The Defense in the Tel Mond Bloc
Tel Mond was founded in 1929 by the Palestine Plantations Company (Hevrat Mata’ei Eretz Yisrael). At first, only a small number of workers lived there. The company settled on a strategic hilltop - today the area of the Tel Mond camp - where they built the first permanent structure along with a few wooden huts. Security was entrusted to two Jewish Circassians.
The 1929 riots (Tarpat events) did not have any direct impact on Tel Mond. There were no casualties, and the damage to property was minimal. It can be said that the main effect of those events was a delay in the establishment of the Palestine Plantations Company and in founding settlements in the region.
The 1936 Arab Revolt did not spare the Tel Mond Bloc. Around that time, it became clear to the residents that defense needed to be strengthened. In response, the Haganah’s central command ensured that the settlement was equipped with weapons. Machine guns were brought in from Poland, and it was arranged that each settlement would receive two machine guns with sufficient ammunition. In Tel Mond, a mobile defense unit was formed to assist other nearby settlements in case of an attack. This unit was armed with a heavy Austrian-made machine gun.
When the revolt broke out, the entire community was placed on constant alert. People worked during the day and went out on night guard duty in the defensive posts.
The Jewish Agency demanded that the British Mandate government provide the settlements with licensed defensive weapons and to fund their protection. As a result, a Jewish auxiliary police force - the Notrim - was established.
In the Tel Mond Bloc, as across the country, Notrim stations were set up - in Bacharit, Ein Vered, Kfar Hess, and Tel Mond itself. Each settlement also had an official government weapons depot.
Security and Defense, 1929–1935
Tel Mond was founded in August 1929 by the Palestine Plantations Company. At the time, the number of workers was small. The company settled on a commanding hilltop - what is now the Tel Mond camp area - and built the first structure along with several huts. Security was entrusted to two Jewish Circassians.
Orchard labor was carried out by hired workers who were transported daily from Kfar Saba to Tel Mond. There was no drinking water on-site, so water was brought from the nearby Arab village of Tira.
The riots that broke out in Av 5689 (August 1929) prevented the Kfar Saba workers from reaching the orchards. The Arabs of Tira played their part in the riots by burning several huts and causing damage to the camp, although the damages were minor.
In practice, the 1929 riots did not have a significant impact. There were no casualties, and property damage was minimal. It can be said that the main effect of these events was to delay the development of the Palestine Plantations Company and the establishment of settlements in the area.
At the end of the riots, the director of the company requested that the British government take the site under its protection. The Palestine Plantations Company was owned by Lord Melchett (Alfred Mond), a British citizen. Based on this, the director demanded British protection. The British agreed and immediately sent ten soldiers.
The soldiers imposed several regulations: workers were no longer to be transported daily but were to remain on site, and regular patrols would be conducted in the area. When calm was restored and things returned to normal, one of the Circassian guards left.
It was during this quiet period that the Haganah’s central command in Tel Aviv sent Dov Yaffe to be in charge of security at the site. Dov Yaffe brought with him, illegally, ten rifles and ammunition, which were hidden under the stairs of one of the huts where the workers lived.
Source: Tel Mond Bloc Archive - Oron Tal, 2001, Seminar on Security and Defense in the Settlements of the Tel Mond Bloc (1929–1948), University of Haifa.
The Notrim in the Tel Mond Bloc
In the Tel Mond Bloc, as in the rest of the country, there were Notrim (Jewish auxiliary police) stations - in Bnei Brak, Ein Vered, Kfar Hess, and Tel Mond. Each settlement had an official government weapons depot overseen by a corporal, who was responsible for training the moshavniks (residents of the agricultural villages) who held auxiliary police certificates, sending them out for guard duty with rifles, collecting the weapons upon their return, counting the bullets, cleaning the weapons, and recording everything in the station logbook.
In 1941, again under pressure from the Jewish Agency and in light of the developments in the war - specifically, the German advance toward North Africa - the British authorities decided to significantly expand the Notrim force. They recruited a large number of new members and provided vehicles and horses to form mobile patrol units.
As part of this recruitment, over 150 Notrim were enlisted from the Tel Mond Bloc area, and I was among them.
On June 1, 1941, we were recruited in Tulkarm. After a medical examination, we were sworn in to be loyal to His Majesty the King of Britain and to the Mandate government, and then transferred to a training camp. The camp was established on the site formerly used to house the laborers who planted the orchards near Kfar Hess. Next to the sheds, many tents were set up; one of the sheds was converted into a kitchen and dining hall, and the camp headquarters was housed in the former construction office.
There were two types of commanders and instructors at the training camp: those from the Haganah - led by the late Haim Kramer (Kerem) - and those appointed by the British authorities, including Sergeants Mordechai Elkayem, Meir Nowicki, and Tuvia Bartzki.
Additional instructors from the Haganah included Mondek, Zvi German, and Mishael Shacham, among others.
Upon completion of training, some recruits were assigned to the local Notrim stations, while others were posted to mobile patrol units.
The course included weapons training, drill exercises, field exercises, and platoon- and squad-level combat training.
I was assigned to the Mobile Patrol Unit, which was established at that time. Its commanders were Sergeant Binyamin Mankin and Corporal Danke Mizafon. We were given eight horses. We immediately began horseback riding training and horse care, under the instruction of Danke Mizafon, who had previously served as an instructor in the Transjordan Frontier Force.
The official duties of the Mobile Patrol Unit were:
• Patrolling between the settlements in the Bloc.
• Escorting and guarding workers and crops in the fields and orchards.
• Surveying and marking all fields suitable for aircraft and glider landings, as had been done by the Germans in Crete during its conquest - especially in anticipation of Rommel’s forces advancing toward El Alamein.
The Haganah’s clandestine objectives assigned to us included:
1. Allowing Haganah members to train with our official weapons while protecting them from being caught by the British.
2. Assisting Palmach fighters from Kibbutz Ramat HaKovesh in training with machine guns and 3-inch mortars in the orchards. We guarded the area on horseback to ensure they were not surprised by British patrols.
3. Performing secret missions, such as guarding the underground Haganah weapons factory located in the Bloc’s orchards.
As an example, I was sent to a squad commanders’ course in Ramat Yohanan, and I was tasked with establishing a Gadna (Youth Battalions) company in the Bloc and serving as its commander. I trained the company in systematic military exercises under the framework of the youth battalion brigade - all in addition to my duties as a Noter in the patrol unit.
Defense in the Tel Mond Bloc
In August 1929, the Tel Mond camp was established by the Palestine Plantations Company. Security was entrusted to two Jewish Circassians. Daily, hired workers were transported from Kfar Saba to Tel Mond and back. However, during the riots of August 1929, workers stopped coming, and the two Circassians remained to guard the camp. Arabs from nearby Tira participated by burning several huts and causing damage.
The company’s manager, Kastilansky, appealed to the British authorities to protect the site, since it was owned by British subject Sir Alfred Mond. The British agreed and sent ten soldiers. They ordered that the workers stay overnight at the camp and began patrolling the area. Once peace returned, one of the Circassian guards left.
During this relative calm, the Haganah central command in Tel Aviv sent Dov Yaffe (later a member of Moshav Herut) to oversee security. He smuggled in ten rifles and ammunition, hidden illegally under the stairs of a workers’ hut.
Arabs occasionally harassed the settlement. Once, a farmer was fired upon while plowing. Agronomist Gra Weitzman, who held a licensed hunting rifle, returned fire. The Arabs complained to the British, claiming the Jews had assaulted them and produced witnesses. Weitzman was arrested in Tulkarm but later released after lengthy efforts.
The Haganah remained on high alert, especially around November 2, the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. The Haganah declared nationwide readiness, and a trained commander, Yehezkel Ben David, was sent in advance to Tel Mond to organize local defense.
Before November 2, a small car arrived at Tel Mond, and guards were stationed at the Herzliya water reservoir to surveil and relay warnings back to Tel Mond in case of attack.
One Circassian named Shaulov remained as a permanent guard. Aharon Weitzman (later of Ein Vered), a Haganah member, was appointed security officer. He brought two pistols-a Mauser and a Parabellum-trained the workers to use them, and established a hidden weapons cache (“slick”) in his hut.
In spring 1930, Tel Mond orchards were planted, bringing many laborers-mostly from the Yizrael organization, plus members of the Tel Aviv Agricultural Organization (later Ein Vered) and Herut. In March 1930, a group of settlers, including Israel Levin, Yaakov Borteniker, and I, traveled from Binyamina to Tel Mond via Qalqilya. Stones were thrown at us by villagers along the way, but we arrived safely after dark.
Upon reaching Tel Mond, we reported to Haganah commander Yehezkel Ben David, who welcomed us warmly. I assessed the security situation and recommended dismissing Shaulov, who lacked trust. The company approved, Shaulov was released, and a new defense hut was built near the road to Kfar Hess, with a concrete floor.
Aharon Weitzman and I transferred the hidden rifles from under the main building’s stairs to the new hut and created a weapons storage area beside the training shed. We removed all signs of the transfer. Each evening, I trained different groups, retrieving the weapons from the cache and returning them after drills, once the area was calm. Mari Spector was later appointed the village “mukhtar” (guard head).
Tel Mond was surrounded by Arab villages: Tira to the southeast, Tulkarm to the east, Qalqilya to the south, the Bedouin tribe of Fataklin (Wadi Falik) to the northwest, Mansuriyya (today Ein Sarid) to the north, and Kfar Miska (today Moshmeret) further south.
We organized instructor squads for each settlement. The first non-commissioned officer course was held in Tel Mond under Yehezkel Ben David. The eight instructors included Yosef Kinmon, Yaakov Soroker, Meir Ben Naftali, and Moshe Malmud from Kfar Hess; Tuvia Pechter and Aharon Tsirelin from Tel Mond; and Lederman and Aharon Weitzman from Ein Vered. The course lasted several months, and certified commanders attended the graduation ceremony.
In 1931, we began setting up a signaling network between settlements. We taught nighttime Morse-code signaling. That year, the second floor of the company’s administration building was completed with its flat roof and railing-ideal for signaling.
That same year, the British delivered sealed wax-stamped boxes of rifles to the settlements. Tel Mond’s box contained six rifles and bullets. The deputy commander of the Tulkarm police came to train the colonists in shooting these quality hunting rifles. Training included nighttime alarm drills and signaling.
At the time, differing opinions were held in the country about the British police officer Douglas Duff. After leaving the country in 1933, he published his memoirs his work there as commander of the police in the Tulkarm area, in which he is portrayed as a strict law-and-order man (the most well-known being Palestine Unveiled, 1938). His view was that since the Balfour Declaration was a legal declaration issued by His Majesty’s Government, it should be implemented exactly as written.
In 1932, Vitkin settlers occupied Hawarat lands in Emek Hefer. At Commander Ben David’s request, I accompanied Blasher’s son-an experienced signaller-to set up communications between Tel Mond and Wadi Hawarat.
One Friday evening, riding a white donkey and mule and armed with a pistol and a hunting rifle, we traveled through many Arab villagers during melon harvest season. Offering cigarettes eased the tension. By nightfall, we reached Wadi Hawarat and established the line.
British police later arrived. I handed over my pistol to someone else. When they asked who we were, we claimed to be scouts signaling Tel Mond. Surprisingly, one officer, a trained signaller, took our device and signaled Tulkarm police for about thirty minutes-after which he returned it and left amicably. He explained he’d been sent by Officer Douglas V. Duff to patrol the new settlement and protect its residents.
In Kfar Hess, a water tower with a railing became our observation post-it was taller than the Tel Mond administration building. Shlomo Waldman became signal officer, organizing a team in communication with the region. After settling the land, Yosef Kinmon was appointed Haganah commander. Weapons were purchased and supplied by the Haganah, but we had to pay for them ourselves-an expensive feat in those days. Yitzhak Rothenberg, who worked at the local grocery, somehow raised the funds. We aimed for each settler to have his own weapon.
When Kinmon resigned, Shlomo Tzevoni became commander. A first-aid group was formed under Dr. Kosta, with Yael Brind in charge.
On the eve of the 1936 Arab Revolt, the Haganah’s central command equipped settlements with weapons. From Poland, REKEM machine guns were smuggled in. We ensured our village received two, with ample ammunition. Tel Mond also formed a mobile support unit armed with a heavy Austrian Schwarzlose machine gun.
When the revolt erupted, we were permanently alert-working by day and guarding by night. The Jewish Agency pressured the British to license guns and assist in creating a defense force. Thus, the legal Jewish militia, the Notrim Gappirim, was formed.
The Mandate government allocated £6 (Palestine pounds) per month for two guardians and for weapons and uniforms. This funding boosted local security budgets. Under Agency instruction, Tel Mond formed a mobile cavalry unit under Alexandrowitz, headquartered in the two-story camp building. This unit was trained to support any threatened settlement. Training camps were organized, with each village sending two participants for a month of military instruction. Emek Hefer was marked with a red triangle. Canadian rifles were replaced by more effective British rifles.
Several illegal weapon caches - hand grenades and around 100 rounds of ammunition per rifle-were hidden in the village. Meir Ben Naftali built these slicks and the one-inch diameter pipes. Shlomo Tzevoni and Avraham Gutkovski were in charge of the caches. The first regional commander, Yosef Kinmon, organized the initial weapon storage.
Keeping weapons deeply buried posed many challenges: we regularly retrieved, cleaned, and oiled them. Both men and women were mobilized for these night tasks in the orchards, always finishing before dawn.
The moshav’s defense was divided into posts and sectors. During alerts, illegal weapons were distributed to sector commanders and hidden in sector caches. In the southern sector, there were 4–5 posts commanded by Shiri; the eastern sector had four posts under Zvi Botnik; the western sector was linked to Tel Mond, including a mobile patrol; and two posts plus a communication guard were situated near Ein Vered.
After the UN vote on Nov 29, 1947, violence resumed. Illegal weapons were handed to older youth. In Kfar Hess, a Palmach unit held heavy weapons (REKEM and mortars), stationed near the kindergarten. One night, a British patrol caught youths training with illegal guns. Most scattered, but one-Moshe Sela (“Moshe-and-a-half”)-was caught. After fighting off the policeman, he escaped. Next day, British officers confronted Alexandrowitz, demanding the assailant. Alexandrowitz warned Moshe, who hid in the orchards. The incident was defused over a beer and the complaint was dropped.
The national and regional Haganah frequently held intensive training courses here for commanders. The packing warehouses served as defense centers and weapons stores. A secret arms factory was even built underground near Well #1. Avraham Geller helped produce bombs, Sten submachine guns, and other weapons, with parts hidden around the area to avoid detection.
During WWII, the locals calmed down, though some gangs remained. Over time, Notrim guards took on additional roles, including spotting enemy aircraft. As the front approached Egypt, they received more advanced weapons and underwent training in 2-inch mortars and heavy machine guns.
After WWII, conflict with British authorities led to many inspections. British forces, equipped with machines to locate hidden arms, confiscated significant caches. The Haganah responded by ordering weapons to be buried two meters deep, beyond detection range. Existing caches were removed and new, deeper ones dug. This grueling work was done at night by dedicated men and women. These weapons were later retrieved during the Altalena War and proved vital in the battles of the War of Independence.
He Neither Slumbers Nor Sleeps
By Yonah Barnea (Brand)
Moshav Ein Vered was established in 1930 in a hostile environment, surrounded by Arab villages: to the north were the villages of Mansuriyya and Khalil, to the west the villages of Tiqli and Miska, and to the east the towns of Tayibe and Qalansuwa. For security reasons, the moshav was founded on hilltops overlooking the area, with three main clusters: “The Center,” “Birobidzhan,” and “Transjordan.”
To defend the new settlement effectively, guard and observation posts were built on the high points. One post stood on the roof of the community building dominating the surroundings; another on the water tower facing northeast; and three more posts were constructed to the northwest, west, and south. Some were built of concrete, while others were made of wood and sheet metal. The western post still stands today as part of the Youth House.
Security in the moshav fluctuated over the years. In the 1930s, local Arabs uprooted saplings in the young orchards, citing land disputes. In 1938, four moshav members were murdered on their way to work in the surrounding groves. In the 1940s, thefts of work animals and irrigation equipment became frequent. To deter thieves, field guards patrolled the lands on noble mares, armed with a long whip, a belted pistol, later a rifle, and even a frightening dog.
Following the 1936–1939 Arab Revolt, security measures improved. Members were recruited by national institutions to serve as Notrim (colonial police) and Gaffirim (civil guards), wore uniforms, and donned distinctive hats. The Gaffirim guarded inside the moshav, while the Notrim patrolled the surroundings on horseback-and later in 1940's-era trucks. Each person chose which force to join, based on quotas determined by the authorities: Notrim, Gaffirim, Haganah, or Palmach.
During World War II, eighteen members (men and women) enlisted in the British Army. Two were killed in action and two taken prisoner. After the war, the veterans returned and resumed defense activities.
These were the days of the British Mandate, and many members engaged in clandestine work: illegal immigration (Aliyah Bet), weapons procurement, hidden arms caches, command training, and weapons instruction. Women served as medics, radio operators, and lookouts.
Youth were trained through the Gadna program, disguised as the Working Youth movement. Courses included judo, fieldcraft, hand-to-hand combat, rope climbing, and high jumps. The older youth served as fighters in the War of Independence, and the younger ones as lookouts and communication aides, stationed near the phone.
Before the war, the moshav was fortified with a perimeter fence equipped with an electrical alarm system. A control center would receive alerts when the fence was breached, and a standby team was dispatched to locate and repair the break. Adult members with technical knowledge guarded the control center.
The village had only four telephones, which were vital for internal and external communication during emergencies. The main phone was in the secretariat, guarded by children aged 11 to 14.
During the War of Independence, four of our beloved sons were lost in battle.