Tel Chai
Coordinates: 33 ° 15 ' N , 35 ° 35' E
Tel Chai (also called Tel Hai ; Hebrew תל חי, Living Mountain ) is a national monument in Upper Galilee in Israel that commemorates the deaths of eight Jews in rioting in 1920, including the Russian-Jewish folk hero Joseph Trumpeldor . In memory of these eight fallen, the neighboring town is called Kirjat Schmona ("Village of Eight" or "Eight Village").
history
Tel Chai has been temporarily uninhabited since 1905, but was permanently settled as a border post after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire from 1918. The area had repeatedly been the subject of border adjustments between the British and French after the end of Ottoman rule in Palestine.
In 1919 the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland ceded the northern part of the Upper Galilee with Tel Chai, Metulla , Hamrah and Kfar Giladi to the French administration . A year later, the Arabs in Palestine rebelled against the British and Jews for the first time.
The exact circumstances of the events of February 29, 1920 are unclear. When Arabs searched the place for French soldiers, one of the Jewish settlers shot in the air and the shot called in reinforcements from the nearby village of Kfar Giladi . For unexplained reasons, both sides began to shoot wildly, in the end Trumpeldor, a doctor who looked after him, and six other Jews were killed. Five Arabs also lost their lives.
It is reported that Trumpeldor's last words were, "Never mind, it is good to die for your country." Other versions read: "Never mind, it is good to die for the land of Israel" or "Never mind, it is good for our country to die. ” Tel Chai and the death of Trumpeldor became a heroic legend for the Zionists .
Events came at the right time for the Zionist movement and Tel Chai became a symbol. Both Tel Chai and Kfar Giladi were initially evacuated, but at the same time the principle of not abandoning any settlements was manifested.
In 1921 Tel Chai was repopulated and in 1926 incorporated into the kibbutz Kfar Giladi. A monument was erected on February 22, 1934, a seated lion symbolizing Trumpeldor and his comrades and overlooking the surroundings.
The Tel-Hai Museum exhibits documents related to the events of 1920. It was the site of a special meeting of the Israeli cabinet in February 2010.
See also
literature
- Zwi Kanner, Josef Trumpeldor - a Jewish hero , Vienna 1936
- Tom Segev : "Once upon a time there was a Palestine" , pp. 137 ff. Munich 2005. ISBN 3-570-55009-5
Individual evidence
- ^ Mordecai Naor: Eretz Israel , Könemann, Cologne, 1998, ISBN 3-89508-594-4 , page 182