Tower and stockade

Tower and stockade ( _he. חומה ומגדל, "Homa U'Migdal", lit. "Wall and tower") was a settlement method used by Zionist settlers in the British Mandate of Palestine during the 1936-39 Arab revolt, when the establishment of new Jewish settlements was restricted by the Mandatory authorities. During the course of the Tower and stockade campaign, 52 new Jewish settlements were established throughout the country.

The motivation was to have as much Jewish-owned land as possible populated by Jews, particularly in remote areas, by establishing "facts on the ground." These settlements would eventually be transformed into fortified agricultural settlements, and served for security purposed (as defenses against Arab raiders) as well as creating continuous Jewish-populated regions, which would later help determine the borders of the Partition Plan.

All of the major settlement groups (mostly kibbutzim and moshavim) took part in the campaign, which consisted of assembling a guard tower with a fence around it. While many of these settlements were not approved by the Mandate, existing settlements were not dismantled according to the law at the time. Therefore, the construction of the Tower and Stockade settlements had to be finished very quickly, usually in the course of a single night. [cite book
last = Ilana
first = Shamir
coauthors = Dr. Shlomo Shavit
title = The Young Reader’s Guide to Jewish History
publisher = Viking Kestrel
date = 1987
pages = pp. 79
month =
isbn = 0-670-81738-4 ]

List of Tower and stockade settlements (by order of establishment)

*Kfar Hittim, 7 December 1936
*Tel Amal (now Nir David), 10 December 1936
*Sde Nahum, 5 January, 1937
*Sha'ar HaGolan, 31 January. 1937
*Masada, 31 January. 1937
*Ginosar, 25 February, 1937
*Beit Yosef, 9 April 1937
*Mishmar HaShlosha, 13 April 1937
*Tirat Tzvi, 30 June 1937
*Bnei Brit (now Moledet), 4 July, 1937
*Ein HaShofet, 5 July, 1937
*Ein Gev, 6 July 1937
*Maoz Haim, 6 July 1937
*Kfar Menachem, 27 July 1937
*Kfar Szold, 15 August 1937
*Tzur Moshe, 13 September 1937
*Usha, 7 November 1937
*Hanita, 21 March 1938
*Shavei Tzion, 13 April 1938
*Sde Warburg, 17 May 1938
*Ramat Hadar, 26 May 1938
*Alonim, 26 June 1938
*Ma'ale HaHamisha, 17 July 1938
*Tel Yitzhak, 25 July 1938
*Beit Yehoshua, 17 August 1938
*Ein HaMifratz, 25 August 1938
*Ma'ayan Tzvi, 30 August 1938
*Sharona, 16 November 1938
*Geulim, 17 November 1938
*Eilon, 24 November 1938
*Neve Eitan, 25 November 1938
*Kfar Ruppin, 25 November 1938
*Kfar Masaryk, 29 November 1938
*Mesilot, 22 December 1938
*Dalia, 2 May 1939
*Dafna, 3 May 1939
*Dan, 4 May 1939
*Sde Eliyahu, 8 May 1939
*Mahanayim, 23 May, 1939
*Shadmot Dvora, 23 May 1939
*Shorashim, 23 May 1939
*Hazore'im, 23 May 1939
*Tel Tzur, 23 May 1939
*Kfar Glikson, 23 May 1939
*Ma'apilim, 23 May 1939
*Mishmar HaYam (now Afek), 28 May 1939
*Hamadiyah, 23 June 1939
*Kfar Netter, 26 June 1939
*Negba, 12 July 1939
*Gesher, 13 August, 1939
*Beit Oren, 1 October 1939
*Amir, 29 October 1939

ee also

*Settlement of the Thousand

References