Haganah: Difference between revisions

The Jewish paramilitary organisations in the [[Yishuv|New Yishuv]] (the Zionist enterprise in Palestine) started with the [[Second Aliyah]] (1904 to 1914).<ref>{{cite web|author=Speedy |url=http://thespeedymedia.blogspot.com/2011/09/idfs-history.html#.U4ei6F4ZffM |title=The Speedy Media: IDF's History |publisher=Thespeedymedia.blogspot.com |date=2011-09-12 |access-date=2014-08-03}}</ref> The first such organization was [[Bar-Giora (organization)|Bar-Giora]], founded in September 1907. It consisted of a small group of Jewish immigrants who guarded settlements for an annual fee. It was converted to Hashomer ({{lang-he|השומר}}; "The Watchman") in April 1909, which operated until the British Mandate of Palestine came into being in 1920. Hashomer was an elitist organization which never had more than 100 members.<ref>[[Tom Segev|Segev, Tom]] (2018 - 2019 translation [[Haim Watzman]]) ''A State at Any Cost. The Life of David Ben-Gurion.'' Apollo. {{ISBN|9-781789-544633}} p.96</ref> During [[World War I]], the forerunners of the Haganah/IDF were the [[Zion Mule Corps]] and the [[Jewish Legion]], both of which were part of the British Army. After the [[1920 Palestine riots|Arab riots]] against Jews in April 1920, the Yishuv's leadership saw the need to create a nationwide underground defense organization, and the Haganah was founded in June of the same year. The Haganah became a full-scale defense force after the [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine]] with an organized structure, consisting of three main units—the [[Hish (Haganah corps)|Field Corps]], [[Guard Corps (Haganah)|Guard Corps]], and the [[Palmach]] strike force. During World War II the successor to the Jewish Legion of World War I was the [[Jewish Brigade]], which was joined by many Haganah fighters. During the 1947–48 civil war between the Arab and Jewish communities in what was still Mandatory Palestine, a reorganised Haganah managed to defend or wrestle most of the territory it was ordered to hold or capture. At the beginning of the ensuing 1948–49 full-scale conventional war against regular Arab armies, the Haganah was reorganised to become the core of the new Israel Defense Forces.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

 

After the 1920 [[1920 Palestine riots|Arab riots]] and 1921 [[Jaffa riots]], the Jewish leadership in Palestine believed that the British, to whom the [[League of Nations]] had given a mandate over Palestine in 1920, had no desire to confront local Arab gangs that frequently attacked Palestinian Jews.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/defense.html|title=The Role of Jewish Defense Organizations in Palestine (1903–1948)|encyclopedia=Jewish Virtual Library}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.idf.il/1283-19078-EN/Dover.aspx|title=Defending the nation for 65 years|date=30 May 2013|last1=Freund|first1=Gabriel|last2=Sahar|first2=Raz|publisher=IDF Spokesperson}}</ref> Believing that they could not rely on the British administration for protection from these gangs, the Jewish leadership created the Haganah to protect Jewish farms and [[kibbutz]]im. The first head of the Haganah was a 28-year-old named Yosef Hecht, a veteran of the [[Jewish Legion]].<ref name="vanCreveld">{{cite book|title= The Sword And The Olive: A Critical History of the Israeli Defence Force|last= Van Creveld|first= Martin|isbn= 978-1586481551|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FW8SAQAAMAAJ|publisher=Public Affairs|page= 21|year= 1998}}</ref> In addition to guarding Jewish communities, the role of the Haganah was to warn the residents of and repel attacks by Palestinian Arabs. In the period between 1920 and 1929, the Haganah lacked a strong central authority or coordination. Haganah "units" were very localized and poorly armed: they consisted mainly of Jewish farmers who took turns guarding their farms or their kibbutzim.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

 

During the [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine]], the Haganah worked to protect British interests and to quell Arab rebellion using the [[Fosh (Haganah unit)|FOSH]], and then [[Hish (Haganah corps)|Hish]] units. At that time, the Haganah fielded 10,000 mobilized men along with 40,000 reservists. Although the British administration did not officially recognize the Haganah, the British security forces cooperated with it by forming the [[Jewish Settlement Police]], [[Jewish Supernumerary Police]] and [[Special Night Squads]], which were trained and led by Colonel [[Orde Wingate]]. The battle experience gained during the training was useful in the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]].{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

 

During the interwar period, as part of its policy of supporting a Jewish state in Palestine in order to facilitate mass Jewish emigration from its territory, the [[Second Polish Republic]] provided military training and weapons to Zionist paramilitary groups, including Haganah.<ref>A Marriage of Convenience: The New Zionist Organization and the Polish Government 1936-1939 Laurence Weinbaum ''In 1936, an agreement was reached between the Polish government and the Haganah in the person of its emissary, Arazi,''</ref> Envoys from Haganah headed by [[Yehuda Arazi]] received dozens of shipments with military supplies, including 2750 Mauser rifles, 225 RKM machine guns, 10,000 hand grenades, two million bullets for rifles and machine guns, and a large number of pistols with ammunition. The British exerted heavy pressure on the Polish government to stop these deliveries. One of the last purchases of Arazi were two airplanes and two gliders. When he fled Poland to France, around 500 rifles were abandoned in a Warsaw warehouse.<ref>The Road to September 1939: Polish Jews, Zionists, and the Yishuv on the Eve of World War II (Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry) Brandeis University Press 2018 page 57-59</ref> Members of the Haganah were also trained in a military camp in [[Rembertow]] along with [[Betar]] members between the years 1931 and 1937; it is estimated that training courses at the camp were attended by around 8,000 to 10,000 participants during their existence.<ref>[http://www.polska-zbrojna.pl/home/articleshow/26945?t=Betar-Hagana-i-Irgun-w-polskiej-szkole#] Betar, Hagana i Irgun w polskiej szkole Polska Zbrojna 25.11.2018</ref>

 

In reaction to the White Paper, the Haganah built up the [[Palmach]] as the Haganah's elite strike force and organized illegal Jewish immigration to Palestine. Approximately 100,000 Jews were brought to Palestine in over one hundred ships during the final decade of what became known as [[Aliyah Bet]]. The Haganah also organized demonstrations against British immigration quotas.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

 

[[File:Sinking of the Patria (1940).jpg|thumb|In 1940 a Haganah bomb sank the {{SS|Patria|1913|6}}, killing 267 people|alt=]]

In 1940 the Haganah sabotaged the [[Patria disaster|''Patria'']], an ocean liner being used by the British to deport 1,800 Jews to Mauritius, with a bomb intended to cripple the ship. However the ship sank, killing 267 people and injuring 172.<ref name="jewishmag">{{cite web |url= http://www.jewishmag.com/46mag/patria/patria.htm |title=The Story of the S/S Patria |date=August 2001 |work=Eva Feld |publisher=Jewish Magazine |access-date= 10 November 2017}}</ref><ref name=Perl>{{cite book |last=Perl |first=William R. |author-link=William R. Perl |year=1979 |title=The Four-front War: From the Holocaust to the Promised Land |location=New York |publisher=[[Crown Publishing Group]] |isbn=0-517-53837-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/fourfrontwarfrom00perl/page/250 250] |url=https://archive.org/details/fourfrontwarfrom00perl/page/250 }}</ref>

On May 14, 1941, the Haganah created the [[Palmach]] (an acronym for ''Plugot Mahatz''—strike companies), an elite commando section, in preparation against the possibility of a British withdrawal and [[Axis powers|Axis]] invasion of Palestine. Its members, young men and women, received specialist training in guerilla tactics and sabotage.<ref>Yigal Allon, ''Sword of Zion''. {{ISBN|978-0-297-00133-1}}. pp. 116, 117.</ref> During 1942 the British gave assistance in the training of Palmach volunteers but in early 1943 they withdrew their support and attempted to disarm them.<ref>Allon, pp. 125, 126.</ref> The Palmach, then numbering over 1,000, continued as an underground organisation with its members working half of each month as [[kibbutz]] volunteers, the rest of the month spent training.<ref>Allon, p. 127.</ref> It was never large—by 1947 it amounted to merely five battalions (about 2,000 men)—but its members had not only received physical and military training, but also acquired leadership skills that would subsequently enable them to take up command positions in Israel's army.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

 

In 1944, after the assassination of [[Lord Moyne]] (the British Minister of State for the Middle East), by members of the [[Lehi (group)|Lehi]], the Haganah worked with the British to kidnap, interrogate, and in some cases, deport Irgun members. This action, which lasted from November 1944 to February 1945, was called the ''[[The Hunting Season|Saison]]'', or the Hunting Season, and was directed against the Irgun and not the Lehi.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}} Future [[Jerusalem]] mayor [[Teddy Kollek]] was later revealed to be a [[Jewish Agency]] liaison officer working with the British authorities who had passed on information that led to the arrest of many Irgun activists.<ref>Andrew, Christopher (2009) ''The Defence of the Realm. The Authorized History of MI5.'' Allen Lane. {{ISBN|978-0-7139-9885-6}}. pp. 355, 356.</ref>

 

Many Jewish youth, who had joined the Haganah in order to defend the Jewish people, were greatly demoralized by operations against their own people.<ref name=Bell>Bell, Bowyer J.: ''Terror out of Zion''</ref> The Irgun, paralyzed by the Saison, were ordered by their commander, [[Menachem Begin]], not to retaliate in an effort to avoid a full blown civil war. Although many Irgunists objected to these orders, they obeyed Begin and refrained from fighting back. The Saison eventually ended due to perceived British betrayal of the Yishuv becoming more obvious to the public and increased opposition from Haganah members.<ref name=Bell/>

 

[[File:Haganah.jpg|thumb|Haganah members in training (1947)]]

[[File:Hagana Ship - Jewish State at Haifa Port (1947).jpg|thumb|Haganah ship ''Jewish State'' at [[Port of Haifa|Haifa Port]] (1947)]]

* The 12th or [[Negev Brigade]] – established in March 1948

 

{{Main|1947–1949 Palestine war|1948 Arab–Israeli War}}

[[File:Haganah fighters - 1947.jpg|thumb|Haganah fighters in 1947]]

The [[Museum of Underground Prisoners]] in Jerusalem commemorates the activity of the underground groups in the pre-state period, recreating the everyday life of those imprisoned there.

 

Some [[Bedouin]]s had longstanding ties with nearby [[Jews|Jewish]] communities. They helped defend these communities in the [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine]]. During the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]], some Bedouins of [[Tuba-Zangariyye|Tuba]] formed an alliance with the Haganah defending Jewish communities in the [[Upper Galilee]] against [[Syrian Republic (1930-58)|Syria]]. Some were part of a Pal-Heib unit of the Haganah. Sheik Hussein Mohammed Ali Abu Yussef of Tuba was quoted in 1948 as saying, "Is it not written in the [[Koran]] that the ties of neighbors are as dear as those of relations? Our friendship with the Jews goes back for many years. We felt we could trust them and they learned from us too".<ref>''Palestine Post'', "Israel's Bedouin Warriors", Gene Dison, August 12, 1948</ref>