Year
 
Jewish Agency for Israel
 
Israel
 
Jewish History & Culture
1920            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Arabs attack Jewish settlements in the Galilee. Yosef Trumpeldor and five others are killed during the defense of Tel Hai (1st March).

April 4-6: Outbreak of Arab riots. Arabs gather in Jerusalem for the traditional Nebi Musa procession and attack the Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Speakers condemn Zionism. Ze'ev Jabotinsky, commander of the Jewish defense in Jerusalem, is arrested by the British and accused of possessing weapons and disturbing the peace. On April 19 he is sentenced to 15 years imprisonment with hard labor. He will be pardoned in 1921.

April 24: At the Conference of San Remo, the Entente Powers decide to hand over the mandate for Palestine to the British.
Sir Herbert Samuel is offered the position of civil high commissioner. He accepts.

June 13-15: The Ahdut Ha'Avoda Party convenes in Kinneret. It decides to establish the Haganah organization for a countrywide Jewish self-defense.

June 30: Sir Herbert Samuel arrives in Jaffa and is received with a military ceremony.

July 1: British military rule in Palestine ends. Sir Herbert Samuel takes up his position as high commissioner.

July 2-24: The London Conference of the Zionist movement takes place where Keren Hayesod is founded.

August 15: The British divide Palestine into seven districts: Jerusalem, Jaffa, Haifa, Gaza, Beer Sheva, Samaria, and the Galilee.

August, 20: Transjordan is included in the British Mandate over Palestine.

August 26: The Mandate government announces the first Jewish immigration quota: 16,500 permits for the coming year. Each permit entitles a family to enter.

October 7-11: The first Elected Assembly is convened in Jerusalem. It elects an executive body, National Council (Va'ad Leumi), headed by David Yellin.

November 10: Emir Abdallah, second son of Sharif Husseini of Hejaz (Saudi Arabia), arrives in Transjordan with 1,200 men, with the intention of attacking the French in response to the expulsion of his brother, Emir Faisal, from Damascus on July 25. In 1921 Faisal will be appointed king of Iraq by the British. He emphasizes equality of all Iraqis and serves until his death 1933.

December 5-9: The Histadrut Ha'Ovdim (Federation of Labor) is founded in Haifa. It is a general labor organization in which all political parties can cooperate on labor, economic, and cultural questions.

December 13-18: An Arab Palestinian congress is held in Haifa. It calls on the British to recognize the rights of the Arabs in Palestine and to nullify the Balfour Declaration and Zionist demands. An Arab executive body is established.

 

During the year, 142 pogroms and 36 lesser riots occur against the Jews of Ukraine.

The "Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei" - NSDAP - publishes a 25 point program in München. At this time the party has 60 members.

Adolf Hitler speaks in München on the subject, Why We Are Against the Jews. He states that his party will "free you from the power of the Jews" and demands "the removal of the Jews from the midst of our people."

Franz Rosenzweig organizes the Freies Jüdisches Lehrhaus - Independent House of Jewish Learning - which becomes a center of adult Jewish education for assimilated Jews in search of their past.

Marc Chagall executes large paintings for the Jewish State Theatre in Moscow.

Samuel Hugo Bergmann (1883-1975), librarian at the Prague University library, emigrates to Palestine and becomes the first director of the National and University Library.

 
 

 

 

 

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12 Nov 2007 / 2 Kislev 5768 0