Haganah

The Haganah (Hebrew: "The Defense", ?????) was a Jewish paramilitary organization in Palestine during the British mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948. The Haganah are known to be the foundation of the modern Israel Defense Forces (??"?)—Israel's army.

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The predecessor of Haganah was the HaShomer (Guild of Watchman) established in 1909. It was a small group of Jewish immigrants who guarded settlements for an annual fee. At no time did the group have more than 100 members.

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The Arab riots of 1920 and 1921 made it clear to the Jewish leadership that Jewish farmers and settlements need protection from the Arabs. It was clear that the British had no desire to confront the Arabs over the Arab attacks on the Jews in Palestine. The Jewish leadership decided that the Jews need to rely on themselves for protection, and so the Haganah came into existence. The role of the Haganah was to guard the Jewish Kibbutzim and farms, to warn the residents of the Arab attacks, and to repel the attackers. In the period between 1920-1929 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. Following the Arab Riots in Palestine of 1929, that left 133 Jews dead and led to the ethnic cleansing of all Jews from the city of Hebron, the Haganah's role changed dramatically. It became a much larger organization encompassing nearly all the youths and adults in the Jewish settlements, as well as thousands of members from the cities. It also acquired foreign arms and began to develop workshops to create hand grenades and simple military equipment. It went from being an untrained militia to a capable army.

Jewish: REDIRECT jews...

Palestine: The term Palestine may refer to:...

British mandate of Palestine: The British Mandate of Palestine was a swathe of territory in the Middle East, formerly belonging to the Ottoman Empire, which the League of Nations entrusted to the United Kingdom to administer in the aftermath of World War I as a Mandate Territory....