1920 in British-administered Palestine

Events in the year 1920 in British-administered Palestine (British-controlled part of OETA territory).

Incumbents

9-17 February — A large blizzard known as the "Great Blizzard" creates record cold and snowfall in Jerusalem.
24 February – The Conference of London ends with agreement among Britain, France and Italy on partitioning of the Ottoman Empire.^{[citation needed]}

1 March – Zionist activist Joseph Trumpeldor and five Palestinian Jewish fighters are killed in the battle of Tel Hai. The battle, which gave Tel Hai its long-enduring fame, was significant far beyond the small number of fighters involved on either side – mainly due to its influence on Zionist history, both inspiring an enduring heroic myth and profoundly influencing Zionist military and political strategies over several decades.^{[citation needed]}

4–7 April – Nebi Musa Riots in and around the Old City of Jerusalem mark the first large-scale skirmish of the Arab–Israeli conflict. Four Arabs and five Jews are killed, while 216 Jews (18 critically) and 23 Arabs (one critically) are wounded. The majority of the victims were members of the old Yishuv, largely non-Zionist or anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews. About 300 Jews from the Old City of Jerusalem are evacuated.
19 April – First Assembly of Jewish Representatives elected.^{[citation needed]}
26 April – The San Remo conference ends, during which the Allied Supreme Council agree to allocate the mandate of Palestine to the United Kingdom, incorporating the terms set forth in the Balfour Declaration.^{[citation needed]}

31 May – Second Palestine Arab Congress, held in secret because banned by British authorities.^{[citation needed]}
12 June – Following the Battle of Tel Hai, the Jewish leadership in Palestine establishes the Jewish paramilitary organisation "Haganah" to protect Jewish farms and kibbutzim, believing that the Jewish population in Palestine could not rely on the British administration for protection from the frequent attacks carried out by local Arab gangs against Palestinian Jews.^{[citation needed]}

30 June – Two Arabs shot dead by British troops during demonstrations in Jaffa following the landing of new Jewish immigrants.

1 July –
- Sir Herbert Louis Samuel is appointed the first British High Commissioner of Palestine.^{[citation needed]}
- Completion of the Palin Report on the 1920 Nebi Musa riots.^{[citation needed]}
13–14 July – The Muslim-Christian Associations hold a two-day general strike protesting against the mandate and the behaviour of the British army.

7 August – Sir Herbert Louis Samuel's request to extend the frontier of British territory beyond the Jordan River and to bring Transjordan under his administrative control is rejected. The British Foreign Secretary, Lord Curzon, proposed instead that British influence in Transjordan should be advanced by sending a few political officers, without military escort, to encourage self-government and give advice to local leaders in the territory.
10 August – The Treaty of Sèvres endorses the allocation to the United Kingdom of a mandate of Palestine. The treaty is stillborn and subsequently superseded by the Treaty of Lausanne.^{[citation needed]}

The founding of the kibbutz Degania Bet by immigrants from the Second Aliyah.^{[citation needed]}

7 October - The establishment of the Jewish National Council, the main national institution of the Jewish community (Yishuv) within the British Mandate of Palestine.^{[citation needed]}

4 December – Third Palestine Arab Congress held in Haifa.^{[citation needed]}
6 December – The Histadrut is established in Haifa to look after the interests of Jewish workers.^{[citation needed]}
23 December – The United Kingdom and France ratify the border between French-controlled Syria and British-controlled Palestine.^{[citation needed]}

19 January – Mordechai Maklef, Israeli general, 3rd IDF Chief of General Staff (died 1978).
1 June – Amos Yarkoni, Israeli Bedouin senior IDF officer (died 1991).
12 June – Ephraim Evron, Israeli diplomat (died 1995).

Full date unknown
- Matanya Abramson, Israeli sculptor (died 2004).
- Michael Gross, Israeli painter, sculptor and conceptual artist (died 2004).
- Hasib Sabbagh, Palestinian Arab businessman (died 2010).
- Serene Husseini Shahid, Palestinian writer and teacher.(died 2008)

↑ McCrackan, William Denison (1922). The New Palestine. Cape. pp. 203–209.
↑ Tom Segev, One Palestine, complete: Jews and Arabs under the British Mandate, Henry Holt & Co., New York, 2001, p. 127–144.
↑ Luke, Sir Harry (1953) Cities and Men. An Autobiography. Volume II. Aegean, Cyprus, Turkey, Transcaucasia & Palestine. (1914–1924). Geoffrey Bles. London. p.243
↑ Luke, Sir Harry (1953) Cities and Men. An Autobiography. Volume II. Aegean, Cyprus, Turkey, Transcaucasia & Palestine. (1914–1924). Geoffrey Bles. London. p.247
↑ Martin Sicker, (1999) Reshaping Palestine: From Muhammad Ali to the British Mandate, 1831–1922 p 158.
↑ "A Jerusalem Childhood: The Early Life of Serene Husseini". Institute for Palestine Studies. Archived from the original on 29 April 2025. Retrieved 17 April 2026.

v t e Years in Mandatory Palestine (1920–1948)
1940s	1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948
1930s	1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1920s	1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
British-administered Palestine (pre-Mandate)	1918 1919 1920

v t e 1920 in Asia
Sovereign states	Afghanistan Bhutan Ceylon China Egypt Georgia Japan Jordan Nepal Oman Ottoman Empire Persia Philippines Russia Siam Sikkim North Yemen
States with limited recognition	Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic Tibet
Dependencies, colonies and other territories	Bahrain British India British Malaya Brunei Cyprus Dutch East Indies French India French Indochina Kuwait Mandatory Iraq Mandatory Palestine Taiwan