(Author: Glenda Woolf, Vol. 78, #2, Winter-Spring 2023)
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the Menachem Av 5782 (July-August 2022) Hebrew edition of the popular Jewish history journal Segula (www.segulamag.com) and is reproduced here with kind permission.
The riots started on 23 August with bloodthirsty Arab attacks on the Jews in Jerusalem ……. Hebron and Safad. In spite the “Hagana” self-defense units, by the end no less than 133 Jewish men, women and children were butchered and 399 wounded. The Arab police proved unreliable: The few British police and British troops then in Palestine were incapable of restoring order. ….. (Edwin Samuel, A lifetime in Jerusalem, p103, Valentine Mitchell, London, 1970)
From a number of documents kindly provided by the librarian of the Wycliffe Hall Oxford University library, an interesting story emerges of British theological students on holiday in Palestine, who stepped into the breach to assist the British police and defend Jewish lives against Arab attacks in August 1929. The main informant is a student, Dennis E. Gilmore, whose diary of events is lodged in the library. They cover the events of the riots in Palestine that occurred while they were visiting.
The story begins shortly before these events, when, on 22 July 1929, a party of forty-two theological students and their tutors from Wycliffe College Oxford left Victoria train station for a journey to Palestine. Leading them was the Principal of Wycliffe Hall Revd. G.F. Graham-Brown. He later wrote: “Little did we think that this…. Summer Vacation Term in Palestine would provide us with such experience of life in the Near East as have never before fallen to the lot of Ordination candidates.”
The party travelled via Marseilles and Cairo arriving in Jerusalem on 2 August and for a number of weeks everything went according to plan. However, a week before they were due to leave Jerusalem, Graham-Brown wrote:
On Friday 23nd August at 1.15 p.m. considerable noise was heard outside the Men’s college between the Nablus and St. George’s Road. Arabs were attempting to attack the Jewish quarter and were being repelled by the Palestine Mounted Police. At 3.15 on Friday, Archdeacon Stewart was ushered into my bedroom whilst I was asleep. He told me that Col. Sanders, of the British Police desired help to maintain peace between the Arabs and the Jews.
Graham-Brown’s response was to call the students to meet him, tell then of the request, adding that they knew little or nothing of the situation and that it was not our business to determine the rights and wrongs of the Jewish –Arab dispute.
The men who decided to volunteer then walked to the headquarters of the police. Eleven had no experience in the use of rifles and were sent back; however, the rest, 25 in all were soon issued with rifles and fifty rounds of ammunition per man, and the well-known blue and white armlet of the British police forces…… (Written by the principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, Revd, G. F. Brown par. To be sent to the parents of students who had served as Special Constables.)
One of these students was Dennis E. Gilmore. His diary records the events:
That day massacres were enacted at Jerusalem and Hebron appalling beyond description. We were quite unprepared for such an outbreak; no doubt it was the policy of the police to prevent panic or anxiety as far as possible as such panicky people as the Jews were concerned. (Gilmore p58)
So, the Jews are panicky? Does the result not make for a reason to be ‘panicky’?
More important is the question of the total surprise. Why? Where is the acting High Commissioner Luke? What is he doing?
Edwin Samuels was at that time a private secretary to Sir Harry Luke who became ‘Officer Administering the Government, (the clumsy official title for anyone acting as high Commissioner or Colonial Governor). He had no high regard for his superior, commenting …… he was not prepared to act without suitable authority and a clash became inevitable. (Samuels, A lifetime in Jerusalem, p106)
Since there was no one above Luke, in Palestine at that time this is a strange statement.
Surprisingly, it appears that Luke was a Hungarian, one Lukasch who had come to England to attend Eton and Oxford and changed his name. (Samuels, p103)
Arabs were rioting, Jews were being killed and Luke did not call for military re-enforcements. However, he did issue an order for those British Special Constables who happened to be Jewish…who were ex-servicemen…to hand back their rifles. (Samuels, p108)
Unbelievable! Arabs are killing Jews, the Arabs police do nothing to defend them, and the Jews have their weapons taken away!
This is the background to the situation the Gilmore and his fellow students found themselves caught up in. Arabs were killing Jews. Jews were being disarmed. The man in charge of all Palestine was weak and unwilling to act decisively, and so according to Gilmore…. in desperation, with no army reinforcements and the Palestine police force consisting mostly of Arab personnel are refusing to fire on their brethren, or even throw in their lot with the Arabs (Gilmore, p59) …. the students were to reinforce the police: This was because their forces were hopelessly inadequate. …Headquarters sent us a message calling on all civilians for help. Wycliffe Hall volunteered en mass. (ibid., p60)
Gilmore recounts that only those with experience with firearms were accepted. They were divided into two groups:
Then we sat around and waited around us was a scene of hurry and bustle…. Arabs were brought in; crowds of Jews were being foolishly armed with any weapon that could be found…… At eleven o’clock orders came for the first party to go to Motza…… then we were hurried off in a lorry without any idea as to our destination……… A figure stepped out onto the road and stopped us…… he pointed to a solitary house on the hillside which we were to clear of Arab snipers who had been causing trouble…. imagine yourself spending a peaceful tour abroad and suddenly to be called on in a riot, given a rifle and told to use it. (Gilmore, p61)
The result was a number of Arabs escaping and one Arab captured. Of the Arabs who surrendered, Gilmore observes: The blustering Arabs are more like children in many things. Our prisoner wept and whined and howled. (Gilmore p62)
Then we made our way to a group of houses on the outskirts of Rumemeh, which stands on a crest above Lifta …… It was expected that two hundred Arabs from Lifta were to attack this suburb. (Gilmore, p62)
One bullet was fired, whizzing over their heads, but though they patrolled till morning all remained peaceful. In the morning they were welcomed into the home of Mr. Levine, whom we discovered was a famous Hebrew poet and given breakfast. (Gilmore, p62)
Their respite was broken into…by a new alarm…… [and they] … were rushed back to Jerusalem………the first few days were one incessant hurry and movement…. Later…. reports had come in from the country that the inhabitants of a little Jewish settlement a few miles to the Southwest were in danger…
Gilmore was sent with eight others to the settlement of Mikr Haim…near which lay two Arab villages Shafat and Beit Shi- fafa…… The settlement was in a state of excitement and terror. (Gilmore, p63)
They took up positions under cover and waited. After a long wait Gilmore ventured to sit up ……’Whing’ a bullet shrieked over me, and I fell flat again. (Gilmore, p64) The shooting continued intermittently, then suddenly everything began…. a huge mob were streaming down the hillside towards the village…. we opened fire all of us at the charging Arabs.
Gilmore was told to make his way to the Synagogue, which he did, under constant fire. Their incessant fire did not deter the Arabs who charged straight for the village.
After a house went up in flames Gilmore ran from…. the Synagogue. The first house I entered was a scene of terror; women and children lay huddles terrified on the floor…… One girl stood at the door clutching a bayonet in her hand with a ferocious expression on her face…… (Gilmore, p65)
Thereafter the officer Sutton and two others ran up to the Synagogue, firing. The Arabs ran off.
In the synagogue the old Rabbi went to the Ark and opening a secret panel, took out an old shotgun, which we persuaded him not to use…… The promised re-enforcements at last arrived; two armoured cars and police. ……… The armoured cars ran out to the end of the village and their machine guns put a finishing touch to everything. (Gilmore, p66)
British military confront rioters, Jerusalem; Hebron Yeshiva student Elhanan Zelig Roch, who lost a hand in the attacks
The group was sent off to investigate a nearby Arab house. After some drama they returned to the village with three Arab prisoners to find that all the re-enforcements and transport had left.
They remained in the village for five hours until transport was sent… for them… and then it transpired that a message had been sent earlier in the day that we should evacuate the place, which for some reason had failed to reach us. (Gilmore p67)
What terrible information to read now, all this time later. The British had been quite comfortable to leave the village to its fate. Only the fact that the message had not been received saved these Jews from death.
That same morning in another encounter their comrade Viney was wounded and Mr. Best, the passport officer, who was attempting to rescue him, was killed. No one could envy the peculiar burden of responsibility which fell upon the Principal’s shoulders during the riots (Gilmore, p67)
Troops from Egypt arrived by Aeroplane, but until a naval convoy arrived from Malta, the volunteers were still needed and that night together with some police and two armoured cars was sent on further missions, to Talpiot.
The place was deserted. Suddenly the moon rose up, and this was a signal for the Arabs on the high ground fired down at the party who retreated.
Meanwhile Gilmore was occupied in driving about in an enormous car, escorting a terrified member of a consulate and patrolling the streets near the city…… There was not a sound abroad. I was so overcome with tiredness I found it impossible at times to keep my eyes open; while my mind was quite numb and insensible to what was happening…. After some sleep at headquarters…… he was …aroused to go and engage some Arabs who had set light to a house near the Damascus Gate.
Later…they were sent to Talpiot, to retrieve the position just lost…. They… found a scene of utter confusion. Furniture had been smashed, and was lying on the ground, windows broken, pianos smashed, feathers from feather mattresses had been ripped open paintings cut from their frames. (Gilmore, p69)
Still more troops arrived from Egypt and also Malta but still their services were needed, mainly for escort and patrol work.…. Gilmore and his comrades were sent again to Rumemeh.
That evening one of their comrades was escorting a party from Hebron to collect the wounded form the Hebron massacre…. Gilmore was sent with a convoy to meet them. They were met with an ambush. Everything happened so suddenly we hardly knew which way to turn……We returned to Jerusalem in a chastened mood, realizing that the quiet was only on the surface. (Gilmore, p71)
——
For the first time we had a full night’s rest and woke to feel new beings. I spent the morning as an armed escort for Keith roach the district Commissioner. (Gilmore, p71) …. At old Kuloniah we collected al the adult males, while Keith Roache harangued them and swore at them and warned them that in the event of further trouble in the area, they would all be held responsible, and every man shot…. (Ibid, p72)
Gilmore openly admits his fears. All the while I was standing outside a house in the street, trying to conceal my nervousness, and wondering which tough would knife me first. (Gilmore p72)
It is a brave man who can publicly, in this manner, reveal his fear!
By now the Arabs had mainly been subdued, yet still the volunteers were needed.
They were sent to guard a funeral from the Rothschild hospital to the Mount of Olives…. a task more nerve-wracking than any I suppose. (Gilmore, p72). Although there were now more British troops and the rioting and murder had been suppressed… we shivered in the cold despite our British warms and our wrought fantasies made us jump nervily or handle our firearms at every shadow. (Ibid, p73)
Then their Constables armlets and sticks of any kind —they used to carry heavy walking sticks which could be used in street disturbances – and to search their homes for firearms. This action caused bitter criticism of a government which left defenseless a molested people…….Every Arab was searched and disarmed upon entering the city; it would be manifestly absurd in such a time of friction to disarm only the one and arm the other party. (Gilmore, p74)
The fact that the Arabs were the attackers and the Jews the victims seems quite to have escaped this young Englishman!
Gilmore’s final duty was to patrol the Arab “suk” during curfew that night. On the Friday, a week after first being inducted, he spent the day watching the Mosque in case of a fresh outbreak of trouble. (Gilmore p. 75)
On Friday, a week after the troubles began Gilmore spent the night with a family in the German colony and had his first alarmless sleep. (Gilmore p 77)
Gilmore served a further two days, mostly peacefully, before being dismissed from further duty. This dismissal was probably due to the arrival at last of British troops from Egypt.
The following morning, together with previous experience of the use of troops in aid of the civil power……, The police and “Haganah” in Safad were holding on by the skin of their teeth but instead of rushing a lorry load of infantry to Safad to stabilize the situation, Dobbie proceeded to ‘occupy’ first Nazareth and then later Tiberias. By the time the troops reached Safad a day or two later the balloon had gone up with a heavy loss of life. (Edwin Samuels p110)
Did this young Jewish man, in his official capacity, have no power to influence Dobbie and save those who were subsequently killed in Safad? Did he see these events so clearly only in retrospect? However, this is yet another example of British incompetence that caused a loss of Jewish lives.
Of such events Gilmore had no knowledge. He was stationed in Jerusalem, where peace had been re-instated. The following morning, together with other volunteers he went on parade and was formally thanked, by the now returned High Commissioner, Sir John Chancellor.
———
The party from Oxford left Jerusalem and en route to further travels to Damascus, Baalbek and Beirut they passed through Tel Aviv.
The acting Mayor of Tel Aviv Rokach wrote to the principal The Reverend G.F. Graham thanking him for the courage and self-sacrifice…in so unselfishly turning…. their…holiday and peaceful study tour into a dangerous and warlike defense of defenseless people….) (Two paged typed letter signed by Rokach dated 5 September 1929)
He also sent each student a copy of the letter
……This began a relationship with the Zionists which was to prove embarrassing in our endeavors to keep clear of party politics in the riots (Gilmore, p57)
They then left to continue their tour of Beirut and Damascus.
On their return to London there was a telegram offering them a public reception in London….and in the following May at Oxford… – to a public presentation of the Golden Roll, containing names, ours amongst them – of the historic defenders of Judaism.…. Both of these were of necessity refused. We know however, to our embarrassment that we are inserted for all time on the roll, as Defenders of Judaism. (Gilmore, p57)
The young student had no love for Jews. However, his courage saved many Jewish lives.
“He who saves a life saves a whole world”. This man should be remembered always for his heroism.
Glenda Woolf, a frequent contributor to Jewish Affairs, is a novelist and essayist whose articles and stories on Jewish themes have appeared in Jewish publications worldwide. Her novels, published under the name Gita Gordon, include South African Journeys (2002), Flashback (2007), Mystery in the Amazon and Scattered Blossoms (both 2008) and Guest House (2012). The article first appeared in Hebrew in Segula magazine, edition number 146, Av 5772 and is reproduced with kind permission.
