The Birya affair was an attempt by the British army to take over the Jewish settlement Birya

Birya

Birya , also Biriya, is an agricultural village adjacent to Safed, Israel, under the jurisdiction of the Merom HaGalil Regional Council in the Upper Galilee....

, in Palestine in the time of the British Mandate.

On March 5, 1946, British soldiers searched the new settlement of Birya, in the northern Galilee

Galilee

Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...

, near the city of Safed

Safed

Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...

, and having found hidden weapons, arrested all 24 inhabitants, and declared the settlement an "Occupied military zone".

The Jewish Zionist leadership saw the British action as a dangerous precedence against Jewish settlements and as violation of the Jew's right to settle freely in the Land of Israel

Land of Israel

The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...

.

On March 14 (Yud-Alef Adar, close to the date of Tel Hai

Tel Hai

Tel Hai is the modern name of a settlement in northern Israel, the site of an early battle in the Arab–Israeli conflict, and of a noted monument, tourist attraction, and a college...

 events) thousands of young people, organized by the Hagana Zionist

Zionism

Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...

 underground climbed the mountain on which Birya was built and resettled it, proclaiming their tents "Birya Bet" (the second Birya). After a few hours they were driven off by British armoured cars and tank

Tank

A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...

s, only to reappear the same night and build "Birya Gimel" (the third Birya). On March 17 the British authorities agreed to the presence of 20 Jewish settlers on Birya soil.

The affair was considered a great triumph of the Zionist resistance to British rule in Palestine, and was the subject of books and poems. Up to this day the Bnei Akiva

Bnei Akiva

Bnei Akiva is the largest religious Zionist youth movement in the world, with over 125,000 members in 37 countries. It was established in Mandate Palestine in 1929.-History:...

youth movement marks the event by marching to Birya on the Hebrew date (Yud Alef Adar, 11th of Adar) of the 1946 ascent to Birya.

External links

• The Birya affair on the Palmach site