Shaw Commission

The disturbances demonstrated how quickly rumors, fear, religious disputes, and political grievances could combine into widespread violence that neither community had fully anticipated or successfully controlled.

The British government appointed the Shaw Commission to investigate what had happened.

After months of testimony, the commission concluded that the immediate violence had been triggered by disputes surrounding the Western Wall, but that deeper causes included Arab fears over increasing Jewish immigration, land purchases, and the possibility of eventually becoming a minority in Palestine.

The commission also criticized the British administration for failing to anticipate the scale of the unrest and for responding too slowly once violence erupted.