The return of several hard-line Palestinian Arab nationalists , under the emerging leadership of Haj Amin al-Husseini , from Damascus to Mandatory Palestine marked the beginning of Palestinian Arab nationalist struggle towards establishment of a national home for Arabs of Palestine . Amin al-Husseini , the architect of the Palestinian Arab national movement , immediately marked Jewish national movement and Jewish immigration to Palestine as the sole enemy to his cause , initiating large-scale riots against the Jews as early as 1920 in Jerusalem and in 1921 in Jaffa . Among the results of the violence was the establishment of the Jewish paramilitary force Haganah . In 1929 , a series of violent anti-Jewish riots was initiated by the Arab leadership . The riots resulted in massive Jewish casualties in Hebron and Safed , and the evacuation of Jews from Hebron and Gaza
Safed
1929 Safed riots
Israeli–Palestinian conflict