“We are all ready to fall”: creation of the norm of acceptance and restrained mourning in Davar during the Great Arab Revolt (1936-1939)

Abstract

ABSTRACT The period of the Arab Revolt in Palestine (1936–1939) marked a turning point in the Yishuv’s attitude toward the fatalities of its struggle with the Palestinians. This article examines this change as reflected in the newspapers of the Yishuv. If in the 1920s casualties were viewed as a disappointment of the dream of a safe haven, during the Arab Revolt the emphasis was placed on the notion that a reality of fatalities was a fate with which it was necessary to completely come to terms. The press coverage ceased emphasizing the atrocities and instead highlighted the honor and respect paid to the dead. The result was a new culture of mass funerals, which became one of the most prominent Zionist displays of the period. The rituals that emerged around violent death during this period emerged as a major attribute of Israeli bereavement.