Birya Fortress is a

fortress A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from L ...

built by the Jewish

Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Phalanges/Companies") was the elite combined strike forces and sayeret unit of the Haganah, the paramilitary organization of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of th ...

paramilitary during the British Mandate near the Jewish village of

Birya Birya (, also Biriya) is an agricultural village in northern Israel. Located in the Upper Galilee near Safed, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Merom HaGalil Regional Council. As of its population was . Biriya existed in the Classic Era, a ...

and the Arab village of

Biriyya Biriyya () was a Palestinian people, Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict, Mandatory Palestine, Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 2, 1948, by The Palmach's First Bat ...

. In 1946 the

Birya affair The Birya affair (, ''HaAliya LeBirya'', lit. ''The Ascent to Birya'') was an attempt by the British army to take over Kibbutz Birya during the British Mandate for Palestine. History On March 5, 1946, British soldiers searched the new settlem ...

took place here. Today the fortress operates as a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

History

The fortress was built by the

in 1946 as a base for the defense of

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

in nearby

Safed Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. Safed has been identified with (), a fortif ...

and as a way-station for Jewish immigrants arriving from

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. Because iron was scarce, the double walls were constructed from stone topped by a vaulted roof fitted with drainpipes and channels to channel rainwater into a reservoir. The fortress had two watchtowers and a lookout. These towers served as a means of communication with the Jewish community in Safed and the Upper Galilee headquarters of the

Haganah Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist political violence, Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the reg ...

Kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

Ayelet HaShahar Ayelet HaShahar () is a kibbutz in northern Israel acquired in 1892 and settled in the second Aliyah, located on the Korazim Plateau, by the Rosh Pina – Metulla road, it is approximately south of the city of Kiryat Shmona and falls under the jur ...

.Tourism and recreation: Birya Forest
/ref> On February 28, 1946, the British raided the site and discovered an arms cache, leading to the arrest of all residents of Birya and a ban on Jewish settlement there. However, after mass protests and resettlement attempts, the British withdrew. In the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...

the site was destroyed but later reconquered by Jewish forces. After the war it served for several years as a camp for new immigrants, and was later abandoned. In 1971 the modern community of Birya was established, about two kilometers to the southwest of the original site. The fortress was turned into a museum explaining the history of the area. It is now surrounded by Birya Forest.

Gallery

File:ביריה - מראה המצודה-JNF034081.jpeg, Biriya fort, 1947 File:Birya Fortress.jpg, View of Birya Fortress on Mount Canaan File:Birya.jpg, Buildings at Birya Fortress including a cinema with an underground cistern. 1948 File:Mount Canaan iii.jpg, Mount Canaan. September 1948

References

{{coord, 32.990416, 35.507909, region:IL_type:landmark, display=title History museums in Israel Museums in Northern District (Israel) Forts in Israel Buildings and structures in Northern District (Israel)

History

Gallery

See also

References