The Arab Revolt April–August 1936

By 1936, disquiet amongst Palestine’s Arab population had reached breaking point. The influx of Jewish settlers was constant and had begun to seriously affect the Arabs’ ability to earn a living as land was bought up by Jewish settlement funds and Arabs were excluded from employment opportunities. On 15 April, two Jews were killed in the Tulkarm Shooting by followers of the Syrian preacher al-Qassam, who had died at the hands of the British the previous year. This angered the Jewish community who launched retaliatory attacks. Inspired by the success of the 50-day general strike in Syria, which pushed the French authorities to the negotiating table, an Arab general strike in Palestine began with widespread violence on 19 April, known as The Bloody Day in Jaffa. Threatened by the violence and attacks on their property, 12,500 Jews fled the city. At the Battle of Anabta on 21 June Arab rebels ambushed civilian buses.