Jewish state under attack
Op-ed: Terror groups, many Israeli Arabs have same aim; eliminating Israel as Jewish state
Yonatan Silverman
The 1930s were particularly fruitful immigration years for Jewish Palestine. Jewish immigration also peaked in 1935, just months before Palestinian Arabs began a full-scale, nation-wide revolt. In the four years between 1933 and 1936 more than 164,000 Jewish immigrants arrived in Palestine, and between 1931 and 1936 the Jewish population more than doubled from 175,000 to 370,000 people, increasing the Jewish population share from 17% to 27%, bringing about a significant deterioration in relations between Palestinian Arabs and Jews.
Relations did not just deteriorate, however. The Palestinian Arabs led by the Grand Mufti Haj Amin el Husseini launched a three-year bloody revolt in 1936. The aim of this protracted violence was to completely terminate Jewish settlement and Jewish immigration in Palestine. According to best estimates the Arab population in Palestine circa 1937 was around 900,000.