Haganah

A Zionist paramilitary organization, set up by a Labor Zionist party in 1920, that actively established Jewish settlements in and supported illegal Jewish immigration to Palestine. (In Hebrew, Haganah means “defense.”) Its purpose was to fight Arab resistance to Jewish settlement in Palestine. It was outlawed by the British Mandate but remained active. Until the end of World War II, its activities could be described as moderate when compared to the activities of the Stern Gang and Irgun, which it regarded as terrorist. After the war, however, the British refused to allow immigration to Palestine, and the Haganah turned to terrorism. It bombed bridges, railroads, and ships used to deport illegal Jewish immigrants. After the UN voted to partition Palestine in 1947, the Haganah acted as the army of the Zionist movement and fought both Mandate forces and Palestinian militias. By the time the State of Israel was declared, the Haganah controlled not only the areas allocated to the Jewish state by the Partition Plan, but also Jaffa and Acre. On May 31, 1948, it was dissolved by order of the provisional government of Israel, its members becoming the core of the state army. Its name is incorporated into the official name of the Israeli army, Tzva Haganah le-Yisra’el (translated as Israel Defense Forces). Haganah commanders who had careers in Israeli politics include Yigal Allon, Moshe Dayan, and Yisrael Galili.