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Tower and Stockade

{{Short description|Settlement method used by Zionist settlers in Mandatory Palestine}}

File:NegbaHomaveMigdal001.JPG]]

Tower and Stockade ({{langx|he|חוֹמָה וּמִגְדָּל|Ḥoma u'migdal|wall and tower}}) was a settlement method used by Zionist settlers in Mandatory Palestine during the 1936–39 Arab Revolt. The establishment of new Jewish settlements was legally restricted by the Mandatory authorities, but the British generally gave their tacit accord to the Tower and Stockade actions as a means of countering the Arab revolt. During the course of the Tower and Stockade campaign, some 57 Jewish settlements including 52 kibbutzim and several moshavim were established throughout the country. The legal base was a Turkish Ottoman law that was still in effect during the Mandate period, which stated that buildings erected in one night didn't require a building permit and couldn't be demolished by authorities.{{Cite book |last=Rosenzweig |first=Rafael N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wKuU3ZBS7gEC |title=The Economic Consequences of Zionism |date=1989 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-09147-4 |language=en}}

Background

File:תבנית גבול יוסף הותקן ע"י מכנר וליש-JNF015911.jpeg

During the Arab Revolt, these settlements provided safe havens on land that had been officially purchased by the Jewish National Fund (JNF),Rotbard, Sharon. Wall and Tower - The Mold of Israeli Adrikalut. In: Territories, KW - Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, 2003, p.162, {{ISBN|3-88375-734-9}} protected Jewish populations, particularly in remote areas, on these Jewish-owned land and maintained "facts on the ground." These settlements would eventually be transformed into fortified agricultural settlements, and served for security purposes (as defences against Arab raiders) as well as creating contiguous Jewish-populated regions, which would later help determine the borders of the UN-proposed Jewish state.

The operation was run by the Haganah and led by Moshe Sharett.Negev. p. 276

All of the major settlement groups (mostly the kibbutz and moshav movements) took part in the campaign, which consisted of setting up a protected perimeter, with a defensive wall around it and a guard tower in the middle. While many of these settlements were not officially approved by the British Mandate authorities, existing settlements were not dismantled, based on the Turkish Ottoman law still valid at the time. Due to the threat of immediate attack, at least as much as to any need to comply with the clauses of this law, the construction of the Tower and Stockade settlements had to be finished very quickly, usually in the course of a single day.{{cite book |author1=Illana Shamir |author2=Shlomo Shavit |title=The Young Readers' Encyclopedia of Jewish History |publisher=Viking Kestrel |date=December 1987 |isbn=0670817384 |page=[https://archive.org/details/youngreadersency0000unse/page/79 79] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/youngreadersency0000unse/page/79}} What is less well known is the fact that the British authorities were rather lax at implementing restrictions against such Jewish activities at a time when their main security concern was the Arab revolt, thus "Tower and Stockade" settlements were always created by day, not by night - against some still prevailing myths. In the very different political and security climate of the final months of the Mandate, a similar act of creating facts on the ground happened in April 1948 at Bror Hayil, when much of the work was indeed done during the night.{{cite news |author= Dana Adams Schmidt |title= Big convoy fights way to Jerusalem |newspaper= New York Times |date= April 21, 1948 |page= 18}}

The invention of the "Tower and Stockade" system is attributed to Shlomo Gur, founding member of Kibbutz Tel Amal (now Nir David), and was developed and encouraged by the architect Yohanan Ratner.see Russian-language article [http://www.ejwiki.info/wiki/Ратнер,_Иоханан here] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160609051330/http://ejwiki.info/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%80,_%D0%98%D0%BE%D1%85%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BD |date=2016-06-09 }} The system was based on the fast construction of a perimeter wall from pre-fabricated wooden moulds, which would be filled with gravel and enclosed with barbed wire fencing. On average, the enclosed space formed a yard of 35 x 35 metres (1 dunam). Within this protected yard, the pre-fabricated wooden observation tower and the four sheds sheltering the initial 40 settlers were erected. The constructions were located within eyesight of neighbouring settlements and with accessibility for motor vehicles.

A model of a homa u'migdal was constructed for the Land of Israel Pavilion at the 1937 World Exposition in Paris.Weizman/Rotbard. p.47

57 were constructed between the last days of 1936 and October 1939.Rotbard, Sharon. "Wall and tower (Homa u'migdal). The mold of Israeli architecture". Segal, Rafi & Weizman, Eyal, editors (2003). A civilian occupation. The politics of Israeli architecture, p. 57. Verso. {{ISBN|1-85984-549-5}}.

The buildings were prefabricated by Solel Boneh, the construction arm of the Jewish trade union, Histadrut.Ross, Andrew (2019) Stone Men: The Palestinians Who Built Israel, p. 40. Verso. {{ISBN|978-1-78873-026-6}}.

In 1940 two more outpost were built in the northern Hula valley, She'ar Yashuv and Beit Hillel. They, along with nearby Dafna, Dan, and the only later established Nehalim (October 1943), were known as the "Ussishkin Fortresses", named after Menachem Ussishkin, the president of the Jewish National Fund. The initial plan had been to create one "fortress" for each of the six branches of the settlement movement existing at the time. The site designated for a sixth "fortress", today's Kibbutz Snir, was only settled after the 1967 Six-Day War.

File:שדה נחום - העליה לשדה נחום.-JNF032960.jpeg|Arrival of tower, Sde Nahum 1937

File:ראשיתה של גינוסר-JNF022266.jpeg|Stockade walls being filled with gravel, Kibbutz Ginosar 1937

File:שדה נחום - בעליה לשדה נחום, בן לילה הוקמה חומת הגנה לשדה נחום.-JNF032961.jpeg|Wall construction, Sde Nahum 1937

File:תל יצחק - הקמת מגדל הצופים ביום עלית קיבוץ תל יצחקעל אדמת הקק"ל בסביבות אבן יהודה-JNF025809.jpeg|Construction of tower, Tel Yitzhak 1938

Settlements

Tower and Stockade settlements by date of establishment:

Gallery

File:יישובי חומה ומגדל-JNF022358.jpeg|Wall & Tower locations 1936-1939

File:מגדל ביטחון באלונים-JNF022308.jpeg|Alonim 1939

File:חיאם אל-ואליד (חומה ומגדל - קיבוץ עמיר)-ZKlugerPhotos-00132ft-09071706851215a0.jpg|Amir 1940

File:אילון - הכשרת קרקע-JNF034056.jpeg|Ayalon under construction. 1939

File:בית הלל - מראה.-JNF036122.jpeg|Beit Hillel 1944

File:מראה בית-יהושע בשרון-JNF011873.jpeg|Beit Yehoshua 1939

File:Zoltan Kluger. Gwul Josef.jpg|Beit Yosef April 1937

File:קיבוץ דפנה בראשיתו-JNF022398.jpeg|Dafna 1939

File:דן.-JNF033828.jpeg|Dan 1940

File:עין גב - מראה עין גב, צילום אויר-JNF035073.jpeg|Ein Gev March 1939

File:עין המפרץ - מראה עין המפרץ-JNF034737.jpeg|Ein HaMifratz 1939

File:Tower-and-Stockade Ein-Hashofet.jpg|Ein Hashofet 1938

File:גינוסר - על אדמת פיק"א-JNF009239.jpeg|Ginosar 1937

File:Hanita1938.JPG|Hanita 1938

File:כפר מנחם - מראה.-JNF045540.jpeg|Kfar Menahem 1937

File:ע"י אבן יהודה מראה כפר נטר.-JNF044931.jpeg|Kfar Netter 1939

File:כפר רופין - מגדל הצופים-JNF029068.jpeg|Kfar Ruppin 1938

File:מעלה החמישה בשנה הראשונה לקיומה-JNF007211.jpeg|Ma'ale HaHamisha 1939

File:"מעוז" חיים - מראה הישוב.-JNF032846.jpeg|Maoz Haim 1938

File:מסדה - מראה מסדה - צילום אויר-JNF035080.jpeg|Masada 1939

File:A VIEW OF KIBBUTZ MESSILOT IN THE BEIT SHEAN VALLEY. מראה כללי של קיבוץ מסילות בעמק בית שאן..jpg|Mesilot 1939

File:בני ברית - מראה המושב.-JNF045041.jpeg|Moledet 1941

File:מראה כללי של נגבה בחוף הנגב-JNF002733.jpeg|Negba 1942

File:נוה איתן - מאהל-JNF034795.jpeg|Neve Eitan 1938

File:מגדל הצופים והאוהלים סביבו בשדה-נחום-JNF004509.jpeg|Sde Nahum 1939

File:שער הגולן (נוסד בידי חברי "עין הקורא") - מראה כללי-JNF009512.jpeg|Shaʽar HaGolan 1937

File:שבי ציון - מראה שבי ציון,צילום אויר-JNF035094.jpeg|Shavei Tzion 1939

File:MOSHAV SHEAR YESHUV IN THE UPPER GALILEE. מראה כללי של מושב שאר ישוב בגליל העליון.D828-003.jpg|She'ar Yashuv 1940

File:היבול בשנה הראשונה בניר-דוד-JNF004552.jpeg|Tel Amal 1937

File:מראה תל-יצחק בשרון-JNF044939.jpeg|Tel Yitzhak 1939

File:Zoltan Kluger. Tirat Zwi.jpg|Tirat Zvi 1937

File:צור משה - מראה צור משה-JNF033592.jpeg|Tzur Moshe 1940

File:נחלים (ארגון ירושלים) - מצודת אוסישקין ד' המשק המשותף בצפון החולה-JNF034584.jpeg|Ussishkin D 1940

See also

{{commons category}}

  • Three lookouts (in the Negev), 1943 settlements, created as advanced positions in southern Palestine/northern Negev
  • 11 points in the Negev, 1946 settlements created prior to the partition of Palestine
  • Settlement of the Thousand, two plans (1926 and 1932) to settle Jewish families on farms in Mandate Palestine
  • Tegart fort, British police and border forts built during the 1930s Arab revolt
  • Gecekondu, legal loophole in modern Turkey allowing for permit-free night-time building

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • [http://www.shimur.org/english/article.php?id=37 Homa u-Migdal Museum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220134112/http://www.shimur.org/english/article.php?id=37 |date=2012-02-20 }}, Beit She'an
  • Sharon Rotbard: [http://babelarchitectures.blogspot.com/2008/12/wall-and-tower-mold-of-israeli.html Wall and Tower: The mold of Israeli Adrikhalut], December 17, 2008

Category:Mandatory Palestine

Category:Settlement schemes in Mandatory Palestine

Category: Yishuv during World War II

Category:Fortifications by type

Category:Fortified settlements

Category:Fortified towers by type

Category:Fortifications in Israel

Category:Towers in Israel

Category:Wooden towers

Category:Wooden buildings and structures in Israel