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July 5: A preliminary meeting of the General Zionist movement is held in Basel, at which the two factions of the General Zionists unite. It is decided that the branch of the movement based in Palestine shall possess autonomous rights.

June 39 - July 17: The 17th Zionist Congress convenes in Basel. Chaim Weizmann is deposed from the presidency of the Zionist Movement. His removal, on the grounds that he was taking an overly moderate line toward the British and the Arabs, is initiated by the Revisionist and led by Vladimir Jabotinsky. The Congress rejects Jabotinsky's proposal to declare that the "final goal" of the Zionist movement was a Jewish state. Officially the Zionists still speak of a "national home". Jabotinsky tears up his delegate's card and walks out with his faction. Nahum Sokolow is elected in place of Weizmann. Chaim Arlozoroff takes charge of the political department in Jerusalem (Colonel Frederick Kisch, a Weizmann protégé, ends an eight year term as head of the political department of the Zionist Executive and the Jewish Agency in the wake of his mentor's oust.) The following are also elected to the executive: Selig Brodetsky, Berl Locker, Emanuel Neumann and Yoshua Heschel-Prebstein. The four non-Zionist members of the Jewish Agency Executive elected by and assembly which met simultaneously are: Yitzhak Breckson, Maurice Hexter, Bernard Cahan and David Werner Senator. The Congress is now made up of the following groups: 33% General Zionists, 29% Labor, 21% Revisionists, 14% Mizrachi, 3% Radicals.

Chaim Arlozoroff, head of the Political Department of the Jewish Agency, demands that Moshe Shertok be appointed as the political secretary of that Department.

The Jewish Agency formulates a detailed plan ("Plan for Establishing Good Relations with British Officials") for developing close relations with government officials. It proposes to encourage the British to reside in the Jewish neighborhoods and to subsidize their rent.

Chairman of the Immigration Department:
David Werner Senator.

Treasurer of the Jewish Agency: David Werner Senator.

Chairman Settlement Department: Arthur Ruppin and Dr. Maurice Hexter.

January 5: Elections for the third Elected Assembly are held. Mapai, with over 40% of the vote, is the winner. The Revisionists constitute the second largest party. In the first session it will decide to transfer responsibility for education and health from the Zionist Executive to the National Council. Yitzhak Ben-Zvi is elected chairman.

February 10: The Habimah Theater relocates to Palestine permanently.

February 13: The MacDonald Letter is published in London.

February 15: Arab protests against the MacDonald Letter. They refer to it as "The Black Letter".

March 26: Elections for the agricultural workers' committee: Mapai gets 79% of the votes.

April 5: Three members of Kibbutz Yagur are murdered by a Sheikh Iz-al-Din al-Qassam cell - the first major incident since the riots of 1929.

The Haganah branch in Jerusalem splits. A group of commanders led by Avraham Silberg-Tehomi leaves and forms a separate underground body, the Haganah Haleumit (National Defense), or Irgun Bet, the precursor of Etzel. Silberg-Tehomi belonged to the Haganah group which was responsible for the murder of de Haan in 1924.

April 16: The poet Rahel (Bluwstein) dies at age 41.

May 25: Elections are held for the 17th Zionist Congress. The Yishuv delegation of 36 consists of 24 Mapai and HaShomer HaTzair, 7 Revisionists, 2 Mizrachi, 2 Hapoel HaMizrachi and 1 Yemenite.

June 9: Session of the Permant Mandates Commission.

July 13: The British government announces the appointment of Sir Arthur Wauchope as High Commissioner. The appointment is made with the concurrence of Chaim Weizmann.

August 1: An order of the High Commissioner allows all illegal immigrants to legalize their presence in Palestine as a preparatory step for the census scheduled for the end of the year.

August 23: The Arab sector holds a general strike to protest the distribution of weapons to Jews.

After protracted debate, a Haganah national command is established in the summer, sponsored by all the Jewish national bodies.

September 2: High Commissioner Sir John Chancellor leaves the country.

November 18: The second census under the auspices of the British reveals the following: the population of Palestine is 1, 035,154 of whom 759,952 are Muslims, 175,006 are Jews, 90,607 are Christians and 9,589 other. The Revisionist movement calls on the Jewish population to boycott the census.

November 20: The new High Commissioner Sir Arthur Wauchope arrives.

December 6-17: An international Islamic conference is held in Jerusalem with delegates from all Muslim countries. It adopts anti-Zionist decisions. Moving spirit behind the conference is Haj Amin al Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.

Mandatory report for 1931.

The Soviet Union makes clear its opposition to Zionism and support of a national liberation movement of the Arab masses.

The first world conference of Betar, the Zionist revisionist youth movement, takes place in Danzig. Vladimir Jabotinsky is elected head of Betar.

Fritz Lang, German film director, directs "M". It stars Hanna Meron and Peter Lorre. Lang will leave Germany in 1933 and become a successful U.S. film director. Hanna Meron will flee Germany for Palestine in 1933 and become the star of the Cameri Theater in Tel Aviv. Peter Lorre will leave Germany in 1934 and start a notable career in Hollywood.

A retrospective exhibition at the Berlin National Gallery of the work of Lesser Ury (1861-1931) to celebrate his 70th birthday becomes a memorial to Ury. Ury lived in poverty, and his paintings were unrecognized until late in his life, when he achieved fame for his cityscapes of street life in Berlin.

Arthur Ruppin, sociologist and Zionist leader, publishes "The Sociology of the Jews" in two volumes, the first major work on the subject.