Jewish Settlement Police

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A "ghaffir" (special policeman), of corporal rank, 1942, and a Ghaffir cap badge.

The Jewish Settlement Police (JSP) were a division of the Notrim established in Palestine in 1936.^[1] They were developed by the Haganah into an élite force.^[2] Members, known as Nodedot, were trained by their commander, Yitzhak Sadeh, in the art of unconventional warfare and specialized in mobility and surprise attacks. According to Katz, "the Arabs feared them greatly".^[2]At the end of 1940 the JSP had about 15,000 members.^[3] A field army based on the force was estimated to be 16,000 men and women strong in 1946.^[4] According to a statement made by the Palestine Government in June 1947 and referenced by the United Nations Palestine Commision, the force itself was 1,929 men strong at the time.^[5] In early 1948 the force was about 2,000 strong.^[6]

The Settlement Police cooperated with the British to form a joint British-Jewish unit known as the Special Night Squads. These were commanded by a "fervent Christian Zionist"^{[7][8][9][10]} 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 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.^[1] 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.^[11] The JSP also provided paramilitary training to Haganah units.^[12] The force thus expanded the assets of the Haganah and helped to provide a legal basis for much of their activities.^[13][14][15]

One notable member of the force was Ariel Sharon who joined the JSP in 1945 and became an instructor.^[16][17]

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• Bar-On, Mordechai (2004). A Never-Ending Conflict: A Guide to Israeli Military History. Praeger/Greenwood. ISBN 0275981584
• Black, Ian (1992). Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services. Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-3286-3
• Federal Research Division (2004). Israel: A Country Study. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 141912689X
• Gal, Reuven (1986). Portrait of the Israeli Soldier. Praeger/Greenwood. ISBN 0313243158
• Karsh, Efraim (2002). The Arab-Israeli Conflict: The Palestine War 1948. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1841763721
• Katz, Sam (1988). Israeli Units Since 1948. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 0-85045-837-4
• Kessler, David (1996). The Falashas: A Short History of the Ethiopian Jews. London: Routledge: 0714646466
• Khalaf, Issa (1991). Politics in Palestine: Arab Factionalism and Social Disintegration, 1939-1948. SUNY Press. ISBN 0791407071
• Levenberg, Haim (1993). Military Preparations of the Arab Community in Palestine, 1945-1948. London: Routledge. ISBN 0714634395
• Penkower, Monty Noam (1994). The Holocaust and Israel Reborn: From Catastrophe to Sovereignty. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0252063783
• Report by Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry from 1946. Available online in the Jewish Virtual Library.
• Rosenzweig, Rafael N. (1989). The Economic Consequences of Zionism. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 9004091475
• Tal, David (2004). War and Palestine, 1948: Strategy and Diplomacy. London: Routledge. ISBN 071465275X
• Tucker, Spencer C. (2001). Who's Who in Twentieth Century Warfare. London: Routledge. ISBN 0415234972
• Zweig, Ferdynand (1970). Israel: the Sword and the Harp. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. ISBN 0838675344

[edit] 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.