms of the Mandate as previously set out. The White Paper of 1939 was regarded by many as incompatible with the commitment to a Jewish National Home, as proclaimed in the 1917 Balfour Declaration.” Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Palestine/comments/pskeoz/the_great_palestinian_revolt_19361939/ [edited]
“Bringing In The Black And Tans.”
“On 1 May 1921, two rival marches were held in Jaffa. One, by the Social Workers Party, a Jewish organization nominally committed to cooperating with Palestinians in a common class-based struggle, had not been approved by the British administration. The other, by Labour Unity [Ahadut HaAvoda], which had a Hebrew-only policy, enjoyed the required authorization. Clashes between the two demonstrations escalated into intercommunal fighting that lasted for a few days. A total of 48 Palestinians and 47 Jews were killed. An official British investigation into the riots listed the ‘unauthorized demonstration of Bolshevik Jews’ as the initial cause. Headed by Thomas Haycraft, a British judge in Palestine, the investigation concluded, however, that ‘there is no inherent anti-Semitism in the country, racial or religious.’
Haycraft noted that Palestinian grievances had risen from the way Zionists had put pressure on Jewish landowners to replace Palestinian laborers with Jews. He also pointed to ‘the influence exercised or believed to be exercised’ by the Zionist Commission over legislation and the appointment of officials in the British administration. Perceived or real, that clout had done nothing to lessen the distrust with which it [the Zionist Commission] is regarded by the Arabs, who have no similar body to exercise corresponding influence on their behalf.’
C.D. Brunton, a British Army captain, was more forthright in identifying the causes of the riot. In his opinion, ‘the Arab population has come to regard the Zionists with hatred and the British with resentment.’ Churchill’s visit had ‘put the final touch to the picture,’ according to Brunton. The captain alleged that Churchill ‘upheld the Zionist cause and treated the Arab demands like those of negligible opposition to be put off by a few political phrases and treated like children.’
The response to these riots gave an indication of how resistance to British rule and to Zionism would be crushed. As well as declaring a state of emergency, Samuel ordered air strikes against the Arab rioters. A ‘picked force of white gendarmerie’ [the term used in a Colonial Office paper], was established on Churchill’s recommendation. Churchill’s idea was to bring in some of the auxiliary police that had been stationed in Ireland during its war of independence, which had just ended, and ‘who might naw be at liberty,’ according to the Colonial Office. Henry Hugh Tudor, commander of the auxiliaries in Ireland, had advised Churchill that ‘between 700 and 800 absolutely reliable men’ were likely to be available, along with ‘many of the best officers’ from the Royal Irish Constabulary [RIC], the force they had supplemented. While the men sent to Palestine would be answerable to the civil administration, a committee of high-ranking soldiers and civil servants agreed that they could be used as a military force ‘in the event of an emergency.’
Churchill had also been instrumental the previous year in setting up the auxiliary police division serving in Ireland. Then, the Secretary of State for War, Churchill, had also urged that Tudor be hired as a police advisor to the British administration in Dublin.
Working alongside the Black and Tans, First World War veterans who joined the RIC, the temporary force gained a reputation for brutality. Their most infamous escapade was arguably the ‘sack’ of Balbriggan in north County Dublin. As revenge for the killing of a police officer by Irish republicans in September 1920, the auxiliaries burnt down an English-owned hosier’s factory nearby. Around 200 people were put out of work in the Balbriggan area as a result. Four pubs were also torched by the police, and almost 50 houses were damaged or destroyed. The episode was widely covered in the British press and even debated in parliament.” Source: David Cronin in his book ‘Balfour’s Shadow: A Century of British Support for Zionism and Israel’ [PlutoPress] 2017, pages 20-21 [emphasis added]
The Black & Tans In Ireland: A Short History Of Horror, Oppression & Terror.
Now that we have seen and read all this, we can understand why Irish Prime Minister Thomas Gould was so angry with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Israeli government.
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