1929 Palestine riots

The 1929 Palestine riots, also known as the Western Wall Riots, the Buraq Uprising (Arabic: ثورة البراق, Thawrat al-Burāq) or the Events of 1929 (Hebrew: מאורעות תרפ"ט, Meora'ot Tarpat, lit. Events of 5689 Anno Mundi), were a series of demonstrations and riots in Mandatory Palestine in late August 1929 regarding access to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The riots, which primarily affected the cities of Jerusalem, Safed, and Hebron, were part a longstanding dispute between Palestinian Arabs and Jews over access to the site.

According to many historians, the proximate cause of the riots was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, who had roused fears of a Jewish takeover of the Temple Mount. According to other historians, the violence was triggered by the refusal of Zionist leaders to accept British offers of shared representation in Palestine, which was accepted by the Arab leadership. Scholars have also pointed to the transfer of land to the Jewish National Fund, which, along with rising concerns over land sales and immigration, contributed to socioeconomic anxieties that helped fuel the outbreak.

The riots took the form, for the most part, of attacks by Arabs on Jews accompanied by destruction of Jewish property. During the week of riots, from 23 to 29 August, 133 Jews were killed by Arabs, and 339 Jews were injured, most of whom were unarmed. There were 116 Arabs killed and at least 232 wounded, mostly by the Mandate police suppressing the riots. Around 20 Arabs were killed by Jewish attackers and indiscriminate British gunfire. After the riots, 174 Arabs and 109 Jews were charged with murder or attempted murder; around 40% of Arabs and 3% of Jews were subsequently convicted. During the riots, 17 Jewish communities were evacuated.

The British-appointed Shaw Commission found that the fundamental cause of the violence was the Arab opposition to the political and national consequences of Zionism, including disappointment over their political and national aspirations and fear for their economic future. The commission described this as an "Arab feeling of animosity and hostility towards the Jews", but attributed it in particular to fears that Jewish immigration would threaten their livelihood and could result in Jews becoming "a possible overlord of the future". With respect to the triggering of the riots, the Commission found that the incident that contributed most to the outbreak was "the Jewish demonstration [...] at the Wailing Wall" on 15 August 1929. The 1930 Hope Simpson report subsequently examined concerns over Jewish immigration and land acquisitions and their impact on the livelihoods of Arab residents, and recommended measures to limit Jewish immigration.

Avraham Sela described the riots as "unprecedented in the history of the Arab-Jewish conflict in Palestine, in duration, geographical scope and direct damage to life and property".