Yishuv, Yishuv

The residents and new settlers were referred to collectively as " the Yishuv " or " Ha-Yishuv ." The term came into use in the 1880s, when there were about 25,000 Jews living in Eretz Yisrael, and continued to be used until 1948, by which time there were about 700,000 Jews there, and is used in Hebrew even nowadays to denote the Pre-State Jewish residents in the Holy Land.

Smaller communities were in Jaffa, Haifa, Peki'in, Acre, Nablus, Shfaram and until 1779 also in Gaza. A large part of the Old Yishuv concentrated their time in Torah studies and lived off Ma'amodot (stipends), received by donations from the Jews in the Diaspora.

The ottoman government officially restricted Jewish immigration. Those who adopted ottoman nationality were liable for the Turkish draft. The settlers faced some very hard times. There were many epidemics in Palestine at this time impoverishing and killing many. The Yishuv was reliant on the money from abroad to support the settlements.By 1914 the old Yishuv was a minority and the new Yishuv began to express itself and its Zionist goals. Labor organizations were created along with health and cultural services all run by the Vaad Leumi. The first Hebrew High schools were opened in Palestine as well as the Technion, the first institution for higher learning.

The Palestine Office was created by Dr. Arthur Rupin for land acquisition along with agricultural and urban expansion.The Zionist movement tried to find the new immigrants who arrived from the Second Aliyah work however, most were middle class and were not physically fit or knowledgeable in agricultural work. The Jewish plantation owners had previously hired Arab workers who accepted low wages and were very familiar with agriculture. The leaders of the Zionist movement insisted that plantation owners (those who arrived in the first Aliyah) only hire Jewish workers and grant higher wages. The conquest of labor was a major Zionist goal however this caused some turmoil in the Yishuv for there were those who felt that they were discriminating against the Arabs just as they had been discriminated against in Russia. The Arabs became bitter from the discrimination despite the minor amount of Arabs that were affected by this.During WWI the condition for the Jews in the Ottoman Empire worsened. All those Jews who were of an enemy nationality were exiled and others were drafted into the Turkish army. Many of those exiled fled to Egypt and the United States. Those who remained in Palestine faced hard economic times. There was disagreement weather to support the British or the Turks.

The British were supposed to help the Jews build a national home and promote the creation of self governing institutions. The mandate provided an agency in which the Jews could represent Jewish interests and promote Jewish immigration. This Agency was called The Jewish Agency for Palestine which was only created ten years later serving as the de-facto government of the Yishuv.Along with a Jewish agency there was to be a general self governing institution created in Palestine including Jews and Arabs. The yishuv feared such an institution due to the Arab majority but none was created in the end due to the Arabs refusal to cooperate with the Jews or British.The optimism that existed in the beginning of the British mandate soon diminished due to continued hardships in the Yishuv. Most of the European funds that supported the Jewish settlements before WWI ended. The Arabs instigated Riots against the Jews due to their opposition to the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate. The British limited immigration through yearly quotas, only those who received "certificates" could make Aliyah.

The Haganah protecting the Yishuvs settlements while the Irgun and Etzel, more radical groups, attacked on Arabs settlements.

The peel commission reported, in July 1937, that the Britishs obligations to the Arab and Zionist are irreconcilable and the mandate is unworkable. It suggested the partition of Palestine into a, Arab and Jewish state with the British mandate governing over Nazareth, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem along with a corridor from Jerusalem to the coast. The Jews accepted the general principal of a partition while the Arabs refused any partition plan. The British government sent a technical team called the Woodhead Commission to detail the plan. The Woodhead Commission in the end concluded that the partition was impractical.The Palestinian Revolt broke out again in the autumn of 1937. The British ended the revolt using harsh measures, deporting many Palestinian Arab leaders and shutting down the AHC. In the Yishuv, the Palestinian Revolt reinforced the already firm belief in the need for a strong Jewish defense network. Finally, the Arab agricultural boycott that began in 1936 forced the Jewish economy into even greater self-sufficiency. The Haganah during this period changed from being a small clandestine militia to a large military force. The British security forces at this time cooperated with the Haganah to tame the Arabs.In 1938 Captain Orde Wingate created a 'Special Night Squad (SNS) that was comprised mostly if Haganah members. SNS used the element of surprise in night raids to protect the Jewish settlements and attack the Arabs.

Many of these ships sank or were caught such as the Patria (Patra), Struma and SS Bulgaria. Compared to the amount of attempts few ships actually arrived successfully to Palestine but tens of thousands of Jews were saved by the illegal immigration.The Yishuv also wanted to help on the front lines to try and save Jews from the Nazi atrocities. In 1942 the Jewish agency turned to the British to offer their assistance by sending Jewish volunteers to Europe as emissaries of the Yishuv to organize local resistance and rescue operation among the Jewish communities. The British accepted the proposal but on a much smaller scale than the Jewish agency had hoped. They only took Jewish parachutists who were recent immigrants from certain targeted countries that they wanted to infiltrate. The British Special Forces and military intelligence both consented to the volunteers' dual role as British agents and Jewish emissaries. 110 Yishuv members were trained however only 32 were deployed. Many of them succeeded in helping the POWs and uprisings in the Jewish communities while others were caught.

The British received much international Pressure, specifically from the American president Harry Truman, to change its policy on immigration. Despite Britain's dependence on American economic aid, the British refused claiming that they were experiencing too much resistance from the Arabs and Jews already in Palestine and feared what would happen if more were allowed to enter. The refusal to remove the white paper policy angered and radicalized the Yishuv. The Yishuv's militia groups set out to sabotage the British infrastructure in Palestine and continue in their illegal immigration efforts. In 1946 the British responded to the yishuv's efforts and began a two week search for Jews suspected of anti British activities and arrested many of the Haganah's leaders. While the British were busy looking after the Haganah the Irgun & Lehi carried out attacks on the British forces. The most famous of their attacks was on the King David Hotel, the site of the British military command and the British Criminal Investigation Division. This location was chosen because a few weeks before a large quantity of documents were confiscated from the Haganah and brought there. Despite being warned by the Yishuv and told to evacuate the building the British officials decided not to listen thereby resulting in British casualties.By 1947 the British had 100,000 troops in Palestine trying to maintain order and protect themselves. The British mandate was a major expense on the British leading them to present the Palestinian Problem to the United Nations on May 15, 1947). The United Nations proposed a Partition of Palestine into 2 states -Jewish and Arab(resolution 181). The Jews accepted while the Arabs stated that they would do everything in their power to prevent it.The AHC determined to prevent resolution 181 of coming into effect started to attack and siege the Jews. The British sided with the Arabs in an attempt to prevent the Yishuv from arming themselves.

The Yishuv seemed helpless until it received a large shipment of arms from Czechoslovakia. The Haganah started fighting offensively from April through May. The Haganah mounted a full scaled operation, Operation Nachson. After much fighting and the crucial capture of Deir Yasin the siege of Jerusalem was broken allowing supplies to be brought to the city.This Operation's success helped Harry S. Truman recognize that the Jews would be able to protect themselves therefore The United states said they would support the establishment of a Jewish state. On May 14th 1948 the Jews proclaimed the independente state of Israel and the British withdrew from Palestine.Despite having a Jewish state and an end to the British mandate, the Israelis were to face many more fights with the Arabs.

Source: Wikipedia > Yishuv