1920 in British-administered Palestine
Events in the year 1920 in British-administered Palestine.
Incumbents
Events
- 24 February – The Conference of London ends with agreement among Britain, France and Italy on partitioning of the Ottoman Empire.
- 1 March – Zionist activist Joseph Trumpeldor and five Palestinian Jewish fighters are killed in the battle of Tel Hai. The battle, which gave Tel Hai its long-enduring fame, was significant far beyond the small number of fighters involved on either side - mainly due to its influence on Zionist history, both inspiring an enduring heroic myth and profoundly influencing Zionist military and political strategies over several decades.
- 4–7 April – Nabi Musa Riots in and around the Old City of Jerusalem mark the first large-scale skirmish of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Four Arabs and five Jews are killed, while 216 Jews (18 critically) and 23 Arabs (one critically) are wounded. The majority of the victims were members of the old Yishuv, largely non-Zionist or anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews. About 300 Jews from the Old City of Jerusalem are evacuated.[1]
- 26 April – The San Remo conference ends, during which the Allied Supreme Council agree to allocate the mandate of Palestine (including the Transjordanian region) to the United Kingdom, incorporating the terms set forth in the Balfour Declaration of 1917.
- 12 June – Following the Battle of Tel Hai, the Jewish leadership in Palestine establishes the Jewish paramilitary organisation "Haganah" to protect Jewish farms and kibbutzim, believing that the Jewish population in Palestine could not rely on the British administration for protection from the frequent attacks carried out by local Arab gangs against Palestinian Jews.
- 1 July – Sir Herbert Louis Samuel is appointed the first British High Commissioner of Palestine.
- 10 August – The Treaty of Sèvres endorses the allocation to the United Kingdom of a mandate of Palestine. The treaty is stillborn and subsequently superseded by the Treaty of Lausanne.
- 6 December – The Histadrut is established in Haifa to look after the interests of Jewish workers.
- 23 December – The United Kingdom and France ratify the border between French-controlled Syria and British-controlled Palestine.
Unknown dates
Notable births
- 1 June - Amos Yarkoni, Israeli Bedouin senior IDF officer (d. 1991).
- Full date unknown
Notable deaths
References
- ^ Tom Segev, One Palestine, complete: Jews and Arabs under the British Mandate, Henry Holt & Co., New York, 2001, p. 127–144.