Page 373 - עלי זית וחרב - כרך כ

Mr. Shimri Salomon

Between Hashomer and the Hagana: The Resolution
for Establishing the Hagana Organization in the First
Convention of Achdut HaAvoda Party, 15 June 1920

The article reexamines the resolution of establishing the Hagana Organization
(Histadrut HaHagana), to be known as the Hagana, passed in the first convention
of Achdut Ha'avoda Party in Kinneret Farm, on 15th June 1920. The party
convened in the shadow of the 1920 riots, in which Arabs attacked Jewish
settlements in East Galilee, the Jewish community in the Old City of Jerusalem
and Jewish neighbourhoods in the New City. The resolution was quite short –nine
hand-written lines in five paragraphs. It focused on a few characteristics and basic
principles of the about-to-be-formed Hagana organization. In certain respects it
was too general and vague, leaving out essential aspects.

The article offers a new reading of the resolution in its context, trying to fully
understand it and to add at least part of the missing information. For this purpose,
two interpretive moves are used: The first interpretive move presents four main
means for self-defence available to the Jewish community in Palestine at that time:
Hashomer Association; the Hebrew battalions in the British Army; the Jewish
policemen in the Palestine Police; defence committees in cities and rural
settlements. This move is intended to ascertain whether the convention had other
options. Based on this, the second interpretive move presents a detailed analysis
of the resolution, noting the explicit, the hinted, the implied, and the missing in it,
and its main source of influence. A prominent contribution of the article is
revealing that the Hagana was intended to be a legitimate organization, or at least
a semi-legitimate one, Hashomer style. The article concludes with a short
reference to the Hagana's evolution, especially with respect to its subordination to
a civilian public authority.

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