Photos Of Palestine And Israel 1930-1949

By Paul Sorene on 9 November 2014 | comments 0

British soldiers in steel helmets after they recaptured the Old City of Jerusalem at the Damascus Gate, November 1938. (AP Photo/James Mills)
Ref #: PA.8988943
Date: 01/11/1938

Wikipedia:

On 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly recommended the adoption and implementation of the Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine. The end of the British Mandate for Palestine was set for midnight on 14 May 1948. That day, David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the Zionist Organization and president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared “the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel,” which would start to function from the termination of the mandate.[11][12][13] The borders of the new state were not specified. Neighboring Arab armies invaded the former Palestinian mandate on the next day and fought the Israeli forces.

Typical group of women of the holy land who, as in the time of the old testament, carry water from the wells on their heads in quaint, home-made vessels of clay. They dress, too, much in the same way as the women did in the time of Christ. This group on the Mount of Olives, in Jerusalem, on Sept. 1, 1938. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.11202016
Date: 01/09/1938

An Arab stands beside a section of “Tegart’s Iron wall” in Israel in 1938, erected by Sir Charles Tegart to keep marauding Arabs out of Palestine. The fence, three strains of barbed wire on angular iron supports. Stretches for 60 miles on the Syria-Lebanon borders and cost $ 500,000. (AP Photo/James Mills )
Ref #: PA.8988877
Date: 03/10/1938

Great civil disturbances, eventually quelled by police and troops, ended a Jewish demonstration against the British proposals for the future of Palestine. One policeman was killed. Jews rushing for cover from before the baton charge of the police during the quelling of the disturbances in Jerusalem, Israel, on May 18, 1939. Note the spectators from the balcony on the left. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.10878635
Date: 18/05/1939

One of the largest Jewish cemeteries in the world, situated on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, part of the hills of Bethlehem in Jerusalem on Jan. 19, 1939. It adjoins the famous Garden of Gethsemane where Christ was said to have been betrayed by Judas with a kiss. Hundreds of thousands of Jews, many of them victims of the present Arab revolt in the holy land, are buried in this hallowed spot. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.11142790
Date: 19/01/1939

The Mount of Olives, Jerusalem, on Jan. 19, 1939, where Christ often prayed and meditated. The Garden of Gethsemane, where Christ was betrayed by Judas. This whole section of the holy city breathes of the Bible and of the life and times of Jesus. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.11142789
Date: 19/01/1939

Palestine has been the scene of much death and destruction during the past two years, consequent on the conflict between Arab and Jew, and Jerusalem the holy city has not escaped from scenes of violence. The famous Damascus gate of Jerusalem, scene of many incidents that have affected the history of Jerusalem and Palestine on Jan 18, 1939. This leads from the new city to the old quarter and is regarded by both factions as of strategic importance. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.11140507
Date: 18/01/1939

“Save our children and our parents!” say these Jewish placards carried by men in the streets of Jerusalem, Israel on Jan. 16, 1939. “Open the gates of Palestine to the times of Nazi prevention hatred at the Christmas period we are crying from the holy city of Jew Salem to all Christian nations to help us against “Germany”. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.8988884
Date: 16/01/1939

Suspected Arab rebels are rounded up by the British army near Jerusalem, Jan. 9, 1939. (AP Photo/James A. Mills)
Ref #: PA.9033439
Date: 09/01/1939

Fakhri Nashashibi, member of the Arab National Defence Committee is challenging the leadership of the ex-mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin Effendi Al Husseini, in exile in Syria. Nashashibi, who comes from one of the most distinguished Arab families in Palestine, says the ex-mufti is no prophet but a self-seeking politician, who is running Palestine by his campaign of terror. Fakhri Nashashibi stands between two of his chief supporters, tribal heads from the Hebron District, in Jerusalem, on Nov. 24, 1938. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.11457770
Date: 24/11/1938

Some of the finest buildings in Jerusalem are contained within the Hebrew Nation University, which was formally opened by the late Ford Balfour in April 1925. Much of the success of this great national educational institution is due to the work of Dr. Chaim Weizmann, President of the Zionist Movement, and the present faculty who are among the leading educationists of the world. The university is built near one of the most historic sites in the world, for it is situated on Mount Scofus, near the Mount of Olives. University students watching a bren gun carrier and laden donkeys passing one of the University buildings, on Nov. 15, 1945. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.9904580
Date: 15/11/1945

A scene on the Jericho road looking towards the multiple-domed Church of All Nations. Rising above it can be seen the Russian church of St. Mary Magdalen with its gilt cupolas, in Jerusalem, Israel, on Nov. 27, 1945. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.10084994
Date: 27/11/1945

Elie Wiesel:

For the Jewish child in me, Israel represents an irresistible call to hope, and Jerusalem a powerful love song. In my small Romanian town, nestled in the Carpathians, I often walked the streets imagining myself sitting on a bench somewhere in Judea, listening to a master explain the mystery of words, the strength of memories and the human thirst for miracles. With my grandfather, a fervent Chassid, I spoke Yiddish. He loved teaching me Chassidic tunes and, most of all, watching me pore over a Talmudic tractate. His dream was to live long enough for all of us to go together to the Holy Land and there welcome the Messiah. Indeed, I dreamed about the Messiah more than about a political Jewish state. Then what happened happened.

Where was I on May 14, 1944? Still in the ghetto. I was 15. The first transport toward the unknown, organised in haste, was getting ready to leave or had just left. For us, destiny wore the mask of death of which the enemy had made its own saviour.

May 14, 1948. Paris. Israel is about to be born. Stateless, I had already lived three years in France. Liberated from Buchenwald by the American Army in 1945, I was asked by an officer where I wanted to be repatriated.

Like most of my friends, I answered that I wanted to go to Palestine, but the British mandate on immigration at the time had in effect closed those doors to us. In the end, OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants), an outstanding French Jewish humanitarian organisation, brought about 400 of us to France. I remember.

It is a Friday. David Ben-Gurion reads the new Jewish state’s Declaration of Independence; radio stations all over the world broadcast it. In the evening, I go to synagogue. Jubilation. Strangers share their feelings. What? A Jewish state? Three years after the worst catastrophe in Jewish history? It is difficult for me to concentrate.

…

At that time, I was not yet keenly conscious of the fact that, in the lives of men as well as nations, the dream of one can — in an instant — turn into a nightmare for the other. The big question: What would have happened if the Palestinian leaders of that period had followed Israel’s example by declaring the establishment of an independent Palestinian state? Why did the Palestinian rulers, to quote the late Abba Eban, “never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity”?

When Lieutenant General Sir Alan Cunningham took office as new High Commissioner of Palestine, he immediately appealed for cooperation from Rival Jewish and Arab peoples. Leading Arab and Jewish delegations will meet him on November 23 in Jerusalem in order to discover some settlement of the forces of disruption which threaten the Holy land from within. A new and portrait of Dr. Isaac Halevy Perzog, the chief Rabbi of Palestine, shown Nov. 23, 1945. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.9919669
Date: 23/11/1945

When Lt. Gen. Sir Alan Cunningham took office as he high Commissioner of Palestine on November 21, he immediately appealed for cooperation from rival Jewish and Arab peoples. Reading Arab and Jewish delegations will meet him on November 23 in Jerusalem in order to discover some settlement of the forces of disruption which threaten the holy land from within. One of the important personalities in Jerusalem Major General J.C. DÂ’Arcy, C.B.E., M.C., Commander of the British Forces in Palestine and Transjordan, shown Nov. 23, 1945. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.9919804
Date: 23/11/1945

This photograph shows the view looking north toward the center of Jerusalem, Palestine, on Nov. 22, 1945. The Avenue is called Julians Way. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.3946707
Date: 22/11/1945

Jerusalem, Golden city of the old world, has now become an attractive city full of contrasting ancient and modern forms of architecture. The King David Hotel, JerusalemÂ’s best, where the high military officers have their quarters. In the background can be seen the wall of the Holy City with the Mount of Olives in the distance, on Nov. 16, 1945. (AP Photo/Frank Noel)
Ref #: PA.9912669
Date: 16/11/1945

Young Arab recruits and volunteers from the British army are now undergoing intensive training at the Palestine Police Force barracks in Jerusalem. An important part of the training for the young Arabs is with small arms and for the British, Volunteers, specialized instruction in the types of weapons used by the Terrorists. Young Arab recruits tom the Palestine Police Force undergoing rifle drill, on the roof of their barracks in Jerusalem, on Nov. 15, 1945. They are being taught to present arms for ceremonial purposes. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.9904583
Date: 15/11/1945

Soldiers of The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) searching Arabs in Jerusalem, British Mandate of Palestine.
The Mandate of Palestine was granted to Britain by the League of Nations in 1920 and lasted until the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
Ref #: PA.7014005
Date: 01/09/1945

Ill refugees wait on the dock for ambulances to take them to a Government hospital on Dec. 4, 1946 in Haifa, after being removed from the Jewish Refugee ship Knesset Israel. Behind the British soldiers, attending the woman, are tin cans thrown by the refugees in an attempt to keep British soldiers from coming on board the ship to trans-ship them to British vessels for deportation. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.7090682
Date: 04/12/1946

A young Jewish boy, wounded and bloody after the fight with British soldiers on board the refugee ship Knesset Israel, passes a line of soldiers to board the troopship Empire Heywood on Dec. 4, 1946 in Haifa, one of three vessels on which passengers from the refugee ship were deported. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.7090686
Date: 04/12/1946

Young Arab recruits and volunteers from the British army are now undergoing intensive training at the Palestine Police Barracks in Jerusalem. An important part of the training for the young Arabs is with small arms and for the British, volunteers, specialized instruction in the types of weapons used by the Terrorists. A group of smartly dressed Arab members of the Palestine police, seen in the courtyard of their barracks in Jerusalem, on Nov. 15, 1945, which was formerly the palatial residence of a wealthy Jerusalem Arab. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.9904571
Date: 15/11/1945

With the approach of Christmas the thoughts of all Christian people turn to Bethlehem, birthplace of Christ and to Jerusalem, scene of his crucifixion, and do the surrounding coutryside where history was made in the dawn of the Christian era. Many places have changed little with the passing centuries and on all sides the country abounds with beautiful vistas. The multiple-domed Church of All Nations on the Jericho road working towards the walled Holy city in Jerusalem, Israel on Nov. 27, 1945. The road in centre climbs to StephenÂ’s Gate. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.10084944
Date: 27/11/1945

Arab women and children draw water from MaryÂ’s well in Nazareth, Israel, on Dec. 7, 1946, the ancient spring which legend relates supplies water for Mary, Joseph and Jesus. (AP Photo/J. Walter Green)
Ref #: PA.10207415
Date: 07/12/1946

Dr. Walter X. Lehmann, left, and Dr. Kurt L. Brunsfeld, right, vaccinate two unidentifed women for smallpox April 14,1947, as others await their turn in New York City Health Department building. Crowds turned out after Health Commissioner Israel Weinstein’s radio plea that the public be vaccinated. His plea came after nine cases, including two fatalities, were reported. (AP Photo/Tony Camerano)
Ref #: PA.7523885
Date: 14/04/1947

Members of the Royal Irish Fusiliers go through personal belongings and identification papers as passengers of a bus halted, Feb. 2, 1947 at a road block on the main highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.18363261
Date: 02/02/1947

During the restoration of the Church of the Tomb of the Blessed Virgin, near the Garden of Gethsemane workmen discovered an entrance to a cistern below the courtyard of the church. Experts believe the cistern was built about the 12th century. The old wall dates back to a period preceding the crusaders. It is built with intersecting vaults, 35 columns in all and supports the court yard of the church as well as the ruins of a 12th century monastery nearby. General view of the church (left), and in the foreground right can be seen a small hole leading to the cistern in Jerusalem on Oct. 28, 1946. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.11863212
Date: 28/10/1946

A general view of the King David hotel, Jerusalem, as sappers set off a charge to explode away from the main part of the hotel, while carrying out demolition work, July 29, 1946 – a week after the bomb outrage. (AP-Photo/noel)
Ref #: PA.5175023
Date: 29/07/1946