Acre Prison, also known as Akko Prison, is a former

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

and current museum in

Acre, Israel Acre ( ), known in Hebrew as Akko (, ) and in Arabic as Akka (, ), is a List of cities in Israel, city in the coastal plain region of the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. The city occupies a strategic location, sitting ...

. The citadel in the old city was built during the Ottoman period over the ruins of a 12th-century Crusader fortress. The Ottomans used it at various times as a government building, prison, army barracks, and arms warehouse. During the British Mandate it was used as a prison in which many

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

s were imprisoned as criminals or for participating in illegal protests. On June 17, 1930, Fuad Hijazi, ‘Ata Al-Zeer, and Mohammad Khaleel Jamjoum who participated in the incidents of 1929 were executed there by hanging by the British authorities. Tamari, Salim & Nassar, Issam (2014) ''The Storyteller of Jerusalem. The life and Times of Wasif Jawhariyyeh, 1904-1948''. Olive Branch Press. . pp.202,291. Many were imprisoned during the

1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine A popular uprising by Palestinian Arabs in Mandatory Palestine against the British administration, later known as the Great Revolt, the Great Palestinian Revolt, or the Palestinian Revolution, lasted from 1936 until 1939. The movement sought i ...

. 108 Arab prisoners were executed for their involvement in the revolt. On April 16, 1947, Dov Gruner and the three men ( Yechiel Dresner, Mordechai Alkahi and Eliezer Kashani) captured by the British 6th Airborne Division were hanged in Acre Prison to become the first post war ‘martyrs’ of the

Irgun The Irgun (), officially the National Military Organization in the Land of Israel, often abbreviated as Etzel or IZL (), was a Zionist paramilitary organization that operated in Mandatory Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of th ...

. Dov Gruner in a broadcast declared the British Army and Administration to be ‘criminal organizations’. Two weeks later, 4 May, the Irgun attacked the prison in the

Acre Prison break The Acre Prison break was an operation undertaken by the Irgun on May 4, 1947, in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate of Palestine, in which its men broke through the walls of the Acre Prison, Central Prison in Acre, Israel, Acre and freed ...

, blowing a hole in the wall through which 27 Irgun prisoners escaped. 214 Arab prisoners also escaped. Three Irgun men who took part in that attack ( Avshalom Haviv,

Meir Nakar Meir Nakar (; July 26, 1926 – July 29, 1947) was a member of the Irgun in pre-state Mandatory Palestine and one of 12 Olei Hagardom. Early life and army service Meir Nakar was born in Jerusalem to a poor Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox-Jewish famil ...

, and Yaakov Weiss) were captured during that attack and imprisoned and executed there. The prison also contained Jewish prisoners, members of the Hagana, Lehi, and

. One of those prisoners was Eitan Livni (father of

Tzipi Livni Tziporah Malka "Tzipi" Livni (, ; born 8 July 1958) is an Israeli politician, diplomat and lawyer. A former member of the Knesset and leader in the center-left political camp, Livni is a former Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel), foreign mini ...

), the Irgun operations officer. In total, the prison contained 700 Arab prisoners and 90 Jewish prisoners. A room in the prison was occupied for some months by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...

, and members of his family, who were exiled to Ottoman Syria in 1868. The cell is now a site of pilgrimage for Baháʼís making a wider pilgrimage to the Baháʼí shrines in Haifa and Bahji, outside Akko.

References

{{coord, 32, 55, 25, N, 35, 04, 09, E, display=title Prisons in Israel

Prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

History of Acre, Israel Execution sites

See also

References