Under British High Commissioner
for Palestine ,
Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope, who started in the position in 1931, times were
relatively quiet. After the Arab Riots
started in 1936, no more settlements were allowed to be built.
Shlomo Goren had the idea to
build new settlements in advance, which the British accepted, provided they
were completed in 1 day. The idea was to
build a fenced settlement of 1 dunam (more easily defendable), with 4 buildings
inside and a watch tower. The fence was
a double fence, filled with gravel to strengthen it. The design was very simple and could be built
in 1 day. The British even gave guns to
defend the settlements.
Dozens of such settlements
were built between 1936-1938. In 1939,
under the new High Commissioner, Sir Harold MacDonald, things started to
change. Approval was no longer given,
partly due to the British getting ready for war.
On 21.3.1938 50 trucks,
carrying 500 people arrived to ensure the success of the setting up the kibbutz
in 1 day. They broke a trail and on
their backs carried everything necessary for the operation to Lower
Hanita , on the 5000 dunams of land which had already been
purchased. Yitzhak Sade was in charge,
and a large ceremony was held.
At the time, there was no
forest in the area, only sand.
The first night 100 men
remained to guard the settlement. The
Arabs attacked and 2 men were killed.
Over the next 2 months there were several attacks and a further 8 men
were killed. The road to Upper Hanita was
built and the group moved there. Lower Hanita was used as a Hagannah training camp.
500 people live in Hanita
today and its income is from both industry and agriculture.
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