Haganah

Haganah ( ההגנה ) means Hebrew “defense” in . It is about an clandestine organization created in 1920, like forces protection for the Jews having emigrated in Palestine. Its original goal was to defend the Jewish communities of possible attacks by the Arabs, following the Arab riots of 1920, 1921 and 1929, then rising Palestinian of 1936.

At the time of the proclamation of the independence of Israel, in 1948, Haganah is incorporated with the Irgoun and the Lehi (Stern group) to form Tsahal, the defense force of Israel.

Tsahal, whose old Haganah constitutes the spinal column, played a determining role in the war of independence (1948-1949). This one saw the departure of an important part of the Palestinian Arab population.

Origins

Haganah did not appear by chance in 1920, and has more remote roots.

Jewish self-defense in Russia Tsarist

The Russia Tsaristes knew several waves of Pogrom S (massacres) anti-Jews. Two more important are those of 1880-1881 and 1903-1906.

Following these massacres, organizations of Jewish self-defense start to appear, in the aim of protection the Jewish communities.

Some of the creators of Haganah are old Jewish self-defense of Russia. Vladimir Jabotinsky will take part thus after 1903 in the creation of such groups in the Russian empire, before being implied in the creation of Haganah with Jerusalem, in 1920.

Hachomer

In the tradition of the Jewish vigilante groups of Russia, an small group of militants of the Poale Sion create the Hachomer (guard) in 1909, first clandestine group of Jewish self-defense in Othoman Palestine.

the Jewish legion

During the First World War, Vladimir Jabotinsky and Joseph Trumpeldor, two leaders Zionists, manage to obtain Britanniques the birth of Jewish units remained in the history under the name of Jewish Légion. After war, the organizations Zionists of left and right-hand side will try to obtain British that those maintain these units in Palestine, to defend the Jewish community there. The surge of colonists Zionists indeed creates a very sharp tension with the Arab nationalists. The dissolution of the Jewish legion in 1919 thus will be badly lived. The creation of Haganah answers this dissolution partly.

Creation and the years 1920

Haganah is created in 1920 in Jerusalem, following anti-Jewish riots.

Vladimir Jabotinsky, Zionist of right-hand side, played a part in the creation of the organization. But it is the left party Achdut Ha' avoda which takes the young organization in hand, and quickly to the whole of the Yichouv after the news riots of 1921 extends it.

Enough quickly, of the militants of any origines, but especially of left, integrates the organization. Achdut Ha' avoda transfers control from Haganah to the Histadrout, the trade union of the left Zionist. Haganah and Histadrout are thus “unit” organizations, which gather the various left parties (in particular the Hapoel Hatzaïr and the Achdut Haavoda).

The British do not officialize the organization, but tolerate it more or less.

Haganah organizes guards and patrols around Jewish establishments. But of 1921 to 1929, the safe situation is rather calm, and Haganah not very active.

The scission with Haganah main road (1929 - 1937)

Between 1929 and 1931, a series of anti-Jewish riots will make tens of deaths. These riots will have two consequences: will to make haganah the common organization of Yichouv, but also its scission.

the Unit : The riots initially emphasize the need for the Yichouv to have a common defense organization, who is not only the emanation of the left parties. The haganah cannot thus be any more only the emanation of Histdrout. After two years of negotiations between parties, the direction of Haganah passes in 1931 of Histadrout to the Jewish Agence. The Jewish Agency is indeed an organization officially non-partisane. But as it is dominated by the left, the line required a right to watch. A joint committee is thus created. It is the body of supervison political of the haganah, made up with equal shares of six political members: three representative the " gauche" (of which Eliyahou Golomb and Dov Hoz) and three representative the " droite" (of which Saadya Shoshani and Yissaschar Sidkov).

But this change and this paritarism are more symbolic systems than practical: same the men remain with the orders.

The direction of the socialist left, which held Histadrout, indeed amalgamated within the Mapaï, in 1930. Mapaï then took the direction of the Jewish Agence and the World Organization Zionist, in alliance with the liberal centrists (general Sionistes). David Ben Gourion directed Histadrout of 1921 to 1935 (and thus Haganah until 1931). It is him which takes the direction of the Jewish Agency of 1935 to 1948 (and thus again of Haganah).

division : Haganah had developed doctrines of use of the armed force, baptized the “Havlagah” (retained):

for defense, at the time of an Arab attack,
for reprisals, but targeted on old identified attackers.

Very often, the attackers could not be identified, and a current appeared within the organization, preaching reprisals against the populations “supporting” the attackers, i.e. potentially against any Palestinian Arab civilian.

In 1931, this current leaves Haganah, taken along by the chief of this one, Avraham Tehomi.

The new organization takes the name of Haganah Beth (Haganah “B”), before re-electing “Haganah Nationale”. Enough quickly, another name starts to be used “Irgoun Zvaï Leumi” (national military organization), and will become exclusive in 1937.

In practice, the refusal of Havlagah will hardly have consequence, the Arab attacks being stopped before the scission. But Haganah is not from now on alone any more in string in the camp Zionist.

“Haganah Nationale” is not completely an organization of right-hand side, but the sympathizers of the Parti Revisionist are numerous there. Vladimir Jabotinsky, their chief, between besides at the political committee of supervision of the new organization in 1933. Haganah, directed and dominated by the left, is however not either an organization recruiting only on the left. Militants of right-hand side and especially of the center (general Zionists) there remained.

The great Arab revolt and reinforcement of Haganah (1936-1939)

End 1935 to 1939, the Palestinian Arabs revolt against the power agent (British) and colonization Zionist. Several hundreds of Jews will be killed.

This rising will have three major consequences for the armed organizations and Haganah:

military reinforcement of Haganah : this one is shown enough effective to block the Arab attacks, to make safe the isolated points, and to launch raids of reprisals against the Arab nationalist militants. It thus attracts novel members, and counts soon tens of thousands of members (of which only one minority are combatants strictly speaking). She also cooperates in a quasi open way with the British, who are based largely on her and her networks of information in the repression of Palestinian Arab nationalism. It is the time of “Special Night Squads” (night special squadrons), an official Jewish unit directed by the British major Orde Charles Wingate, a sympathizer Zionist. Officially, the members of the SNS were not members of Haganah, but in practice much were it.
Il does not have there at that time “permanent” combatants of Haganah, with share the staff. The officers and the combatants have an community activity (in the police force or the Kibboutz im, often), but are mobilizable constantly where necessary.

the national scission of Haganah : In front of the rise to power of Haganah, even “limited” by Havlaga, national part of Haganah decides to rejoin Haganah to offer a common front to the Arab attacks. As from 1936, Avraham Tehomi engages of the negotiations in this direction. He is convened in Paris by Vladimir Jabotinsky, which requires of him an official rallying to the Révisionnisme and its political authority. Tehomi accepts, but passes finally to Haganah in 1937 with a good part of its troops. Haganah is reinforced, as well politically as of many combatants.

toughening of Irgoun : Haganah main road gives up its historical name, and uses nothing any more but that of “Irgoun Zvaï Leumi”. The organization then becomes clearly the military wing of the movement revisionist, but with a power quite less than that of Haganah. Irgoun launches out in attack campaigns against the Palestinian Arab civilians who are worth to him the reprobation of the official authorities of Yichouv and Haganah, as well as the qualification of terrorist organization by the British.
See also the article detailed on the Attacks of Irgoun during the Great Arab Revolt

The Second world war (1939-1945)

In 1939, the great Arab revolt is overcome. But the British decide to seek an area of agreement with the Arab Nationalisme. 1939 are the year of the “white paper”, by which the British stop in fact any Jewish immigration. A unit Palestinian state (thus with Arab majority) is promised for 1949. It is the rupture with the movement Zionist. The Second world war however will push back the confrontation.

David Ben Gourion declares shortly after the beginning of the war “ We will help the British in the war as if there were not White paper and we will fight against White paper as if there were not the war ”.

Haganah creates a department of clandestine immigration, charged to insert clandestinely of the Jews in the country: the Mossad Aliyah Beth. The organization girl of Haganah will make enter of tens of thousands of Jews between 1939 and 1948 (with an quasi-interruption between 1942 and 1945 because of war).

In parallel, the Jewish Agency and Haganah cooperate with the British effort of war against the Nazisme. Tens of thousands of Jews begin in the British forces. They will be organized within a specific unit, the “Jewish brigade”, in 1944. Haganah will benefit full with this military training, supporting the engagement of its militants.

Haganah will still use the British support to create a force of elite, but this time under its own command. Abbreviation for “Pelougoth Makahaz” (groups of attack), the Palmach was created by Haganah at the request of the United Kingdom, on May 19th, 1941. The British indeed feared an invasion of Palestine by the troops of the Marshal Erwin Rommel, and tried to mobilize a maximum of forces. Palmach will be the unit of elite of Haganah, largely recruited within the extreme left of the Kibboutz im. It will count in its rows of the people like Ygal Allon (future minister), Moshe Dayan (future Head of State major and future minister), Rehavam Ze' evi (future minister and directing party of extreme right-hand side Moledet) or Yitzhak Rabin (future chief of staff and Prime Minister).

Thanks to Palmach and the “Jewish Brigade”, Haganah is with still leaving the war in a position much stronger than in 1939.

The “season” (1944-1945)

In February 1944, the Irgoun, whose Menahem Begin took the direction in 1943, decides to break the cease-fire that it respected with the British since 1940. For Irgoun, the war is gained by the allies. The question which arises now is that of the creation of a Jewish state, to which the British are opposed formally since 1939.

The first actions of Irgoun cause the disapproval of Yichouv. Haganah starts to obstruct the actions of Irgoun. Towards the end of 1944, the violent actions of Irgoun are accentuated: British soldiers and police officers are assassinated. The direction of the Jewish Agence decides in November 1944 then to harden its attitude, and launches “the season of hunting to the terrorist”, remained in the history of Israel like “the season”. This one lasts until July 1945. Haganah tracks the members of Irgoun. Hundreds will be delivered to the British. Others are removed and questioned, sometimes tortured. Irgoun owes arréter the essence of its operations. Menahem Begin prohibits the reprisals, preventing the swing in the civil war.

The confrontation with the British (1945 - 1947)

After the end of the war in Europe in May 1945, the crisis of the refugees bursts. Hundreds of thousands of surviving Jews of the Shoah try to leave Europe, towards America or the Palestine agent. The British oppose this last destination formally. The crisis is immediate and fast. The Mossad Aliyah Beth takes again its actions with large scales, and Haganah stops “the season” as of the summer 1945. As from the second half-year 1945, whereas the drama of the refugees increases, and that the anger of the Yichouv against the the United Kingdom becomes enormous, Haganah decides to make an agreement with Irgoun and its radical dissidence, the Lehi. It will be “the movement of Hebraic resistance”.

For the first time, Haganah takes the weapons against its old allies. But if the Lehi and the Irgoun do not hesitate to kill police and soldiers, Haganah is devoted to sabotages while trying to avoid deaths. The tension between the two strategies is inevitable. July 22nd, 1946, the Irgoun makes jump the seat of the British administration, the Hôtel King David. There are 91 died, of which many Jewish and Arab civilians. It should be noted that Irgoun had prevented explosion and discounted an evacuation. But the judgment is important in the Yichouv, and Haganah decides to break its alliance. It will continue to be opposed to the British, but within the framework of a Guérilla much less violent than that of the Irgoun and Lehi.

In fact, Haganah concentrates more and more on clandestine immigration, through the Mossad Aliyah Beth. It is a question of making return of the refugees in the country, but also of causing a major international political crisis on this question. Tens of a thousand of refugees brought by Haganah are placed in camps of internment by the British, causing a sharp international reprobation. The culminating point of this crisis of the refugees will be reached in 1947 with the business of the Exodus. The political success gained by Haganah in this business will play a certain part in the decision of the Nations Plain to create a Jewish state.

The war against Palestinian and the creation of Tsahal (1947 - 1948)

See also: Plane of division of Palestine, Israeli-Arab War of 1948, Taken refuge Palestinian

At the summer 1947, the British decide to return their mandate on Palestine to UNO. This one forms a board of inquiry, the UNSCOM, which starts to work on a Plan of division of Palestine between a Jewish state and an Arab state.

As of this date, David Ben Gourion, president of the Jewish Agency and thus political leader of Haganah, orders with this one to prepare with a war against the Arab states. Weapons start to be bought through Europe or North America, including heavy weapons. Some are brought in Palestine (clandestinely, because the British oppose it), others stored abroad while waiting to be able to be brought in Palestine. They will be it after the creation of Israel, on May 15th, 1948. Haganah ties in particular profitable relations with the Soviet Union. Stalin indeed wishes the departure of British of the area, and decided to support the movement Zionist in this objective.

Israel is created by a vote of the Nations Plain on November 29th, 1947. The official proclamation of the state is not expected that on May 15th, 1948.

From November 30th, 1947 to May 15th, 1948 begins a civil war between Arabic and Jewish alive in Palestine. The forces British, present in the country and supposed to maintain the order there are shown largely passive. London does not want to support Palestinian (the the United States voted in favor of Israel), but out of the hundreds of British were killed between 1944 and 1947 by the armed organizations Zionists (especially the Irgoun and the Lehi), and the hostility with the Zionism remains sharp.

The civil war will be held in two stages:

At the end of November 1947 at the end of March 1948, Haganah is in a defensive posture vis-a-vis the Arab attacks which develop. The Jewish cities and villages maintain with difficulty their communications, the roads being particularly aimed by the attacks.

From at the end of March 1948 until May 15th, Haganah launches a series of offensives in the coastal strip and around Jerusalem. The Palestinian irregular forces are overcome, and the Jewish zones are protected. The Arab populations of the zone start to leave.

The role of Haganh in these departures remains discussed. The “Dalet plan” or “plane D” adopted by the Jewish Agency and Haganah in January and applied as from March 1948, envisages “operations against the centers of enemy population located within our defense system or in the vicinity, in order to prevent which they are used as bases by an active armed force. These operations can be carried out in the following way: or by destroying the villages (by putting fire at it, by dynamiting them and by depositing mines in their remains), and especially in the case of centers of population difficult to control; or while assembling search operations and of control according to the following guiding lines: surrounding of the village and investigation inside. In the event of resistance, the armed force must be destroyed and the population expelled out of the borders of the State”

Officially, the “plan D” had limited objectives: to make safe the Jewish zones. It did not apply to the whole of the Palestinian territory, and them expulsions envisaged were conditional (in the event of resistance). The historian Israeli historian Benny Morris considers that “the plan D was not a political plan of expulsion of the Arabs of Palestine”, but admits that, “as from at the beginning of April, there are clear traces of a policy of expulsion at the same time at the national level and the local level”.

Mid-May 1948, Haganah clearly took the top. It aligns 20.000 men, including 5.000 combatants of elites of Palmach. The command is unified, and the availability out of light weapons is good. The heavy weapons are on the other hand still very few. They will arrive especially after May 15th, 1948.

After the creation of the state, the Israeli army is officially creates on May 26th, 1948. Haganah disappears then. It takes part in the creation of Tsahal with the Lehi and the Irgoun. But those align only respectively 1.000 and 5.000 combatants, who more is held in suspicion by the new government of David Ben Gourion for their “terrorist” activities passed and for their political orientations. The new Israeli army will be thus primarily made up around Haganah. This one will have to now face either the Palestinian armed groups, but the armies of the Arab countries bordering.

Shortly after the creation of Tsahal, during the first trève of the war of independence (June 11th - July 8th) Ben Gourion decides to dissolve the 3 brigades of Palmach, which he considers being too on the left (close to the parties gathering in the Mapam). Their members are divided in the other units of Tsahal.

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