Resistance Tiyul

Josh Matz

Resistance Blog

Today we went on a tiyul to a Russian compound that was built in the 1860’s. At the time, the Ottoman Empire was weakening and countries wanted to build in Israel in order to lay claim to the land. The original purpose of the building was a Hospital. However, in 1917 when the British took over, they converted the building into a jail for Arab and Jewish Criminals. They also housed man political prisoners here. In 1948, Jews took over the building and in 1960, Israel bought the building from the Russians for 3.5 million dollars worth of oranges. From here until 1991, the building was used as a warehouse.

Here is a picture of resistance fighters who died.

In 1917, Britain ordered the British Mandate, which gave Britain administrative control over Eretz Israel. From here, there were multiple waves of Aliyah that took place. In the Third Aliyah (1919-1923), Eastern European jews came and established settlements in the North. However, soon after they arrived, riots took place by Arabs in Jerusalem and Jaffa, killing many jews. After these riots, the British Government issued a commision saying that Arabs are hostile to zionism. To deal with the problem, the government re-stated the Balfour Declaration and declared that the East Bank of the Jordan River should go to Arabs. After this, there were two more waves of Aliyah (4th Aliyah and 5th Aliyah). All started with Aliyah, which led to riots, which led to a commission by the British Government, which led to a white paper (solution).

Later, we learned about Jewish settlements at the time. Jews put settlements in the shape of an N in the North in order to defend their land and borders. They also did this to stretch out the borders as much as they could.

Here is a picture of the jail cell within the Russian compound.

Towards the end of the tiyul, we learned about defense organizations. The first one we learned about was called Hagala (1920), this was the first big-time para-military organization led by David Ben Gurion. Their symbol was an olive branch wrapped around a dagger. This symbolized the fact that you need a big army in order to have peace. The main purpose of this organization was to defend Jewish interests and Kibbutzim. The next organization we learned about was called Etzel. They wanted all the land east and west of the Jordan River (aka the ancient borders of Judea). This organization led by Jabotinsky was illegal because it resisted the British. In class, we discussed an act committed by members of Etzel. The King David Hotel was blown up by members of Etzel because there were British offices in the building. They called in the bomb threat but the threat was not taken seriously and the hotel was not evacuated. Unfortunately, 91 people died. We discussed whether this was an act of terrorism or an act of resistance.

The last organization we learned about was Lechi (1940) founded by Abraham Yeir Stern. This group didn’t want jews to enlist in the British Army. This was the most extreme and radical group. They even mailed bombs to British Officials. Finally in May, 1948, they joined the IDF.

After learning a lot about the different fighting groups, which one would you have joined and why?