Haganah

Haganah (defence), clandestine, paramilitary organization formed in Palestine in 1920 by Jews to protect themselves against Arab attacks. The more militarist Haganah B was formed from it in 1931, but in 1937 this split, half returning to Haganah, the other half forming the more extreme Irgun. The Arab revolt of 1936–9 changed the Haganah from a collection of local defence bands into an army structure which its political master, the Jewish Agency executive, used to organize illegal immigration and control extremists. The British, who governed the mandated territory of Palestine, nearly destroyed the Haganah in 1940, but in 1941 it began to form special independent units (Palmach) from its members. These were used in British military operations such as the Syrian campaign, but the British never legalized the organization. Its wartime hoarding of arms, and the formation of an intelligence branch, paid dividends during post-war confrontations with British and Arab forces, and with Jewish extremists.