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119-741: At the time of the British Mandate the citadel in the old city of Acre was used as a prison. In total, the prison contained 700 Arab prisoners and 90 Jewish prisoners, the latter mainly members of the Jewish underground groups Haganah , Lehi , and Irgun , who had been captured by the British. One of those prisoners was Eitan Livni (father of Tzipi Livni ), the Irgun operations officer. On April 16, 1947, four Irgun members, Dov Gruner , Yehiel Dresner , Mordechai Alkahi , and Eliezer Kashani , who had been captured by

238-458: A British withdrawal and Axis invasion of Palestine. Its members, young men and women, received specialist training in guerrilla tactics and sabotage. During 1942 the British gave assistance in the training of Palmach volunteers but in early 1943 they withdrew their support and attempted to disarm them. The Palmach, then numbering over 1,000, continued as an underground organization with its members working half of each month as kibbutz volunteers,

357-462: A Palestinian Arab municipal leader, described attacks "provoking terror among the women and children, who were very influenced by the horrors of Dayr Yasin ", and provided an eyewitness account of the flight of Haifa's Arab residents: Thousands of women, children and men hurried to the port district in a state of chaos and terror without precedent in the history of the Arab nation. They fled their houses to

476-630: A city "between the bay and the Promontory of Zeus" (i.e., the Carmel), which may be a reference to Shikmona , a locality in the Haifa area. By Hellenistic times, the city had moved to a new site south of what is now the Bat Galim neighborhood of modern Haifa because the old port's harbour had become blocked with sand. A Greek -speaking population living along the coast at this time was engaged in commerce. Haifa

595-465: A diversion party disguised as Arabs moved into position in the vicinity of a British Army camp with a mortar. At 16:22, the charges detonated, blowing a massive hole in one of the prison's walls. Upon hearing the blast, the diversion party fired mortar shells at the British Army camp, then withdrew. Meanwhile, in the prison, the first group of escapees quickly ran out of their cells towards the breach in

714-533: A former member of the British Special Interrogation Group , was selected to lead the operation. The plan was facilitated by Peres Etkes, an American of Russian Jewish origins, who worked for the Mandatory authorities as an engineer and who had built the prison. According to his nephew, Etkes furnished the Irgun with a detailed map of the prison. The break-out was originally planned for April, but

833-575: A large number of pistols with ammunition. The British exerted heavy pressure on the Polish government to stop these deliveries. One of the last purchases of Arazi were two airplanes and two gliders. When he fled Poland to France, around 500 rifles were abandoned in a Warsaw warehouse. Members of the Haganah were also trained in a military camp in Rembertow along with Betar members between the years 1931 and 1937; it

952-480: A nadir." The Jewish Agency called the break "an irresponsible suicidal act", while Irgun commander Menachem Begin hailed it as an act of heroism. The five men from the blocking squads who had been captured, Avshalom Haviv , Meir Nakar , Yaakov Weiss , Amnon Michaelov, and Nahman Zitterbaum, were tried in a British military court. Haviv, Weiss, and Nakar were sentenced to death. Michaelov and Zitterbaum received life sentences since they were minors. In response to

1071-417: A nearby beach and were alerted by sounds of the commotion at Acre Prison. They opened fire on the truck. The driver, attempting to dodge the fire, drove the truck into a cactus clump, causing it to collapse on its left side. The men tumbled out and were immediately fired on by the British as they tried to escape. Dov Cohen and two other Irgun fighters, Nissim Levy and Zalman Lifshitz, was waiting by their jeep at

1190-456: A nearby command post. When the British opened fire, Cohen at first attempted to intervene and guide the other prisoners to safety. His uniform initially prevented the British from shooting at him, but in the end he, along with Levy and Lifshitz, were shot while providing covering fire for the escapees. A total of nine escapees and attackers died. Some had been taken alive but wounded, and died in jail after being refused medical treatment. Only one of

1309-577: A raid on the Arab village of Balad al-Shaykh , where many of the Arab refinery workers lived, in what became known as the Balad al-Shaykh massacre . British forces in Haifa redeployed on 21 April 1948, withdrawing from most of the city while still maintaining control over the port facilities. According to Ilan Pappé, although the Jewish mayor of the city, Shabtai Levy , urged the Arab residents to stay, in other parts of town loudspeakers could be heard ordering Arabs to leave "before it's too late." On 21 April,

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1428-713: A reconnaissance report was received indicating that the Turks were leaving Haifa. The British made preparations to enter the city and came under fire in the Balad al-Sheikh district (today Nesher ). After the British regrouped, an elite unit of Indian horsemen were sent to attack the Turkish positions on the flanks and overrun their artillery guns on Mount Carmel. Under the British Mandate , Haifa saw large-scale development and became an industrial port city. The Baháʼí Faith in 1918 and today has its administrative and spiritual centre in

1547-407: A result of prices and salary drop. The 1922 census of Palestine , conducted by the British authorities, recorded Haifa's population as 24,634 (9,377 Muslims, 8,863 Christians, 6,230 Jews, 152 Baha'i , and 12 Druze ). By the time of the 1931 census of Palestine , this had increased to 50,403 (20,324 Muslims, 15,923 Jews, 13,824 Christians, 196 Baha'i, 126 Druze, and 10 with no religion). Between

1666-548: A single assassination operation in which a British official who had been judged to be excessively cruel to Jewish prisoners was shot dead. The Haganah also organized the Birya affair . Following the expulsion of the residents of the Jewish settlement of Birya for illegal weapons possession, thousands of Jewish youth organized by the Haganah marched to the site and rebuilt the settlement. They were expelled by British shortly afterward while showing passive resistance , but after they returned

1785-524: A site established on Tel Shikmona upon what were already the ruins of Sycaminon (Shiqmona). Haifa (or Haifah) is mentioned by the mid-11th-century Persian chronicler Nasir Khusraw , and the 12th- and 13th-century Arab chroniclers, Muhammad al-Idrisi and Yaqut al-Hamawi . Nasir-i-Khusrau visited in 1047; he noted that "Haifa lies on the seashore, and there are here palm-gardens and trees in numbers. There are in this town shipbuilders, who build very large craft." The Crusaders, who captured Haifa briefly in

1904-561: A small group of Jewish immigrants who guarded settlements for an annual fee. It was converted to Hashomer ( Hebrew : השומר ; "The Watchman") in April 1909, which operated until the British Mandate of Palestine came into being in 1920. Hashomer was an elitist organization which never had more than 100 members. During World War I , the forerunners of the Haganah/IDF were the Zion Mule Corps and

2023-409: A steam-based power station , opened factories and inaugurated carriage services to Acre, Nazareth and Tiberias, playing a key role in modernizing the city. The first major wave of Jewish immigration to Haifa took place in the mid-19th century from Morocco, with a smaller wave of immigration from Turkey a few years later. In the 1870s, large numbers of Jewish and Arab migrants came to Haifa due to

2142-498: A third time, the British backed off and allowed them to remain. In addition to its operations, the Haganah continued to secretly prepare for a war with the Arabs once the British left by building up its arms and munitions stocks. It maintained a secret arms industry, with the most significant facility being an underground bullet factory underneath Ayalon, a kibbutz that had been established specifically to cover it up. British estimates of

2261-416: A truck, a jeep, two military pickup trucks and civilian vehicles, which were then disguised as British. British Army uniforms were also acquired. A stock of civilian clothing was also arranged to help the escapees blend in with the general population. Irgun reconnaissance efforts had discovered a weak spot in the citadel: the southern wall right above a Turkish bath . The Irgun had therefore smuggled TNT into

2380-513: Is also mentioned more than 100 times in the Talmud , a work central to Judaism. Hefa or Hepha in Eusebius of Caesarea 's 4th-century work, Onomasticon , is said to be another name for Sycaminus. This synonymizing of the names is explained by Moshe Sharon , who writes that the twin ancient settlements, which he calls Haifa-Sycaminon, gradually expanded into one another, becoming a twin city known by

2499-570: Is another name used by some locals to refer to Tell es-Samak, when it was the site of a hamlet of 250 residents, before the settlement was moved in 1764–5 to the site from which the modern city emerged. In 1764–5 Zahir al-Umar moved the village to a new site 1.5 mi (2.4 km) to the east, which he also fortified. The new village, the nucleus of modern Haifa, was first called al-imara al-jadida (Arabic: 'the new construction') by some, but others residing there called it Haifa al-Jadida ('New Haifa') at first, and then simply Haifa . In

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2618-620: Is estimated that training courses at the camp were attended by around 8,000 to 10,000 participants during their existence. By 1939, the British had issued the White Paper , which severely restricted Jewish immigration to Palestine, deeply angering the Zionist leadership. David Ben-Gurion , then chairman of the Jewish Agency , set the policy for the Zionist relationship with the British: "We shall fight

2737-623: Is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv —with a population of 290,306 in 2022. The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area , the third-most populous metropolitan area in Israel. It is home to the Baháʼí Faith 's Baháʼí World Centre , and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a destination for Baháʼí pilgrimage . Built on the slopes of Mount Carmel ,

2856-688: Is the major regional center of northern Israel. Two respected academic institutions, the University of Haifa and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology the oldest and top ranked university in both Israel and the Middle East, are located in Haifa, in addition to the largest K–12 school in Israel, the Hebrew Reali School . The city plays an important role in Israel's economy . It is home to Matam , one of

2975-510: The Liwa of Lajjun. It had a population of 32 Muslim households and paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, olives, and goats or beehives. Haifa was subsequently mentioned in the accounts of travelers as a half-ruined impoverished village with few inhabitants. The expansion of commercial trade between Europe and Palestine in the 17th century saw Haifa's revival as a flourishing port as more ships began docking there rather than Acre . In 1742, Haifa

3094-702: The Aliyah Bet program, in which ships carrying illegal immigrants attempted to breach the British blockade of Palestine and land illegal immigrants on the shore (most were intercepted by the Royal Navy ), and the Palmach performed operations against the British to support the illegal immigration program. The Palmach repeatedly bombed British radar stations being used to track illegal immigrant ships, and sabotaged British ships being used to deport illegal immigrants, as well as two British landing and patrol craft. The Palmach performed

3213-706: The Baháʼí Faith when the remains of the Báb , founder of the Bábí Faith and forerunner of Baháʼu'lláh in the Baháʼí Faith, were moved from Acre to Haifa and interred in the shrine built on Mount Carmel. Baháʼís consider the shrine to be their second holiest place on Earth after the Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh in Acre. Its precise location on Mount Carmel was shown by Baháʼu'lláh himself to his eldest son, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá , in 1891. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá planned

3332-592: The Battle of Hattin , Saladin 's Ayyubid army captured Haifa in mid-July 1187 and the city's Crusader fortress was destroyed. The Crusaders under Richard the Lionheart retook Haifa in 1191. In the 12th century religious hermits started inhabiting the caves on Mount Carmel, and in the 13th century they formed a new Catholic monastic order, the Carmelites . Under Muslim rule, the church which they had built on Mount Carmel

3451-524: The British . During the Battle of Haifa in the 1948 Palestine war , most of the city's Arab population fled or were expelled . That year, the city became part of the then-newly-established state of Israel. As of 2016 , the city is a major seaport located on Israel's Mediterranean coastline in the Bay of Haifa covering 63.7 km (24.6 sq mi). It lies about 90 km (56 mi) north of Tel Aviv and

3570-670: The British Mandate , leading through the Haganah to the national army of Israel, the IDF. The evolution went step by step from Bar-Giora , to Hashomer , to Haganah, to IDF. The Jewish paramilitary organizations in the New Yishuv (the Zionist enterprise in Palestine) started with the Second Aliyah (1904 to 1914). The first such organization was Bar-Giora , founded in September 1907. It consisted of

3689-635: The Ficus sycomorus ', and in Arabic as Tell el-Semak or Tell es-Samak , meaning 'mound of the sumak trees', names that preserved and transformed the ancient name, by which the town is mentioned once in the Mishnah (composed c. 200 CE) for the wild fruits that grow around it. The name Efa first appears during Roman rule , some time after the end of the 1st century, when a Roman fortress and small Jewish settlement were established not far from Tel Shikmona. Haifa

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3808-761: The Hebrew Bible . A grotto on the top of Mount Carmel is known as the "Cave of Elijah", traditionally linked to the Prophet Elijah and his apprentice, Elisha. In Arabic, the highest peak of the Carmel range is called the Muhraka , or "place of burning", harking back to the burnt offerings and sacrifices there in Canaanite and early Israelite times. In the 6th century BCE, during the Persian period, Greek geographer Scylax wrote of

3927-672: The Hejaz Railway , known as the Jezreel Valley railway , was built between 1903 and 1905. The railway increased the city's volume of trade, and attracted workers and foreign merchants. In 1912, construction began on the Technion Institute of Technology, a Jewish technical school that was to later become one of Israel's top universities, although studies did not begin until 1924. The Jews of Haifa also founded numerous factories and cultural institutions. In 1909, Haifa became important to

4046-530: The Hish units. At that time, the Haganah fielded 10,000 mobilized men along with 40,000 reservists. Although the British administration did not officially recognize the Haganah, the British security forces cooperated with it by forming the Jewish Settlement Police , Jewish Supernumerary Police and Special Night Squads , which were trained and led by Colonel Orde Wingate . The battle experience gained during

4165-535: The Israeli Declaration of Independence and the start of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on May 15, 1948, the Haganah, now the army of the new state, engaged the invading armies of the surrounding Arab states. On May 28, 1948, less than two weeks after the creation of the state of Israel on May 15, the provisional government created the Israel Defense Forces , merging the Haganah, Irgun, and Lehi, although

4284-757: The Jewish Legion , both of which were part of the British Army. After the Arab riots against Jews in April 1920, the Yishuv's leadership saw the need to create a nationwide underground defense organization, and the Haganah was founded in June of the same year. The Haganah became a full-scale defense force after the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine with an organized structure, consisting of three main units—the Field Corps , Guard Corps , and

4403-563: The Palmach strike force. During World War II the successor to the Jewish Legion of World War I was the Jewish Brigade , which was joined by many Haganah fighters. During the 1947–48 civil war between the Arab and Jewish communities in what was still Mandatory Palestine, a reorganized Haganah managed to defend or wrestle most of the territory it was ordered to hold or capture. At the beginning of

4522-795: The Upper Galilee against Syria . Some were part of a Pal-Heib unit of the Haganah. Sheik Hussein Mohammed Ali Abu Yussef of Tuba was quoted in 1948 as saying, "Is it not written in the Koran that the ties of neighbors are as dear as those of relations? Our friendship with the Jews goes back for many years. We felt we could trust them and they learned from us too". Haifa Haifa ( / ˈ h aɪ f ə / HY -fə ; Hebrew : חֵיפָה , romanized :  Ḥēyfā , IPA: [ˈχajfa] ; Arabic : حَيْفَا , romanized :  Ḥayfā )

4641-469: The 12th century, called it Caiphas , and believe its name related to Cephas, the Aramaic name of Simon Peter . Eusebius is also said to have referred to Hefa as Caiaphas civitas , and Benjamin of Tudela , the 12th-century Jewish traveller and chronicler, is said to have attributed the city's founding to Caiaphas , the Jewish high priest at the time of Jesus. Haifa al-'Atiqa (Arabic: 'Ancient Haifa')

4760-663: The 3rd century CE, Haifa was first mentioned in Talmudic literature, as a Jewish fishing village and the home of Rabbi Avdimi and other Jewish scholars. According to the Talmud, fishermen caught Murex , sea snails which yielded purple dye used to make tallit (Jewish prayer shawls) from Haifa to the Ladder of the Tyrians . Tombs dating from the Roman era, including Jewish burial caves , have been found in

4879-465: The Arab residents to obey orders, be alert, keep calm, and added: "Keep away the cowards who wish to flee. Expell them from your lines. Despise them, because they harm more than the enemy". Despite the efforts, Arab residents abandoned the streets which bordered Jewish neighborhoods and during the days of the general strike instigated by the Arab Higher Committee , some 250 Arab families abandoned

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4998-470: The British 6th Airborne Division , were hanged in Acre Prison to become the Irgun's first postwar 'martyrs'. At his trial, Dov Gruner declared the British Army and Administration to be 'criminal organizations'. The Lehi and Irgun prisoners considered an escape but concluded that would be impossible without outside assistance. They therefore contacted Irgun headquarters with a plan. Dov Cohen, AKA "Shimshon",

5117-415: The British administration for protection from these gangs, the Jewish leadership created the Haganah to protect Jewish farms and kibbutzim . The first head of the Haganah was a 28-year-old named Yosef Hecht, a veteran of the Jewish Legion . In addition to guarding Jewish communities, the role of the Haganah was to warn the residents of and repel attacks by Palestinians. In the period between 1920 and 1929,

5236-620: The British authorities who had passed on information that led to the arrest of many Irgun activists. Many Jewish youth, who had joined the Haganah in order to defend the Jewish people, were greatly demoralized by operations against their own people. The Irgun, paralyzed by the Saison, were ordered by their commander, Menachem Begin , not to retaliate in an effort to avoid a full blown civil war. Although many Irgunists objected to these orders, they obeyed Begin and refrained from fighting back. The Saison eventually ended due to perceived British betrayal of

5355-497: 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 a Jewish flag. The Jewish Brigade Group consisted of 5,000 soldiers and

5474-562: The First Aliyah period. The Central Jewish Colonisation Society in Romania purchased over 1,000 acres (4.0 km ) near Haifa. As the Jewish settlers had been city dwellers, they hired the former fellahin tenants to instruct them in agriculture. The Jewish population rose from 1,500 in 1900 to 3,000 on the eve of World War I . In the early 20th century, Haifa began to emerge as an industrial port city and growing population center. A branch of

5593-503: The Greek names Sycaminon or Sycaminos Polis. References to this city end with the Byzantine period. Around the 6th century, Porphyreon or Porphyrea is mentioned in the writings of William of Tyre , and while it lies within the area covered by modern Haifa, it was a settlement situated south of Haifa-Sycaminon. Following the Arab conquest in the 7th century, Haifa was used to refer to

5712-440: 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 1929 Palestine riots , the Haganah's role changed dramatically. It became a much larger organization encompassing nearly all the youth and adults in the Jewish settlements, as well as thousands of members from

5831-431: The Haganah sabotaged the Patria , an ocean liner being used by the British to deport 1,800 Jews to Mauritius, with a bomb intended to cripple the ship. However the ship sank, killing 267 people and injuring 172. In the first years of World War II , the British authorities asked Haganah for cooperation again, due to the fear of an Axis breakthrough in North Africa. After Rommel was defeated at El Alamein in 1942,

5950-456: The Haganah was conducting brigade size offensive. The brigades of the Haganah which merged into the IDF once this was created on 26 May 1948: The northern Levanoni Brigade , located in the Galilee, was split on February 22, 1948 into the 1st and 2nd Brigades. To the initial six brigades, three were added later during the war: The Palmach brigades which merged into the IDF: After the British announced they would withdraw from Palestine, and

6069-399: The Haganah's strength at this time were a paper strength of 75,000 men and women with an effective strength of 30,000. After the British army, the Haganah was considered the most powerful military force in the Middle East. Research by Amos Perlmutter estimated that the Haganah budget in 1946 was £400,000, and by October 1947 its budget had reached £3.3 million. The same source estimated that

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6188-438: The Hebrew word חוֹף ( hof ), meaning "shore", or חוֹף יָפֶה ( hof yafe ), meaning "beautiful shore". Other spellings in English included Caipha , Kaipha , Caiffa , Kaiffa and Khaifa . The earliest named settlement within the area of modern-day Haifa was the city Sycaminum. The remains of the ancient town can be found in a coastal tell , or archaeological mound, known in Hebrew as Tel Shikmona , meaning 'mound of

6307-421: The Irgun as hostages against the death sentences of three Irgun members in what became known as the Sergeants' affair . The Jewish Agency leadership feared the damage this act would do to the Jewish cause, and also believed that holding the hostages would only jeopardize the fates of the three condemned Irgun members. The attempts to free the sergeants failed, and following the executions of the three Irgun members,

6426-445: The Jewish community of Haifa. In 1839 the Jewish population numbered 124. Due to the growing influence of the Carmelite monks, Haifa's Christian population also grew. By 1840 approximately 40% of the inhabitants were Christian Arabs. The arrival of German messianics, many of whom were Templers , in 1868, who settled in what is now known as the German Colony , was a turning point in Haifa's development. The Templers built and operated

6545-402: The Khalisa neighborhood. On 30 December 1947, members of the Irgun , a Jewish underground militia, threw bombs into a crowd of Arabs outside the gates of the Consolidated Refineries in Haifa, killing six and injuring 42. In response, Arab employees of the company killed 39 Jewish employees in what became known as the Haifa Oil Refinery massacre . The Jewish Haganah militia retaliated with

6664-423: The Middle East) by members of the Lehi , the Haganah worked with the British to kidnap, interrogate, and, in some cases, deport Irgun members. This action, which lasted from November 1944 to February 1945, was called the Saison , or the Hunting Season, and was directed against the Irgun and not the Lehi. Future Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek was later revealed to be a Jewish Agency liaison officer working with

6783-417: The United Nations approved the partition of Palestine, the 1947-48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine broke out. The Haganah played the leading role in the Yishuv's war with the Palestinian Arabs. Initially, it concentrated on defending Jewish areas from Arab raids, but after the danger of British intervention subsided as the British withdrew, the Haganah went on the offensive and seized more territory. Following

6902-420: The Yishuv becoming more obvious to the public and increased opposition from Haganah members. The Saison officially ended when the Haganah, Irgun and the Lehi formed the Jewish Resistance Movement , in 1945. Within this new framework, the three groups agreed to operate under a joint command. They had different functions, which served to drive the British out of Palestine and create a Jewish state . The Haganah

7021-403: The activity of the underground groups in the pre-state period, recreating the everyday life of those imprisoned there. Some Bedouins had longstanding ties with nearby Jewish communities. They helped defend these communities in the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine . During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War , some Bedouins of Tuba formed an alliance with the Haganah defending Jewish communities in

7140-614: The adoption of the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine in 1947, Haganah came into the open as the biggest fighting force among the Palestinian Jews , successfully overcoming Arab militias during the Palestinian Civil War . Shortly after the beginning of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War , Haganah was merged with other paramilitary groups and reorganized into the official military force of the State of Israel . The evolution of Jewish defense organizations in Palestine and later Israel went from small self-defense groups active during Ottoman rule, to ever larger and more sophisticated ones during

7259-415: The area. Under Byzantine rule, Haifa continued to grow but did not assume major importance. A kinah speaks of the destruction of the Jewish community of Haifa along with other communities when the Byzantines reconquered the country from the Sasanian Empire in 628 during the Byzantine-Sasanian War . Following the Arab conquest of Palestine in the 630s–40s, Haifa was largely overlooked in favor of

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7378-399: The best defense is a good offense . In 1931, the more militant elements of the Haganah splintered off and formed the Irgun Tsva'i-Leumi (National Military Organization), better known as " Irgun " (or by its Hebrew acronym, pronounced "Etzel"). During the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine , the Haganah worked to protect British interests and to quell the rebellion using the Posh and then

7497-407: The call-up was extended to men and single women aged between 26 and 35. Five days later a General Mobilization order was issued for all men under 40. "From November 1947, the Haganah, (...) began to change from a territorial militia into a regular army. (...) Few of the units had been well trained by December. (...) By March–April, it fielded still under-equipped battalion and brigades. By April–May,

7616-399: The campaign's final proclamation , Napoleon took credit for having razed the fortifications of "Kaïffa" (as the name was spelled at the time) along with those of Gaza , Jaffa and Acre. Between 1831 and 1840, the Egyptian viceroy Muhammad Ali governed Haifa, after his son Ibrahim Pasha had wrested control over it from the Ottomans. When the Egyptian occupation ended and Acre declined,

7735-421: The censuses of 1922 and 1931, the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian populations rose by 217%, 256%, and 156%, respectively. In 1938, 99,000 people (including 48,000 Jews) lived in Haifa. Haifa's development owed much to British plans to make it a central port and hub for Middle-East crude oil. The British Government of Palestine developed the port and built refineries , thereby facilitating the rapid development of

7854-472: The charges and climbed back down onto the street. While the Irgun units were moving into position, the prisoners were putting the plan into effect inside. At 15:00, the doors of the cells were opened for afternoon exercise. The prisoners who were not scheduled to escape went down to the courtyard to create a diversion, while the designated escapees remained in their cells. At the same time, Irgun blocking squads mined nearby roads to delay any British pursuers, and

7973-584: The cities. It also acquired foreign arms and began to develop workshops to create grenades and simple military equipment, transforming from an untrained militia to a capable underground army. Many Haganah fighters objected to the official policy of havlagah (restraint) that Jewish political leaders (who had become increasingly controlling of the Haganah) had imposed on the militia. Fighters had been instructed to only defend communities and not initiate counterattacks against Arab gangs or their communities. This policy appeared defeatist to many who believed that

8092-695: The city as a center for the country's heavy industries. Haifa was also among the first towns to be fully electrified. The Palestine Electric Company inaugurated the Haifa Electrical Power Station already in 1925, opening the door to considerable industrialization. The State-run Palestine Railways also built its main workshops in Haifa. By 1945 the population was 138,300 (75,500 Jews, 35,940 Muslims, 26,570 Christians, and 290 "other"). In 1947, about 70,910 Arabs (41,000 Muslims and 29,910 Christians) and 74,230 Jews were living there. The Christian community were mostly Greek-Melkite Catholics . The 1947 UN Partition Plan in late November 1947 designated Haifa as part of

8211-413: The city. In 1875, the Jewish community of Haifa held its own census which counted the Jewish population at about 200. The First Aliyah of the late 19th century and the Second Aliyah of the early 20th century saw Jewish immigrants, mainly from Eastern Europe, arrive in Haifa in significant numbers. In particular, a significant number of Jewish immigrants from Romania settled in Haifa in the 1880s during

8330-427: The coast, barefoot and naked, to wait for their turn to travel to Lebanon. They left their homeland, their houses, their possessions, their money, their welfare, and their trades, to surrender their dignity and their souls. The operation led to a massive displacement of Haifa's Arab population, and was part of the larger 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight . According to The Economist at the time, only 5,000–6,000 of

8449-555: The creation of the Palmach , their elite fighting force, in 1941. Following the end of World War II, the British refused to lift the restrictions on Jewish immigration that they had imposed with the 1939 White Paper . This resulted in Haganah leading a Jewish insurgency against the British authorities in Palestine ; the campaign included the paramilitaries' bombing of bridges, railways, and ships used to deport illegal Jewish immigrants , as well as assisting in bringing more diaspora Jews to Palestine in defiance of British policies. After

8568-405: The crowd. Amidst this chaos, a third group stepped into the prison yard and tossed grenades at guards positioned on the roof, causing them to flee. The explosions caused further panic and chaos among the other prisoners. Amidst the chaos, the two groups escaped through the hole in the wall. Uncertain as to what was happening, the guards did not enter the yard. Meanwhile, Arab prisoners running through

8687-417: The death sentences, the Irgun abducted two British sergeants , Clifford Martin and Mervyn Paice, and threatened to kill them should the British carry out the death sentences. When the British authorities did not relent and hanged the three, the Irgun killed the two sergeants and hanged their bodies from a tree in a eucalyptus grove near Netanya . This action is credited with being one of the major catalysts for

8806-577: The downtown, controlled by a combination of local and foreign (ALA) Arab irregulars, was assaulted by Jewish forces in Operation Bi'ur Hametz by the Carmeli Brigade of the Haganah, commanded by Moshe Carmel . Arab neighborhoods were attacked with mortars and gunfire, which, according to Ilan Pappé , culminated in an attack on a Palestinian crowd in the old marketplace using three-inch (76 mm) mortars on 22 April 1948. Rashid al-Haj Ibrahim ,

8925-533: The early 20th century, Haifa al 'Atiqa was repopulated with many Arab Christians in an overall neighborhood in which many Middle Eastern Jews were established inhabitants, as Haifa expanded outward from its new location. A town known today as Tell Abu Hawam was established during the Late Bronze Age (14th century BCE). It was a port and fishing village. Mount Carmel and the Kishon River are mentioned in

9044-505: The end of World War II , Haganah's activities were moderate, in accordance with the strategic policy of havlagah ( lit.   ' self-restraint ' ), which caused the breakaway of the more radical paramilitaries: Irgun and Lehi . Haganah militants received clandestine military support from Poland and sought cooperation with the United Kingdom in the event of an Axis -led invasion of Palestine through North Africa , prompting

9163-547: The ensuing 1948–49 full-scale conventional war against regular Arab armies, the Haganah was reorganized to become the core of the new Israel Defense Forces. After the 1920 Nebi Musa riots and 1921 Jaffa riots by Palestinians , the Jewish leadership in Palestine believed that the British, to whom the League of Nations had given a mandate over Palestine in 1920, had no desire to confront local Arab groups that frequently attacked Palestinian Jews. Believing that they could not rely on

9282-566: The environs of Haifa. Many Jewish immigrants of the Fourth Aliyah and Fifth Aliyah settled in Haifa. The port was a major source of income, and the nearby Jewish towns of the Krayot were established in the 1930s. At the same time, the Arab population also swelled by an influx of migrants, coming mainly from surrounding villages as well as the Syrian Hauran . The Arab immigration mainly came as

9401-477: The escapees from the first truck, Nissim Benado, managed to evade capture; but he was seriously wounded and died later in a Haifa hideout. The survivors were swiftly recaptured and returned to prison. The remaining escapees and members of the strike force quickly boarded the second and third trucks, and Salomon began calling the blocking squads away. Although they withdrew in good order, he forgot to call away one squad commanded by Avshalom Haviv . Meanwhile, one of

9520-689: The eventual British withdrawal from Palestine. The Acre Prison break, with other operations had a strong effect on the morale of the Yishuv and on the fight for the foundation of Israel . It is considered to have seriously damaged British prestige and sped up to the foundation of the UNSCOP committee . The operation is marked by a monument on the Acre promenade. 32°55′25″N 35°04′10″E  /  32.9237°N 35.0694°E  / 32.9237; 35.0694 Haganah Haganah ( Hebrew : הַהֲגָנָה ha-Haganah , lit.   ' The Defense ' )

9639-471: The fighters and escapees abandoned their vehicles and weapons. The head of the escapees, Eitan Livni , met with two Haganah men in the kibbutz and insisted they not contact the authorities until nine. They then walked to the town of Binyamina , and hid there for the rest of the day. The following morning, they were dispersed throughout Palestine to pre-designated hiding places. Overall, 27 Irgun and Lehi prisoners escaped, along with 214 Arab prisoners. Seven of

9758-492: The fighters who were killed during the operation are buried in the nearby cemetery of Shavei Tzion . The New York Herald Tribune wrote that the underground had carried out "an ambitious mission, their most challenging so far, in perfect fashion", while in the House of Commons , Oliver Stanley asked what action His Majesty's Government was planning to take "in light of the events at Acre prison which had reduced British prestige to

9877-427: The guards from immediately reaching it. The resulting smokescreen and fire only added to the chaos that the explosions had caused. The Arab prisoners in the prison yard began shouting and running wildly, with some running directly into the barbed-wire fences, and others rushing to or breaking out of their cells in fear of the fire and explosions. The Arab guards, assuming a prison break was underway, began shooting into

9996-433: The importance of Haifa rose. In 1858, the walled city of Haifa was overcrowded and the first houses began to be built outside the city walls on the mountain slope. The British Survey of Western Palestine estimated Haifa's population to be about 3,000 in 1859. Haifa remained majority Muslim throughout this time but a small Jewish community continued to exist there. In 1798, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov spent Rosh HaShana with

10115-578: The majority of the city's homes to prevent the European Crusaders from returning. From the time of its conquest by the Mamluks to the 15th century, Haifa was an unfortified small village or uninhabited. At various times there were a few Jews living there and both Jews and Christians made pilgrimages to the Cave of Elijah on Mount Carmel. During Mamluk rule in the 14th century, al-Idrisi wrote that Haifa served as

10234-455: The membership of the Haganah was 7% of the Jewish population in Palestine. In July 1947, eager to maintain order with the visit of UNSCOP to Palestine and under heavy pressure from the British authorities to resume collaboration, the Jewish Agency reluctantly came into brief conflict with the Irgun and Lehi, and ordered the Haganah to put a stop to the operations of the other two groups for

10353-430: The men called to him that the operation was over, but Haviv, who felt he had to wait for a formal order from Salomon, chose to remain in place. As the trucks drove off a burst of fire hit one of them, killing one of the escapees inside. The mines planted by the blocking squads were successful in holding the British back, and five British soldiers were wounded by one mine. When the British arrived at Haviv's blocking position,

10472-449: The name Haifa remains unclear. One theory holds it derives from the name of the high priest Caiaphas . Some Christians believe it was named for Saint Peter , whose Aramaic name was Keipha. Another theory holds it could be derived from the Hebrew verb root חפה ( hafa ), from H-f-h root (ח-פ-ה), meaning to cover or shield, i.e. Mount Carmel covers Haifa; others point to a possible origin in

10591-419: The old site. According to historian Moshe Sharon, the new Haifa was established by Zahir in 1769. This event marked the beginning of modern Haifa. After al-Umar's death in 1775, the town remained under Ottoman rule until 1918, with the exception of two brief periods. In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Haifa during his unsuccessful campaign to conquer Palestine and Syria , but he soon had to withdraw; in

10710-543: The oldest and largest high-tech parks in the country; and prior to the opening of Tel Aviv Light Rail , Haifa is the only city with underground rapid transit system in Israel known as the Carmelit . Haifa Bay is a center of heavy industry , petroleum refining and chemical processing. Haifa formerly functioned as the western terminus of an oil pipeline from Iraq via Jordan . It is one of Israel's mixed cities , with an Arab-Israeli population of c.10%. The ultimate origin of

10829-556: The other two groups continued to operate independently in Jerusalem and abroad for some time after. The reorganization led to several conflicts between Ben-Gurion and the Haganah leadership, including what was known as The Generals' Revolt and the dismantling of the Palmach. Famous members of the Haganah included Yitzhak Rabin , Ariel Sharon , Rehavam Ze'evi , Dov Hoz , Moshe Dayan , Yigal Allon and Dr. Ruth Westheimer . The Museum of Underground Prisoners in Jerusalem commemorates

10948-573: The port city of 'Akka . Under the Rashidun Caliphate , Haifa began to develop. In the 9th century under the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates , Haifa established trading relations with Egyptian ports and the city featured several shipyards. The inhabitants, Arabs and Jews, engaged in trade and maritime commerce. Glass production and dye-making from marine snails were the city's most lucrative industries. Prosperity ended in 1100 or 1101, when Haifa

11067-583: The port for Tiberias and featured a "fine harbor for the anchorage of galleys and other vessels. Haifa was apparently uninhabited at the time the Ottoman Empire conquered Palestine in 1516. The first indication of its resettlement was given in a description by German traveller Leonhard Rauwolf , who visited Palestine in 1575. In 1596, Haifa appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Sahil Atlit of

11186-465: The prison, which was then used to improvise 30 hand grenades and two bombs. On Sunday, May 4, 1947, the Irgun fighters arrived at Acre in a convoy consisting of a military truck, two military vans painted in British camouflage colors, two civilian vans, and a command jeep in the lead. Twenty fighters were dressed in Royal Engineers uniforms, and three as Arabs. The operation commander, Dov Cohen, who

11305-405: The proposed Jewish state . Arab protests over that decision evolved into violence between Jews and Arabs that left several dozen people dead during December. The Arab city was in a state of chaos. The local Arab national committee tried to stabilize the situation by organizing garrison, calming the frightened residents and to stop the flight. In a public statement, the national committee called upon

11424-484: The responsibility on the ground as chief of Operations. Palmach, commanded by Yigal Allon , was divided into 3 elite brigades, numbered 10–12, and constituted the mobile force of Haganah. Ben-Gurion's attempts to retain personal control over the newly formed IDF culminated with The Generals' Revolt . On 19 November 1947, obligatory conscription was instituted for all men and women aged between 17 and 25. By end of March 21,000 people had been conscripted. On 30 March

11543-490: The rest of the month spent training. It was never large – by 1947 it amounted to merely five battalions (about 2,000 men) – but its members had not only received physical and military training, but also acquired leadership skills that would subsequently enable them to take up command positions in Israel's army. In 1944, after the assassination of Lord Moyne (the British Minister of State for

11662-625: The settlement has a history spanning more than 3,000 years. The earliest known settlement in the vicinity was Tell Abu Hawam , a small port city established in the Late Bronze Age (14th century BCE). In the 3rd century CE, Haifa was known as a dye-making center. Over the millennia, the Haifa area has changed hands: being conquered and ruled by the Canaanites , Israelites , Phoenicians , Assyrians , Babylonians , Persians , Hasmoneans , Romans , Byzantines , Arabs , Crusaders , Ottomans , and

11781-455: The squad was captured. After the two trucks had escaped Acre, a British truck began following them shortly after they turned away from the sea road. The guard sitting in the passenger seat began firing at them with his pistol. A sound grenade was then tossed in the British truck's path. The resulting noise and burst of smoke caused the driver to brake sharply, allowing the convoy to lose the pursuing truck. The trucks reached kibbutz Dalia , where

11900-504: The structure, which was designed and completed several years later by his grandson, Shoghi Effendi . In a separate room, the remains of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá were buried in November 1921. Haifa was captured from the Ottomans in September 1918 by Indian horsemen of the British Army armed with spears and swords who overran Ottoman positions. On 22 September, British troops were heading to Nazareth when

12019-463: The time being. As Palmach members refused to participate, a unit of about 200 men from regular Haganah units was mobilized, and foiled several operations against the British, including a potentially devastating attack on the British military headquarters at Citrus House in Tel Aviv, in which a Haganah member was killed by an Irgun bomb. The Haganah also joined the search for two British sergeants abducted by

12138-478: The town's growing prosperity. Jews constituted one-eighth of Haifa's population, almost all of whom were recent immigrants from Morocco and Turkey who lived in the Jewish Quarter, which was located in the eastern part of the town. Continued Jewish immigration gradually raised the Jewish population of Haifa, and included a small number of Ashkenazi families, most of whom opened hotels for Jewish migrants coming into

12257-625: The training was useful in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War . During the interwar period, as part of its policy of supporting a Jewish state in Palestine in order to facilitate mass Jewish emigration from its territory, the Second Polish Republic provided military training and weapons to Zionist paramilitary groups, including Haganah. Envoys from Haganah headed by Yehuda Arazi received dozens of shipments with military supplies, including 2750 Mauser rifles, 225 RKM machine guns, 10,000 hand grenades, two million bullets for rifles and machine guns, and

12376-507: The trucks experienced engine problems and would not start. As a result, the occupants had to push it while the driver tried to start the engine, and the truck was surrounded by an Arab mob, which began pelting it with objects. When the driver managed to start up the engine again, the pushers quickly climbed aboard and a sound grenade was tossed into the Arabs blocking its path, causing the crowd to disperse. The two trucks then linked up and drove away from Acre. As they passed Haviv's blocking squad,

12495-479: The two sergeants were killed and hanged in a eucalyptus grove. However, the campaign soon disintegrated into a series of retaliatory abductions and beatings of each other's members by the Haganah and Irgun, and eventually petered out. The campaign was dubbed the "Little Season" by the Irgun. After "having gotten the Jews of Palestine and of elsewhere to do everything that they could, personally and financially, to help Yishuv ," Ben-Gurion's second greatest achievement

12614-403: The wall, and had to push through a crowd of Arab prisoners that had run out of their cells in panic. Using the smuggled explosive charges, they blew up two iron gates that obstructed their way to the kerosene room, where the hole in the prison wall was. The second group of escapees put up a barricade of flammable materials and set it alight to create a fire which blocked the escape route, preventing

12733-561: The war against Hitler as if there were no White Paper, and we shall fight the White Paper as if there were no war." In reaction to the White Paper, the Haganah built up the Palmach as the Haganah's elite strike force and organized illegal Jewish immigration to Palestine. Approximately 100,000 Jews were brought to Palestine in over one hundred ships during the final decade of what became known as Aliyah Bet . The Haganah also organized demonstrations against British immigration quotas. In 1940

12852-476: The yard and corridors began to discover the hole in the wall. Over the following hour, 214 of the 394 Arab prisoners in Acre Prison escaped through the hole in the wall and disappeared into the city. The first group of escapees and some of the strike force boarded the first truck, which sped off and managed to exit Acre, but immediately south of the city they were ambushed by British soldiers who had been bathing at

12971-449: Was a small village and had a Jewish community composed mainly of immigrants from Morocco and Algeria which had a synagogue. It had 250 inhabitants in 1764–5. It was located at Tell el-Semak, the site of ancient Sycaminum. In 1765, Zahir al-Umar , the Arab ruler of Acre and the Galilee , moved the population to a new fortified site 1.5 mi (2.4 km) to the east and laid waste to

13090-655: Was besieged and blockaded by European Christians shortly after the end of the First Crusade , and then conquered after a fierce battle with its Jewish inhabitants and Fatimid garrison. Jews comprised the majority of the city's population at the time. Under the Crusaders, Haifa was reduced to a small fortified coastal stronghold. It was a part of the Principality of Galilee within the Kingdom of Jerusalem . Following their victory at

13209-552: Was eventually rescheduled for Sunday, May 4, 1947, at 4 p.m., the day the United Nations General Assembly convened to discuss the Palestine issue. The Irgun High Command selected 41 prisoners for escape: 30 Irgun and 11 Lehi, as that was the available number of spots available at safe houses. The Irgun High Command, and Eitan Livni , an imprisoned Irgun member, extensively planned the break and escape route. The logistic preparations were complicated: The Irgun purchased

13328-469: Was his having successfully transformed Haganah from being a clandestine paramilitary organization into a true army. Ben-Gurion appointed Israel Galili to the position of head of the High Command counsel of Haganah and divided Haganah into 6 infantry brigades, numbered 1 to 6, allotting a precise theatre of operation to each one. Yaakov Dori was named Chief of Staff, but it was Yigael Yadin who assumed

13447-509: Was initially deployed with the 8th Army in North Africa and later in Italy in September 1944. The brigade was disbanded in 1946. All in all, some 30,000 Palestinian Jews served in the British army during the war. On May 14, 1941, the Haganah created the Palmach (an acronym for Plugot Mahatz  – strike companies), an elite commando section, in preparation against the possibility of

13566-728: Was less active in the Jewish Rebellion than the other two groups, but the Palmach did carry out anti-British operations, including a raid on the Atlit detainee camp that released 208 illegal immigrants, the Night of the Trains , the Night of the Bridges , and attacks on Palestine Police bases. The Haganah withdrew on 1 July 1946, but "remained permanently unco-operative" with the British authorities. It continued to organize illegal Jewish immigration as part of

13685-526: Was located near the town of Shikmona, a center for making the traditional Tekhelet dye used in the garments of the high priests in the Temple. The archaeological site of Shikmona is southwest of Bat Galim. Early Haifa is believed to have occupied the area which extends from the present-day Rambam Hospital to the Jewish Cemetery on Yafo Street. The inhabitants engaged in fishing and agriculture. In about

13804-526: Was riding in the command jeep, was dressed as a decorated Royal Engineers captain. The truck pulled up to the prison's gate, while the two vans pulled into a nearby market. At 14:00 a military engineering unit of the Irgun, under the command of Dov Salomon and Yehuda Afiryon, went into action. Ladders were removed from one of the vehicles, and the men made their way to the nearby Turkish bath, disguised as Royal Engineers telephone technicians and carrying TNT, ropes and other necessary incursion equipment. They set

13923-477: Was the main Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the British Mandate for Palestine . It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the region, and was formally disbanded in 1948, when it became the core force integrated into the Israel Defense Forces shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence . Formed out of previous existing militias, Haganah's original purpose

14042-411: Was to defend Jewish settlements against Arab attacks ; this was the case during the 1920 Nebi Musa riots , the 1921 Jaffa riots , the 1929 Palestine riots , the 1936 Jaffa riots , and the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine , among others. The paramilitary was under the control of the Jewish Agency , the official governmental body in charge of Palestine's Jewish community during the British era. Until

14161-467: Was turned into a mosque, later becoming a hospital. In the 19th century, it was restored as a Carmelite monastery, the Stella Maris Monastery . The altar of the church as we see it today, stands over a cave associated with Prophet Elijah. In 1265, the army of Mamluk sultan Baibars captured Haifa , destroying its fortifications, which had been rebuilt by King Louis IX of France , as well as

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