Haganah
L'Haganah (ebraico: "La Difesa", ההגנה) è stata un'organizzazione paramilitare ebraica in Palestina durante il Mandato britannico in Palestina dal 1920 al 1948. L'Haganah è nota per essere stato il nucleo delle moderne Forze Israeliane di Difesa (צה"ל)— dell'esercito d'Israele.
Origini
Il predecessore dell'Haganah è stato l'HaShomer (Corporazione dei guardiani]], fondato nel 1909, costituito da un piccolo gruppo di Ebrei emigrati che sorvegliava gli insediamenti in cambio d'una paga annua. Mai tale gruppo superò all'epoca i 100 membri. Dopo i moti arabi del 1920 e del 1921, la leadership ebraica decise che i suoi agricoltori e i suoi insediamenti avevano bisogno di protezione dagli Arabi. Essa pensava che i Britannici non intendevano confrontarsi con gli Arabi a proposito degli attacchi agli ebrei in Palestina. Il ruolo dell'Haganah era quindi quello di proteggere i Kibbutz ebraici e le fattorie, prevenire i loro abitanti dagli attacchi arabi e respingere gli aggressori. Nel periodo intercorrente tra il 1920 e il 1929 l'Haganah mancava di una forte autorità centralizzata e di un accettabile coordinamento. Le "unità" dell'Haganah erano estremamente localizzate, oltre che armate in modo assai approssimativo. Consistevano per lo più di agricoltori ebrei che, a turno, sorvegliavano le loro fattorie e i loro Kibbutzim. In seguito ai moti arabi in Palestina del 1929, che portarono alla morte di 133 ebrei e che condussero a una sorta di "pulizia etnica" di tutti gli ebrei delle città di Hebron, il ruolo dell'Haganah cambiò bruscamente. Essa divenne la più grande organizzazione comprendente pressoché tutti i giovani e gli adulti negli insediamenti ebraici, come pure migliaia di abitanti delle città. Essa acquistà anche armamento straniero e cominciò a sviluppare officine per creare bombe a mano ed equipaggiamenti militari di base. Essa finì col trasformarsi da milizia non addestrata in un esercito efficiente.
-->In 1936 the Haganah fielded 10,000 mobilized men along with 40,000 reservists. During the Great Uprising 1936-1939, it participated actively to protect British interests and to quell Arab insurgence. Although the British administration didn't officially recognize the Haganah, the British Security Forces cooperated with it by forming the Jewish Settlement Police, Jewish Auxiliary Forces and Special Night Squads. The battle experience gained in the Great Uprising was to become very useful in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
In 1937, the most right-wing elements of Haganah branched off for the second time and formed Irgun Zvai-Leumi, better known as just "Irgun". They were discontented with the policy of restraint when faced with British and Arab pressure. Irgun and their off-shoot, the Lochamei Herut Israel (also known as the Stern gang after its leader), became well-known for their clandestine combat methods including the use of terrorism.
To appease the Arabs, the British severely restricted Jewish immigration to Palestine in 1939. In response, Haganah started to organize illegal immigration and demonstrations against Britain. It set up the "Organization for Illegal Immigration", Aliyah Bet, which worked through bases in Switzerland and Turkey.
World War II participation
Despite the 1939 White Paper which deeply angered the Zionist leadership in Palestine, David Ben-Gurion, then chairman of the Jewish Agency, set the policy for the Zionist relationship with the British: We shall fight the war against Hitler as if there were no White Paper, and we shall fight the White Paper as if there were no war. The Irgun, however took a more extreme stance starting in 1944 and began bombing British installations.
In the first years of World War II, the British authorities asked Haganah for cooperation again, due to the fear for an Axis breakthrough in North Africa. After Rommel was defeated at El Alamein in 1942, the British stepped back from their all-out support for Haganah. In 1943, after a long series of requests and negotiations, the British Army announced the creation of the Jewish Brigade Group. While Palestinian Jews had been permitted to enlist in the British army since 1940, this was the first time an exclusively Jewish military unit served in the war under Jewish flag. The Jewish Brigade Group consisted of 5,000 soldiers and was deployed in Italy in September 1944. The brigade was disbanded in 1946.
All in all, more than 30,000 Palestinian Jews served in the British army during the war.
On May 19, 1941 the Haganah created the Palmach (an acronym for Plugot Mahatz—strike companies), a military-like section which focused on giving out training to youngsters. It was never big, by 1947 it amounted to only five battalions (about 2,000 men), but its members had received not only physical and basic military training, but also acquired some leadership skills that allowed them to take up command positions as part of Israel's army.
After the war
After the war, the Haganah carried out anti-British operations in Palestine. Liberation of interned immigrants from the Atlit camp, the bombing of the country's railroad network, sabotage raids on radar installations and bases of the British police. It also continued to organize illegal immigration.
On May 28, 1948, less than two weeks after the creation of the state of Israel on May 15, the provisional government created the Israeli Defense Forces which would succeed the Haganah. It also outlawed maintenance of any other armed force. Irgun challenged the decision which led to a brief clash between Haganah and Irgun. Eventually Irgun laid down their weapons and Menachem Begin transformed his militia to a political party, the Herut.
Famous members of the Haganah included: Yitzhak Rabin, Ariel Sharon, Rehavam Zeevi, Dov Hoz, Moshe Dayan, and Dr. Ruth Westheimer.
External links
- The Iron Wall, by Lenni Brenner
- The Haganah, from the Jewish Virtual Library
- Lexicon of Zionism: Haganah (Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
- The Haganah: History of the Israeli Underground Defense force, by the ZIIC
- What is the history of the Jewish Armed Forces in Mandate Palestine?, by Me'ir Pa'il (Galili Center for Haganah Studies)