The Peasants’ Revolt was an 1834 rebellion against Egyptian conscription and taxation of Arabs in Palestine. Egyptian general Ibrahim Pasha attempted to take over all of Palestine, but at one point he went to Jaffa and the Arabs of Jerusalem started their revolt.
An account of what happened was published in a Sydney, Australia newspaper:
As I made continual excursions among the Arabs, and they conversed with me without reserve, I discovered that they were very discontented with the Pacha’s government, particularly with his taking their young men for soldiers. They informed me that a widely extended conspiracy was on the point of breaking forth into rebellion, and that I should do well to quit Palestine. I accordingly made preparations for my -departure ; but, in spite of all my diligence, I was too late. No sooner did the Pacha depart for Jaffa than the revolution commenced. …The Arabs from Samaria and Hebron marched on Jerusalem. The Pacha had left only 600 men in Jerusalem, and the assailants were more than 40;000. ‘As, however, the walls were furnished with a few cannon, and the Arabs were armed with nothing but lances and muskets, we could have held out forever, had not the Arabs discovered a subterranean passage.
They entered at midnight, and: the soldiers, after a gallant defence, .were obliged to retire to the castle. All the Christians fled to the different convents and thus, saved their lives: For five or six days the city was given up to plunder, and never did I witness such a heart rending spectacle.
The Jews, who had no place of safety to which they could retire, suffered very much; their houses were so,pillaged that they had not a bed to lie on, many were murdered, their wives and daughters violated &c.; in fine, barbarities were committed too shocking to relate.
Ibrahim Pasha returned to Jerusalem with 5000 soldiers and conquered the city again. He then went on to Hebron in August, where he attacked the Arab rebels hiding there – and the Jews.
From an 1851 account of “The Revolt and Earthquake of Jerusalem in 1834.”
The Pasha, after taking Nablus, remained there three weeks to disarm the people, and took fifteen thousand guns. The sheikhs . having fled to Hebron, ,where they were determined to make their last stand, the Pasha marched thither. After twice defeating the rebels in the field, he took the town by assault and gave it over to the soldiers to plunder. They killed all the Muslim inhabitants they could find and, some of them fleeing into the Jewish quarter, the soldiers carried on the work of plunder there also, and completely stripped the Jews, their houses, and even their synagogues.
Arabs fought Arabs – and used it as an excuse to attack the Jews.
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