Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle · Milwaukee, Wisconsin · 27 March 1925

CP-1925-012

Peace in Palestine When Balfour Party Arrives

Arabs Strike in Jerusalem; Jaffa and Haifa Government Closes Arab College following Strike of Teachers and Students; Arabs Crowd Jerusalem Streets; Balfour Called “King of Jews” in Arab Proclamation

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Transcribed from the clipping

“Jerusalem, (J. T. A.) — Order was not disturbed in the Holy City when the Earl of Balfour and Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the president of the World Zionist organization, arrived for the purpose of opening the Hebrew university in Jerusalem on April 1st… Although the majority of the Arab stores were closed as a sign of protest and some of the elementary schools, maintained by the government for Arab pupils, were empty because of the pupils’ strike, peace prevailed. The building where the headquarters of the Palestine Arab Executive is located was draped in black. Arab mobs crowded the streets. Jerusalem, (J. T. A.) — The strike proclaimed by the Palestine Arab Executive against the arrival of Lord Balfour was carried out in Jaffa and Haifa, according to reports received here. The majority of the Arab stores in these cities were closed. London, (J. T. A.) — Two members of the Palestine Arab Executive were arrested when Lord Balfour left the Cairo station, according to a dispatch from Jerusalem to the London ‘Daily Mail.’ They were arrested because they shouted ‘Down with Balfour,’ the dispatch states. The correspondent of the ‘Daily Mail’ further states that according to his information a large group of fanatic Arabs in Nablus and Hebrom have decided to march to Jerusalem to join the protest movement. A state of excitement prevails among the lower Arab classes, particularly because of the fact that an Arabic proclamation distributed in the bazaar stated that ‘Balfour came to govern Palestine as the King of the Jews.’… Tel Aviv, the one hundred per cent, modern Jewish city of Palestine, is preparing to receive Lord Balfour, the author of the Balfour Declaration, upon his arrival here… All Jewish stores and factories will be closed at 2 o’clock in the afternoon in honor of the lord’s visit. The houses will be decorated with the blue and white and the British flags… Jerusalem, (J. T. A.) — The Men’s Training College, a seminary for the preparation of Arab teachers, supported by the Palestine government, and the Arab high school were closed, according to an official announcement of the government issued recently. The teachers and the students were suspended following their decision, in spite of the government’s warning, to join in the strike proclaimed by the Palestine Arab Executive against the arrival of Lord Balfour.”

Context added by this archive

The headline says peace and the deck under it describes a general strike across Jerusalem, Jaffa and Haifa, shuttered shops, empty schools, a building draped in black, two men arrested in Cairo for shouting, and a government teachers’ college closed with its staff and students suspended for striking. The word the copy uses for the crowds is mobs. Four years later the same paper’s readers would get the first Arab Women’s Congress; this archive holds that too.

Cite this item

"Peace in Palestine When Balfour Party Arrives," Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle, 27 March 1925. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1925-012. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1925-012

Elsewhere in the archive

• The Evil Eye in PalestineWisconsin Jewish Chronicle · 18 September 1925 · the same newspaper
• World Zionist Org. Seeks Palestine Economic FactsWisconsin Jewish Chronicle · 20 May 1927 · the same newspaper
• Start Relief For Victims Of Palestine EarthquakeWisconsin Jewish Chronicle · 22 July 1927 · the same newspaper
• The Removal Of Hebrew Letters From Palestine Stamps Demand Of ArabsThe Jewish Press · 17 September 1925 · the same year