Tel HaShomer ' onMouseout='HidePop("14699")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Hashomer">the Guardsman
Hashomer was a Jewish defense organization in Palestine founded out of Bar-Giora in April 1909. It ceased to operate after the founding of the Haganah in 1920. The purpose of Hashomer was to provide guard services for Jewish settlements in the Yishuv, freeing Jewish communities from dependence...
) is an area in
Gush DanGush Dan is a metropolitan area including areas from both the Tel Aviv and the Central Districts of Israel. It is located along the Israeli Mediterranean coastline...
in central
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
, east of
Ramat GanRamat Gan is a city in the Tel Aviv district of Israel, located east of Tel Aviv. It is home to one of the world's major diamond exchanges and Israel's tallest building, the Moshe Aviv Tower. Ramat Gan was established in 1921 as a moshava, a communal farming settlement. At the end of 2007, the...
and bordered to the north by Kiryat Ono, to the east by
YehudYehud is a city in the Center District in Israel, one of the component parts of the joint municipality of Yehud-Monosson. The population of Yehud was in 2007 approximately 25,600 .- History :...
, and to the south by
Or YehudaOr Yehuda is a city in the Tel Aviv District in Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , the city had a total population of 32,200 at the end of 2007.-History:...
.
Tel HaShomer ' onMouseout='HidePop("14699")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Hashomer">the Guardsman
Hashomer was a Jewish defense organization in Palestine founded out of Bar-Giora in April 1909. It ceased to operate after the founding of the Haganah in 1920. The purpose of Hashomer was to provide guard services for Jewish settlements in the Yishuv, freeing Jewish communities from dependence...
) is an area in
Gush DanGush Dan is a metropolitan area including areas from both the Tel Aviv and the Central Districts of Israel. It is located along the Israeli Mediterranean coastline...
in central
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
, east of
Ramat GanRamat Gan is a city in the Tel Aviv district of Israel, located east of Tel Aviv. It is home to one of the world's major diamond exchanges and Israel's tallest building, the Moshe Aviv Tower. Ramat Gan was established in 1921 as a moshava, a communal farming settlement. At the end of 2007, the...
and bordered to the north by Kiryat Ono, to the east by
YehudYehud is a city in the Center District in Israel, one of the component parts of the joint municipality of Yehud-Monosson. The population of Yehud was in 2007 approximately 25,600 .- History :...
, and to the south by
Or YehudaOr Yehuda is a city in the Tel Aviv District in Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , the city had a total population of 32,200 at the end of 2007.-History:...
. It contains, among other things, a major
Israel Defense ForcesThe Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are Israel's military forces, comprising the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
base (Camp Dori) and the
Sheba Medical CenterThe Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer , often referred to as Tel HaShomer Hospital, is the largest hospital in Israel,. It was named after Chaim Sheba, once the head of the hospital...
.
History
Tel HaShomer was founded as the
moshavaA moshava , plural: Moshavot is a form of rural settlement in Israel.In a moshava, as opposed to communal settlements like the kibbutz and the moshav, all the land and property are privately-owned. The first moshavot, described as "colonies" in professional literature, were established by...
Tel Litvinsky by Moshe and Emil Litvinsky in 1934, named after their father Elhanan Litvinsky. The village was mainly settled by immigrants from Germany and Poland, and in 1936 was noted for its high proportion of academics and doctors per capita. Much of Tel Litvinsky's land was confiscated for the construction of a British military base in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The base had strategic value in that it controlled the
JaffaJaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa is located south of Tel Aviv, Israel on the Mediterranean Sea...
–
Lydda AirportBen Gurion International Airport Ben Gurion International Airport Ben Gurion International Airport , is the largest and busiest international airport in Israel, with over 11.5 million passengers in 2008...
road, and also several surrounding villages including
Kfar AzarKfar Azar is a moshav ovdim located in the Ono Valley in central Israel. Previously part of Ef'al Regional Council, in 2007 it was transferred to the municipality of Ramat Gan together with Ramat Ef'al. With an area of around 1,000 acres, its population is around 500.The moshav was established in...
and
Ramat Ef'alRamat Ef'al is a neighbourhood of Ramat Gan in central Israel. Previously part of Ef'al Regional Council, in 2007 it was transferred to the municipality of Ramat Gan together with Kfar Azar.-History:...
. The base was used, among other things, to contain Italian
prisoners of warA prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a combatant who is held in continuing custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
.
1948 Arab–Israeli War
A Jewish attack on the base took place on November 29, 1947, when the
PalmachThe Palmach was the regular fighting force of the Haganah, the unofficial army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palmach was established on May 15, 1941...
stole explosives and 75 rifles. Towards of the end of the British Mandate of Palestine, Arabs under the command of
Hasan SalamaHasan Salama or Hassan Salameh was a commander of the Palestinian Holy War Army in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War along with Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni...
began smuggling in arms and personnel disguised as laborers into the camp. The
HaganahHaganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
command saw this as a threat and on April 15, 1948, two companies for the 32nd and 33rd Battalions of the
Alexandroni BrigadeThe Alexandroni Brigade is an Israel Defense Forces brigade that fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Along with the 7th Armoured Brigade both units had 139 killed during the first battle of Latrun - Operation Ben Nun....
entered and captured the base. Arab forces counterattacked from
al-KhayriyyaAl-Khayriyya was a Palestinian village located 7.5 kilometers east of Jaffa. Its inhabitants fled as a result of a military assault by the Alexandroni Brigade of the pre-state Israeli forces in the lead up to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.-History:...
,
Kafr 'AnaKafr 'Ana was a Palestinian town located east of Jaffa. In 1945, the town had an estimated population of 2,800 Arabs and 220 Jews. Captured by the pre-state Israeli forces of the Alexandroni Brigade prior to the outbreak of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, it was depopulated.-History:The Canaanites...
,
al-'AbbasiyyaAl-'Abbasiyya was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Jaffa. It was attacked under Operation Hametz during the 1948 Palestine War, and finally depopulated under Operation Dani. It was located 13 km east of Jaffa.-Bibliography:...
and Saqiya, but the Jewish forces reinforced and pushed them back to a small salient in the south of the camp, which was captured later in
Operation HametzOperation Hametz was a Jewish operation towards the end of the British Mandate of Palestine. It was launched at the end of April 1948 with the objective of capturing villages inland from Jaffa and establishing a blockade around the town....
. The Alexandroni Brigade lost three soldiers, which the Arab losses are estimated at about 50.
The area was renamed to Tel HaShomer in 1948, after
HaShomerHashomer was a Jewish defense organization in Palestine founded out of Bar-Giora in April 1909. It ceased to operate after the founding of the Haganah in 1920. The purpose of Hashomer was to provide guard services for Jewish settlements in the Yishuv, freeing Jewish communities from dependence...
, an early
OttomanThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
-period Jewish defense organization.
Structures and installations
It is well known for its central Israel Defence Forces base (Camp Yaakov Dori), which contains important installations such as:
- The Recruitment Bureau (Lishkat HaGiyus) - handles new draftees before they are recruited.
- Meitav, until May 2006 known as Bsis Klita UMiyun (Bakum) - induction base for drafted soldiers, where they get "militarized" (receive uniforms, basic gear, etc.) and are allotted to their units.
- Factory which manufactures Merkava
The Merkava is the main battle tank of the Israel Defense Forces. Since the early 1980s, four main versions have been deployed. The "Merkava" name was derived from the IDF's development program name....
tanks (7100th Maintenance Center).
- Several IDF corps' HQs: Military Police, Educational Corps, Logistics Corps, Ordnance Corps, Medical Corps.
Adjacent to the base there are both military and civilian
hospitalA hospital is an institution for health care providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment, and often but not always providing for longer-term patient stays....
s (in adjoining complexes) known as the Tel HaShomer Hospital. The civilian hospital is named
Sheba Medical CenterThe Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer , often referred to as Tel HaShomer Hospital, is the largest hospital in Israel,. It was named after Chaim Sheba, once the head of the hospital...
and is under the municipal jurisdiction of Ramat Gan.
Magen David AdomThe Magen David Adom is Israel's national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance and blood bank service. The name means "Red Shield of David" but is usually translated as "Red Star of David"...
has its headquarters and main blood bank on site.