TEL HAI

view of original courtyard, Tel Hai, courtesy, Wikipedia

Tel Hai is a name of the former Jewish settlement in northern Galilee, the site of an early battle between Jews and Arabs heralding the growing conflict. It is currently part of kibbutz Kfar Giladi.

In Biblical times, the site that would become Tel Hai was allotted to the tribe of Naphtali. Apparently, there was never a settled community there although at some point during the rule of the Ottomans, an Arab settlement was established called Talhah. At the beginning of the 20^th century, some of the village lands were purchased by Haim Kalvarisky, a clerk of the Jewish Colonization Association, and in 1905, a Jewish community was established as an agricultural courtyard for six workers from Metullah. It was to lie on the northern border of the hoped-for Jewish state but such hopes were disappointed by the European colonial powers during the First World War. In a letter dated October 24, 1915, Sir Henry McMahon, then British High Commissioner in Egypt, and in recognition of the Arab Revolt against the occupying Turks, promised the Sharif of Mecca, Husayn ibn Ali, to "recognize and support the independence of the Arabs within the territories proposed by him (Sharif of Mecca)”, the exact extent of which became a matter of dispute. In 1918, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, the Jewish community was given its name, “Tel Hai”, the Hebraicized form of Talhah, and became a border outpost settled by the "Shepherd's Group" of Hashomer, predecessor of the Haganah, in order to guard outlying Jewish land. One year later this group dispersed and another took its place under the command of Josef Trumpeldor. The area was subsequently subject to intermittent border adjustments among the British and French colonial powers. In 1919, the British relinquished the northern section of Upper Galilee containing Tel Hai, along with Metulla (est. 1896) and Kfar Giladi (est. 1916) to French jurisdiction. The Zionist movement was greatly displeased with this, since it would have left the sources of the Jordan River outside the borders of British Mandatory Palestine. Therefore, the few isolated settlements in this territory assumed a strategic value from the Zionist point of view. Still, there was a fierce debate among factions and leaders of the Yishuv. Some, including the Hashomer force in Tel Hai under Trumpeldor, advocated letting Tel Hai and the other outposts hang on at all costs, while others regarded their situation as untenable and advocated withdrawing from them. Arabs in this area at the time were not primarily involved in activities against the early Jewish defense forces but rather in strongly opposing the imposition of the French Mandate of Syria, which they regarded as a betrayal of the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence. Organized Arab militias were, hence, established thus beginning the Franco-Syrian War. While the local Arabs and Bedouin allied with the Arab Kingdom of Syria, the Jewish residents chose to remain neutral. Early in the war, a Kfar Giladi resident was killed by armed pro-Syrian Bedouin, greatly increasing tension in the region. Jewish villages were regularly pillaged by the Bedouin on the pretext of searching for French spies and soldiers. In one incident, Trumpeldor and other Jews were stripped of their clothes as a public insult by an Arab Bedouin militia. On March 1, 1920, several hundred Shiite Arabs from the settlement of Jabal Amil in what is today, southern Lebanon, marched to the gates of Tel Hai together with Bedouin from Halasa and their Mukhtar, Kamal Affendi. They demanded to search Tel Hai for French soldiers. One of the farmers fired a shot into the air, a signal for reinforcements from nearby Kfar Giladi, which brought ten men who had been posted by Hashomer to organize defense. Trumpeldor and these men attempted to influence the Shiites and roving village militias to go away through negotiation. Kamal Affendi was allowed to enter the village however to search for French soldiers. He encountered one of the female Jewish residents named Deborah who pointed a pistol at Kamal, apparently surprised to see an armed Bedouin in the village. A shot was discharged during the struggle (unclear whether from the pistol or by another weapon) and a major firefight erupted. Trumpeldor was shot and seriously wounded, while the sides barricaded themselves in the village. Kamal Affendi asked to leave, saying it was all a misunderstanding, and the Jewish force approved a cease-fire. During the Arab retreat, one of the Jewish defenders, unaware of the agreements by his comrades and hearing-impaired by the previous firefight, shot at the Arab party, and the exchange of fire recommenced. Eight Jews and five Arabs were killed. Trumpeldor was shot in the hand and stomach and died while being evacuated to Kfar Giladi that evening. The survivors of Tel Hai found their position untenable and had no choice but to withdraw, whereupon the Arabs set fire to the village. In the end, Tel Hai was included in the British Mandate of Palestine. By 1921, it was resettled though it did not become a viable independent community and in 1926 it was absorbed into Kfar Giladi.

The Battle of Tel Hai which gave the settlement its fame, was significant, from a Jewish perspective, far beyond the small number of civil combatants on either side – mainly due to its influence on Israeli culture, both inspiring an enduring heroic story and profoundly influencing the military of the Yishuv and political strategies over several decades. In retrospect, it can be regarded as the first military engagement between Jews and Arabs, though at the time neither side regarded it as such. Each year, Tel Ḥai Day is celebrated by youth gatherings and visits to Tel Ḥai and similar sites. Today, the Roaring Lion Monument in the Kfar Giladi cemetery commemorates the deaths of the eight Jews in the battle.  The nearby city of Kiryat Shemona, literally Town of the Eight was named after them. There are also the Academic and Technology College of Tel Hai, an industrial park, and the Tel Hai Springs. The original quadrangular compound was preserved, and a youth hostel and Haganah museum were established there.