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Organized Arab Attacks on Jews in 1936-39
C
Mobilized Hagana Defenses of Palestine
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BY MOSHE RON
Jewish News Special
Israel Correspondent
WYN and HAROLD LANDIS
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Friday, July 9, 1976 33
JERUSALEM — A short
time before Passover in 1936
a mounting tension was felt
in the mixed Arabic-Jewish
towns of Jerusalem, Haifa,
Tiberias and Safed. The
population of Tel Aviv was
horrified by the news that a
group of Jews, including
women and nurses, were
slaughtered in Jaffa.
This started the Arab
riots, which lasted all of
three years. In the riots be-
tween 1936 and 1938, 600
Jews were killed when Ar-
abs attacked Jewish settle-
ments and quarters in
mired cities. In these years
only 380,000 Jews were in
Eretz Israel.
Riots in 1920, 1921 and
1929 were carried out by
armed gangs. This time an
organized nationalist Ara-
bic movement was active,
which proclaimed a rebel-
lion against the Jewish pop-
ulation and the British
Mandatory Power.
British soldiers and pol-
icemen were also at-
tacked. The movement
was backed by Nazi Ger-
many and Fascist Italy.
The attacks were carried
out by paramilitary units,
and were aimed against
means of communication
and transport.
There were attacks on
Jews working in agricul-
tural work, and Arab sni-
pers shot from roofs of
houses into the Jewish
quarters.
The Hagana mobilized its
members throughout the
country. They guarded ki-
butzim and cities. But the
Arab gangs preferred to at-
tack workers in the fields
and travellers on roads.
The demand was put for-
ward to change the static
defense system, and to at-
tack the Arab gangs wher-
ever they could be found.
Some leaders of the Jew-
ish population stressed
moral arguments against
attacking Arabs, because
innocent people might be
hurt. They, maintained that
force would create more
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force. Use of force by the
Jews could damage a certain
cooperation with the British
authorities and Army
against the Arab gangs.
In the meantime, Jews
were killed every day. The
Hebrew newspapers each
day carried black frames
with the names of the
killed.
At last the Hagana
turned from defensive mea-
sures to a new strategic and
tactical system. Mobile Ha-
gana units were moving on
the roads in order to prevent
the Arab gangs from attack-
ing Jewish villages. Yitzhak
Lode and Eliyahu Cohen
were high Hagana com-
manders, who organized
these first mobile units in
the Jerusalem area.
In 1937 a special unit was
organized within Hagana
called "Field groups" (Fosh),
which carried out night
ambushes against Arab
gangs. Later, special com-
mando units were formed
called "Pum" which carried
out revenge actions against
Arab villages whose inhabit-
ants helped the Arab gangs
in their attacks against
neighboring Jewish settle-
ments.
After the British authori-
ties became convinced that
the Arab terror was not di-
rected only against Jews but
against them as well, they
strengthened cooperation
with the Hagana. More than
300 Jewish Auxiliary Police-
men (Ghafirs) were mobil-
ized and armed. They were
officially under British
Command but cooperated
unofficially with the Ha-
gana, which became a semi-
legal force.
In course of time special
Jewish Auxiliary Mobile
Police units were formed
which guarded roads and
communication lines and
fought against Arab ter-
rorists. The number of
members of these units in
the three years of Arab
terror reached 22,000,
armed with 8,000 rifles.
Already in 1938, when
Arab gangs started riots
against Jewish settlements
and British soldiers, British
Captain Ord Wingate. (who
was a devoted friend of the
Jews) organized special
night squads of Hagana
members, which attacked
Arab gangs before they
managed to approach Jew-
ish settlements. These at-
tacks were a revolutionary
change in the strategy and
tactics of the Hagana.
In the 1936-39 riots of the
Arab gangs, the Jewish au-
thorities decided to estab-
lish new Jewish settlements
and to organize them in
paramilitary forms. Fifty-
two new settlements were
established overnight.
Jewish settlers, accompa-
nied by armed auxiliary pol-
(Copyright 1976, JTA Inc.)
A variety of reasons are
advanced for the afternoon
prayer service being called
"Minha," Some feel the
name "Minha" comes
from the verb "to lead." The
meaning would thus be that
this service, or the sacrifice
which once accompanied it,
"leads" a person to the Al-
mighty. Another source
(Oruch ha-Shulchan 232)
claims that the term Min-
hah means a "gift." The
implication is that origi-
nally once a day, or one
service of prayer a day,
would have been sufficient.
This would have been an
obligation and the individual
would be offering the sacrif-
ice of the morning or the
morning prayer service as a
payment for a debt (See
Maimonides, Tefillah 1:2).
The Jewish tradition added
the afternoon prayer as an
added obligation. This
added duty is comparatively
a gift that is offered by the
worshipper. It is also con-
tended that "Minha" is a
term which refers to the
specific time of day when
the prayer is offered. The
term would then come from
a root meaning to "rest," to
recline," or to "decline." The
meaning, then, is that this
is the time of day when the
sun descends or declines
from its height reached dur-
ing the noon hour.
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The evening prayer serv-
ice is referred to by the
name "Maariv."
The original name was
"Arvit" while the name
"Maariv" as used to refer to
this service is supposed to
have been first used in the
16th century. It is con-
tended that the term
"Maariv" was used because
the first benediction of the
evening service used this
word as its main theme, ex-
tolling the Almighty who
(Maariv) "brings on" the
evening. This is an acknowl-
edgement that it is the Al-
mighty who brings about
the change in the nature of
the day from "daytime" to
"evening."
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Minha, Maariv
Service Explained
BY RABBI SAMUEL FOX
icemen took possession of
their lands and built in a
few hours the first prefabri-
cated houses and a watch-
tower.
In this way Hanita in the
north, Tirat Zvi in Beisan
Valley and other settle-
ments were established.
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