<P> Zionist supporters were by now aware of Arab opposition, and this led the movement in 1921 to pass a motion calling on the leadership to "forge a true understanding with the Arab nation". </P> <P> In 1921, Mohammad Amin al - Husayni was appointed as Grand Mufti of Jerusalem by the Palestine High Commissioner Herbert Samuel, after he had been pardoned for his role in the 1920 Palestine riots . During the following decades, he became the focus of Palestinian opposition to Zionism . </P> <P> The Mufti believed that Jews were seeking to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem on the site of the Dome of the Rock and Al - Aqsa Mosque . This led to a long confrontation over the use of the Kotel, also known as the Wailing Wall, which was owned by the Moslem authorities but was sacred to Jews . </P> <P> Religious tension, an international economic crisis (affecting crop prices) and nationalist tension (over Zionist immigration) led to the 1929 Palestine riots . In these religious - nationalist riots Jews were massacred in Hebron and the survivors forced to leave the town . Devastation also took place in Safed and Jerusalem . </P>

Who were the zionists and what did they want