Eretz Israel of 1928 was somewhat gloomy, but there were some bright spots. The crisis was not yet over, but the achievements of the decade since the Balfour Declaration was far from insignificant. The number of Jews in Palestine had tripled - from 55,000 to 160,000; the number of settlements had also increased significantly - from 49 in 1917 to 96 in 1928; and the Jewish National Fund had purchased more than 200,000 dunams of land. The Zionist enterprise in Eretz Israel was fraught with problems and although progress was being made, it was slow and erratic. The British were sympathetic, but not to any great degree. The Arabs rioted twice in the Jewish Yishuv at the beginning of the 1920s and then ceased their hostile activity. Some hoped and prayed that this was because the Arabs were becoming used to the presence of increasing numbers of Jews in Palestine.