Between the battles of Tel Hai and Samakh: Britain’s security policy in north-east Palestine in the Spring of 1920

ABSTRACT

This article considers the British response to the Tel Hai affair, within the wider setting of British security policy in north-east Palestine. It sheds light on lesser-known aspects of British policy in the period such as the extensive use of Indian forces, the development of the region’s transport infrastructure, and the British military administration’s general concern about the threat of an Arab invasion across the Jordan river basin. Turning attention to the largely forgotten battle between British and Arab forces at Samakh in late April 1920, the article argues that this was the decisive military engagement of the period in Palestine.

KEYWORDS:

• Palestine
• Tel Hai
• Upper Galilee
• British army
• Indian regiments
• Zionist settlement
• Arab nationalism
• Samakh

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Rogel, Tel Hai; and Rogel, “Ha-shiva le-pinat ha-tzafon.”

2. Fromkin, A Peace to End all Peace, 435–448; and Barr, A Line in the Sand, 95–103.

3. Segev, One Palestine Complete, 127–141.

4. Biger, The Boundaries, 101–124; and Hughes, Allenby and British Strategy, 149–157.

5. Brigadier General Commanding 3rd (Lahore) Division to Civil Secretary, October 12, 1920, Israel State Archives (ISA) M/3/16, For the role of Indian troops in the Palestine campaign see Kitchen, The British Imperial Army, 183–213.

6. 1/91st Punjabis War Diaries, November 1919-March 1920, The National Archives of the United Kingdom (TNA) WO95/4701.

7. Haim Kalvariski to Mishmar Ha-Yarden farmers, March 12, 1920, Central Zionist Archives (CZA) J15/6481.

8. Major-General L. Bols to [G.H.Q., Cairo], Secret & Personal, March 5, 1920, ISA M/3/16; Dolev, Allenby’s Military Medicine.

9. Rogel (ed.), Parashat Tel Hai: Teudot, 84.

10. Ibid., 87–90.

11. Ibid., 98; 239; 1/91st Punjabis L.I. Order No. 1, December 17, 1919, TNA WO95/4701.

12. Rogel (ed.), Parashat Tel Hai: Teudot, 105; 112–113.

13. Ibid., 100.

14. Ibid., 143; 145–146.

15. Menachem Ussishkin to Yaakov Museri, January 9; Yehoshua Hankin to the Zionist Commission, January 9, 1920, ISA L3/248. After the Tel Hai battle, the entry into Palestine of refugees from Tel Hai and Kfar Giladi was similarly delayed because the British consul in Beirut refused to issue visas without the permission of the British administration in Jerusalem. See Rogel, “Ha-shiva le-pinat ha-tzafon,” 146.

16. Lieutenant-Colonel, Assistant Administrator to Chairman, Zionist Commission, January 17, 1920, CZA L3/248.

17. Rogel (ed.), Parashat Tel Hai: Teudot, 239.

18. Ibid., 270–1.

19. Major-General L. Bols to G.H.Q., Cairo, March 4; Major-General L. Bols to B.G.G.S., March 22, 1920, ISA M/3/16.

20. Rogel (ed.), Parashat Tel Hai: Teudot, 304–5.

21. Ibid., 310.

22. Ibid., 308.

23. Nahum Sokolow to Under-Secretary of State, Foreign Office, March 11; Foreign Office to Secretary, Zionist Organization, March 18, 1920, TNA FO371/5117.

24. G.H.Q. Egypt to War Office, March 16, 1920, TNA FO371/5117.

25. G.H.Q. Egypt to War Office, March 21, 1920, TNA FO371/5117. A report from the British consul in Beirut was sent directly to the Foreign Office on March 10 but arrived only a month later. A.C. Wratislaw to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, March 10, 1920, TNA FO371/5118.

26. “Attacks on Jews in Palestine,” Manchester Guardian, March 12, 1920.

27. “The anti-Zionist Agitation in Palestine,” The Jewish Chronicle, March 12, 1920. Rogel (ed.), Parashat Tel Hai: Teudot, 346–347.

28. Rogel (ed.), Parashat Tel Hai: Teudot, 337.

29. Ibid., 342.

30. House of Commons Debates, March 30, 1920, Vol. 127, Cols. 1048–49.

31. Minutes by O.A. Scott, April 1, 1920, TNA FO371/5117.

32. War Office to Under Secretary of State, Foreign Office, March 27, 1920, TNA FO371/5117.

33. Minutes by O.A. Scott, March 30, 1920, and by J.A.C. Tilley, March 31, 1920; Foreign Office to Earl of Debry, April 6, 1920, TNA FO371/5117.

34. Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, République Francaise, Paris, June 24, 1920, TNA FO371/5120.

35. “Christians Massacred in Syria,” The Times, May 11; “Syrian Slaughter,” The Times, May 17, 1920.

36. Military Governor Galilee, “Subject: Attack on Ain Ibl,” May 11, 1920, TNA FO371/5120.

37. Rogel (ed.), Parashat Tel Hai: Teudot, 324–5.

38. Ibid., 321–4.

39. Ibid., 325–7.

40. Shimon Mivshan to Chair of Zionist Commission, March 24; April 15, 1920, CZA L3/6.

41. Shimon Mivshan to Chair of Zionist Commission, March 24, 1920, CZA L3/6; “Another Attack,” Haaretz, March 31, 1920.

42. Yaakov Bendel to Zionist Commission, [March 24, 1920], L3/237, CZA.

43. Lieutenant-Colonel E.C. Kensington, commanding 1/91st Punjabis, to the Headquarters, Haifa, March 27, 1920, TNA WO95/4701.

44. Rogel (ed.), Parashat Tel Hai: Teudot, 325–327; “In the Land of Israel: Yesod Ha-Ma’ala,” Ha-Tzfira, May 14, 1920.

45. Shimon Mivshan to Chair of Zionist Commission, [April 13, 1920], CZA L3/6.

46. Shimon Mivshan to Chair of Zionist Commission, [April 13, 1920], CZA L3/6; Protocol of the Temporary Committee of Palestine Jews, [April 12, 1920], CZA J1/6749.

47. Major-General L. Bols to G.H.Q. Cairo, March 4, 1920; Major-General L. Bols to B.G.G.S. March 22, 1920, ISA M/3/16. Underlined sentence in original.

48. E.H. Bell to B.G.G.S., February 14; J. Easton to G.S.I., February 21, 1920, ISA M/3/16.

49. K. Cornwallis to G.S.I., February 20, 1920, ISA M/3/16.

50. Colonel R. Holmes to Lieutenant-Colonel Bell, February 21, 1920, M/3/16 ISA.

51. Operations of the Palestine Brigade, Royal Air Force, January 1920; Operations of the Palestine Brigade, Royal Air Force, February 1920, TNA AIR1/1728.

52. Rogel (ed.), Parashat Tel Hai: Teudot, 314; 11th Cavalry Brigade Headquarters War Diary, March 2, 1920, TNA WO95/4514.

53. Major-General L. Bols to [G.H.Q. Cairo], Secret & Personal, March 5, 1920, ISA M/3/16.

54. G.H.Q. to Major-General Sir L.J. Bols, March 15, 1920, ISA M/3/16.

55. 2nd Lancers War Diaries, 1918–1920, TNA WO95/4513; Whitworth, History of the 2nd Lancers, 126–173.

56. 38th Central India Horse War Diaries, 1918–1920, TNA WO95/4513; Watson, King George’s Own Central India Horse, 381–486.

57. G.H.Q. Cairo to War Office, April 25, 1920, IOR L/PS/11/172; Whitworth, History of the 2nd Lancers, 172.

58. G.H.Q. Cairo to War Office, April 23; April 25, 1920, IOR, L/PS/11/172; “Cattle Lifters”, The Times, April 28, 1920; Whitworth, History of the 2nd Lancers, 173–177.

59. “Me-ha-Galil [From Galilee],” Ha-Po’el Ha-Tza’ir, April 30, 1920; Dinur (ed.), Sefer toldot Ha-Haganah, 593; Ever Hadani, Ha-Haganah ba-Galil ha-Tahton, 435.

60. “Me-ha-Galil [From Galilee],” Ha-Po’el Ha-Tza’ir, April 30, 1920.

61. “Allies Reach Agreement,“ The Times, April 26, 1920. The Israeli historian Yehoshua Porath, who studied the beginnings of the Palestinian national movement, wrote that the attack on Samakh was to signal a general Arab rebellion against British rule in Palestine. See Porath, The Emergence of the Palestinian-Arab National Movement, 100. A Palestinian historian, Munir Fakher Eldin, has more recently argued that the attacks on Baisan and Samakh should be placed within the general context of Zionist encroachment on tribal grazing lands. See Eldin, ”British Framing.”

62. G.H.Q. Cairo to War Office, April 25, 1920, IOR, L/PS/11/172; Report on the Operations at Samakh on April 24, 1920, TNA AIR5/1243.

63. Dinur (ed.), Sefer toldot Ha-Haganah, 593; Gullett, The Australian Imperial Force in Sinai and Palestine, 730–734.

64. Ever Hadani, Ha-hityashvut ba-Galil ha-Tahton, 435.

65. Belloc and Blackwood, The Modern Traveller, 39–43.

66. Report on Operations at Samakh on April 24, 1920, AIR5/1243; Operations of the Palestine Group, Royal Air Force, April 1920, TNA, AIR1/1728; Whitworth, History of the 2nd Lancers, 177–178.

67. G.H.Q. Egypt to War Office, April 27, 1920, IOR, L/PS/11/172.

68. G.H.Q. Egypt to War Office, April 25, 1920, WO106/196; G.H.Q. Egypt to War Office, April 27, 1920, TNA, FO371/5118.

69. War Office to G.H.Q. Egypt, April 27, 1920; G.H.Q. Egypt to War Office, April 30, 1920, TNA, WO106/196.

70. Faisal to General Bols, April 27, 1920, TNA, FO371/5119.

71. G.H.Q. Egypt to War Office, May 2, 1920, TNA, FO371/5119.

72. G.H.Q. Egypt to War Office, May 4, 1920, IOR, L/PS/11/172.

73. G.H.Q. Egypt to War Office, May 13, 1920, IOR, L/PS/11/172.

74. G.H.Q. Egypt to War Office, June 2; Foreign Office to Lord Allenby, June 9, 1920, TNA WO106/196; Colonel Meinertzhagen to War Office, June 6, 1920, IOR L/PS/11/172. The Foreign Office was unhappy that Allenby had returned the subsidies without their authorization. It wanted payments delayed until the Arabs had ceased all “acts of open warfare” with British forces and furthermore, to put pressure on Faisal to come to Europe for negotiations with the allies. Foreign Office to Lord Allenby, June 9, 1920, TNA WO106/196.

75. G.H.Q. Egypt to War Office, June 16, 1920, TNA, FO371/5120.

76. Weitz (ed.), Yosef Nahmani, 66; Dinur (ed.), Sefer toldot Ha-Haganah, 593.

77. Eliezer Yanovski to Zionist Commission, March 24, 1920, CZA L3/1; Dinur (ed.), Sefer Toldot Ha-Haganah, 592–593; Ever Hadani, Ha-hityashvut ba-Galil ha-Tahton, 434–435.

78. Ben-Zion Dinur (ed.), Sefer toldot Ha-Haganah, Vol. 1, Part 2, 594–595; Ever Hadani, Ha-hityashvut Ba-Galil Ha-Tahton, 436–439.

79. G.H.Q. Egypt to War Office, March 5, 1920, IOR L/PS/11/172; Dinur (ed.), Sefer Toldot Ha-Haganah, 597–9.

80. “The situation in the Lower Galilee,” Ha-Tzfira, June 27, 1920; Avraham Yanovski to the Zionist Commission, June 22, 1920, L3/1, CZA.

81. “Note on Situation in Palestine,” [May 1920], E4349, TNA FO371/5119.

82. G.H.Q. Egypt to War Office, May 13; Minute by H.W. Young, May 18; Lord Curzon to the War Office, May 28; G.H.Q. Egypt to War Office, May 18; War Office to G.H.Q. Egypt, June 1, 1920, TNA, FO371/5119.

83. Dinur (ed.), Sefer toldot Ha-Haganah, 589–590.

84. Shimon Mivshan to Chair of Zionist Commission, May 25, 1920, CZA L3/6; Shefer, Ktavim ve-dvarim, 26.

85. Dinur (ed.), Sefer toldot Ha-Haganah, 590–591.

86. “Touring the Land“, Doar Ha-Yom, July 29, 1920; Rogel (ed.), Parashat Tel Hai: Teudot, 377; Rogel, ”Ha-shiva le-pinat ha-tzafon,”149.

87. Ibid., 149–150; “Ha-shiva le-pinat ha-tzafon (Hemshekh),” 153; 156–158; 162–163.

88. Egyptforce to Troopers, London, May 5, 1920, TNA FO141/432.

89. Egyptforce to Troopers, London, June 16, 1920, TNA FO141/432.

90. “Be-Eretz Yisra’el [In the Land of Israel],” Ha-Mizrahi, June 24, 1920; ”Azkara al ha-kvish le-Trumpeldor [Commemoration on the Road for Trumpeldor],” Haaretz, September 7, 1920.

91. “Mikhtav me-Haifa [Letter from Haifa]“, Haaretz, November 5, 1920; ”Mikhtavim me-ha-Galil [Letters from Galilee]”, Haaretz, November 14, 1920.

92. Rogel (ed.), Parashat Tel Hai: Teudot, 32–33; Biger, The Boundaries, 113.

93. Omissi, Air Power and Colonial Control.

94. Chief of Staff Committee, “Palestine Reinforcements – Use of Indian Troops,” May 24, 1946, TNA CAB80/101.

95. Goodman, “Pe’ulot ha-kitur ve-ha-hipus”

96. Air Officer Commanding to Chief Secretary, August 29, 1925, ISA M/6/1.

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Giora Goodman

Giora Goodman is a senior lecturer at Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee. He is currently researching the interactions between propaganda, censorship, and the mass media in Mandatory Palestine and in Israel. He is the author with Tony Shaw of the forthcoming Hollywood and Israel: A History (Columbia University Press, 2022).