Jewish Settlement Police
Encyclopedia
Notrim
The Notrim were a Jewish Police Force set up by the British in the Mandatory Palestine in 1936 to help defend Jewish lives and property during the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. The force was divided into Supernumerary Police and highly mobile Settlement Police...
established in Mandatory
Mandate Palestine
Mandate Palestine existed while the British Mandate for Palestine, which formally began in September 1923 and terminated in May 1948, was in effect...
Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
in 1936, during the Arab Revolt.
History
At the end of 1940, the JSP had about 15,000 members. A field army based on the force was estimated to be 16,000 men and women strong in 1946. According to a statement made by the Palestine Government in June 1947 and referenced by the United Nations Palestine Commission, the force itself was 1,929 men strong at the time. In early 1948 the force was about 2,000 strong.The Settlement Police cooperated with the British to form a joint British-Jewish unit known as the Special Night Squads
Special Night Squads
The Special Night Squads were a joint British-Jewish counter-insurgency unit, established by Captain Orde Wingate in Palestine in 1938, during the 1936-1939 Arab revolt. The SNS comprised British infantry soldiers and Jewish Supernumerary Police...
. These were commanded by a "fervent Christian Zionist" British officer called Charles Orde Wingate, who was posted to Palestine in 1936. The Special Night Squads fought Arab guerrillas who attacked the Iraqi Petroleum Company pipeline.
The Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
used the force as a "Training Centre" and put as many of its members through the JSP as possible: 13,455 between its formation and the end of 1945. The British authorities provided special uniforms, guns, light trucks and some machine guns and allowed the force to control sections of land around Jewish villages and Kibbutzim. The JSP also provided paramilitary training to Haganah units. The force thus expanded the assets of the Haganah and helped to provide a legal basis for much of their activities.
One notable member of the force was Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
who joined the JSP in 1945 and became an instructor. Another notable member was Yigal Allon
Yigal Allon
Yigal Allon was an Israeli politician, a commander of the Palmach, and a general in the IDF. He served as one of the leaders of Ahdut HaAvoda party and the Israeli Labor party, and acting Prime Minister of Israel, and was a member of the Knesset and government minister from the 10th through the...
. Both later served as Ministers in the Israeli government, Sharon also as Prime Minister; Allon was interim Prime Minister.
External links
- Adventure, Danger Color Israeli’s Life, Menachem "Mendele" Friedman's experiences with Wingate and the Settlement Police.
- Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry estimated that a field army, based on the Jewish Settlement Police and trained in more mobile operations was 16 000 men strong.Relevant section of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, published on the Jewish Virtual Library.