Just days after the outbreak of the 1921 Jaffa riots, the موج of Arab violence did not stop. It spread to Jewish agricultural communities.
On May 5, 1921, Petah Tikva was attacked by an armed Arab mob from nearby villages. At the time, Petah Tikva was a small Jewish settlement of about 3,000 residents. It was a young and vulnerable community, built on Hebrew labor, agriculture, self-defense, and a deep belief in its cause.
The attackers’ goal was clear: to break into the settlement, harm its residents, loot, kill, and destroy.
The defenders of Petah Tikva did not wait for rescue. Led by Avraham Shapira and Avshalom Gissin, they organized quickly and fought for their homes in the most literal sense. A small mounted unit under their command rode west toward the orchards, in the area where the Sportek complex and the Em HaMoshavot neighborhood stand today, in order to stop the attackers before they could reach the heart of the settlement.
For nearly two hours, about twenty defenders faced an armed mob estimated at around 2,000 men, some with military experience. Nearly all the defenders were wounded, yet they held their ground until they were forced to withdraw. Their stand bought precious time, halted theجوم, and prevented a massacre in the center of the community.
Before heading into battle, Avshalom Gissin, a native of Petah Tikva and a former officer in the Ottoman army, told his family:
“I will give my head, but they will not enter the settlement to abuse us.”
In the battle, Avshalom Gissin, Ze’ev Orlov, Haim Zvi Grinstein, and Natan Rapoport were killed. Four defenders who gave their lives so that Petah Tikva would not become another scene of massacre, looting, and destruction.
Alongside the defenders’ bravery, there is a lesser-known and almost surreal chapter: an Indian unit serving in the British Army arrived during the fighting and helped repel the attack. It is hard not to be moved by the thought that Indian soldiers, far from their homeland, found themselves in the heart of the Land of Israel, taking part in the defense of Petah Tikva, the “Mother of the Settlements.”
It is important to remember: this happened in 1921. Petah Tikva had already been attacked in 1889 by an Arab mob from the surrounding area. The violence did not begin after 1948, not after 1967, and not because of “occupation,” settlements, or checkpoints.
The 1921 riots remind us of a fundamental truth: violence against the Jewish community in the Land of Israel began long before the establishment of the state. The root of the opposition was not a specific border, but the very return of the Jewish people to their land and the rebuilding of a national home.
Petah Tikva survived thanks to the courage of its defenders, the sacrifice of those who fell, and the assistance of that nearly forgotten Indian unit.
Avshalom Gissin and his comrades did not fall over a border line, a checkpoint, or a political dispute. They fell over the basic right of Jews to live in their land, work its soil, build a Hebrew community, and defend their homes.
May the memory of Avshalom Gissin, Ze’ev Orlov, Haim Zvi Grinstein, and Natan Rapoport be blessed 🕯️
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