Editing Tiberias (section)

===British Mandate===
[[File:Abbud26C.jpg|thumb|Postcard of Tiberias, by [[Karimeh Abbud]], ca 1925]]
[[File:חמי טבריה 1924.jpg|thumb|Hot springs in Tiberias 1924, Younes & Soraya Nazrian library, University of Haifa digital collections]]
[[File:1928הרחוב הראשי של טבריה. אוסף קרוזו מתוך האוספים הדיגיטליים של ספריית יונס וסוראיה נזריאן, אוניברסיטת חיפה.jpg|thumb|Tiberias main road, 1925, Younes & Soraya Library digital collections, University of Haifa]]
In the [[1922 census of Palestine]] conducted by the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate authorities]], Tiberias had a population of 6,950 inhabitants, consisting of 4,427 Jews, 2,096 Muslims, 422 Christians, and five others.<ref name=Barronp6>Barron, 1923, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n8/mode/1up 6]</ref> Initially the relationship between Arabs and Jews in Tiberias was good, with few incidents occurring in the [[1920 Palestine riots|Nebi Musa riots]] in 1920 and the Arab riots throughout [[1929 Palestine riots|Palestine in 1929]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Śegev |first1=Tom |title=One Palestine, complete: Jews and Arabs under the British mandate |date=2001 |publisher=Holt |isbn=978-0-8050-6587-9 |edition=1. Owl Books |series=An Owl book |location=New York}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Hillel |title=Year Zero of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1929 |date=2015 |publisher=Brandeis University Press |isbn=978-1-61168-812-2 |series=The Schusterman series in Israel studies |location=Waltham, Massachusetts |translator-last=Watzman |translator-first=Haim}}</ref> The first modern spa was built in 1929.<ref name="Erfurt-CooperCooper20092" />

The landscape of the modern town was shaped by the great flood of 11 November 1934. Deforestation on the slopes above the town combined with the fact that the city had been built as a series of closely packed houses and buildings – usually sharing walls – built in narrow roads paralleling and closely hugging the shore of the lake. Flood waters carrying mud, stones, and boulders rushed down the slopes and filled the streets and buildings with water so rapidly that many people did not have time to escape; the loss of life and property was great. The city rebuilt on the slopes and the British Mandatory government planted the [[Swiss Forest]] on the slopes above the town to hold the soil and prevent similar disasters from recurring. A new seawall was constructed, moving the shoreline several yards out from the former shore.<ref>Mandated landscape: British imperial rule in Palestine, 1929–1948, Roza El-Eini, (Routledge, 2006) p. 250</ref><ref>''The Changing Land: Between the Jordan and the Sea: Aerial Photographs from 1917 to the Present'', Benjamin Z. Kedar, Wayne State University Press, 2000, p. 198</ref> In October 1938, Arab militants [[1938 Tiberias massacre|murdered 19 Jews]] in Tiberias during the [[1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1938.htm|title=United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine|format=.JPG|access-date=2007-11-29|archive-date=2019-06-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608153227/http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1938.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Between 8–9 April 1948, sporadic shooting broke out between the Jewish and Arab neighborhoods of Tiberias. Arab Liberation Army and irregular forces attacked and closed the Rosh Pinnah road, isolating the northern Jewish settlements.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tal |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vs2PAgAAQBAJ&dq=tiberias+cut+off+road+1948&pg=PA108 |title=War in Palestine, 1948: Israeli and Arab Strategy and Diplomacy |date=2004-06-24 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-77513-1 |language=en}}</ref> On 10 April, the Haganah launched a mortar barrage, killing some Arab residents.<ref name="morris1832">Morris, 2004, pp. 183–185</ref> The local National Committee refused the offer of the [[Arab Liberation Army]] to take over defense of the city, but a small contingent of outside irregulars moved in.<ref name="morris1832" />

During 10–17 April, the Haganah attacked the city and refused to negotiate a truce, while the British refused to intervene. Newly arrived Arab refugees from [[Nasir ad-Din, Tiberias|Nasir ad-Din]] told of the civilians there being killed, news which brought panic to the residents of Tiberias.<ref name="morris1832" /> The Arab population of Tiberias (6,000 residents or 47.5% of the population) was evacuated by the British forces on 18 April 1948.<ref>Harry Levin, ''Jerusalem Embattled – A diary of a city under siege.'' Cassel, 1997. {{ISBN|0-304-33765-X}}., p.81: 'Extraordinary news from Tiberias. The whole Arab population has fled. Last night the Haganah blew up the Arab bands' headquarters there; this morning the Jews woke up to see a panic flight in progress. By tonight not one of the 6,000 Arabs remained.' (19 April).</ref>

The Jewish population looted the Arab areas and had to be suppressed by force by the [[Haganah]] and Jewish police, who killed or injured several looters.<ref>M Gilbert, p. 172</ref> On 30 December 1948, when [[David Ben-Gurion]] was staying in Tiberias, [[James Grover McDonald]], the [[United States ambassador to Israel]], requested to meet with him. McDonald presented a British ultimatum for Israeli troops to leave the [[Sinai peninsula]], Egyptian territory. Israel rejected the ultimatum, but Tiberias became famous.<ref>Gilbert, p. 245</ref>

====Destruction of the old city====
During the months after the occupation of the city, a large part of the buildings of the old city in Tiberias was destroyed, and this for various reasons - problems of [[hygiene]], rickety construction, and the fear that the Arabs would return to the city, when it became known that this was a requirement of [[Jordan]] as part of the negotiations conducted in [[1949 Armistice Agreements| Rhodes]]. Finally, the authorities acceded to the initiative of the [[Jewish National Fund]], Yosef Nahmani, who argued that the houses of the Old City should be demolished, despite the opposition of Mayor Shimon Dahan.

The destruction began in the summer of 1948 and continued until the first months of 1949.<ref name=abasi>{{cite web|url=https://in.bgu.ac.il/bgi/iyunim/19/mustafa.pdf|title=The destruction of the old city in Tiberias, 1948-1949 |publisher=Ben Gurion University |language=he}}</ref> A visit by [[David Ben-Gurion]] to the city brought an end to the destruction, after 477 out of 696 houses were destroyed according to official estimates.<ref name=ypaz>{{cite web| url= https://files.ybz.org.il/periodicals/Cathedra/88/Article_88.9.pdf| title=Preservation of architectural heritage in the abandoned neighborhoods after the Independence War | publisher= Kathedra| page=103 |language=he}}</ref> After the destruction remained the remains of the wall and the citadel, several houses on the outskirts of the city, as well as the two mosques that operated in the city. The area stood abandoned for decades, until operations began to restore it in the 1970s.<ref name=ypaz2>{{cite web| url= https://files.ybz.org.il/periodicals/Cathedra/88/Article_88.9.pdf| title=Preservation of architectural heritage in the abandoned neighborhoods after the Independence War | publisher= Kathedra| page=106 |language=he}}</ref>