Ezra Danin (; 2 August 1903- 31 May 1984) was the head of the Arab section of the

SHAI Shai (also spelt Sai, occasionally Shay, and in Greek, Psais) was the deification of the concept of fate in Egyptian mythology. As a concept, with no particular reason for associating one gender over another, Shai was sometimes considered femal ...

, the intelligence arm 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 ...

, Israeli politician and an orange grower. Danin specialized in Arab affairs.

Biography

Danin was born in

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

. His father, (originally Socholovsky,1868–1945), was "an entrepreneur from

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the List of cities and towns in Poland, tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Biał ...

(in modern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

)," and emigrated to Palestine as part of the

First Aliyah The First Aliyah (), also known as the agriculture Aliyah, was a major wave of Jewish immigration (''aliyah'') to History of Israel#Ottoman period , Ottoman Palestine (region) , Palestine between 1881 and 1903. Jews who migrated in this wave cam ...

. Yehezkel became active in Zionist circles and eventually settled in Jaffa, where Ezra was born. He was later one of the founders of

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

. His mother Rachel Yellin, had been born in Palestine to a family of the

Old Yishuv The Old Yishuv (, ''haYishuv haYashan'') were the Jewish communities of the Land of Israel during the Ottoman period, up to the onset of Zionist aliyah waves, and the consolidation of the new Yishuv by the end of World War I. Unlike the new Yis ...

. His maternal grandfather, rabbi Yehoshua Yellin, was a prominent rabbi in Jerusalem, and his maternal grandmother, Sarah Yehuda, was from an Iraqi-Jewish family originally from

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

.⁷³ During the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939, Danin was the leader of a spy network for the

in the district of Samaria. According to

Roy Marom Roy Marom (, ) is an Israeli historian and historical geographer. Marom is the curator of the Palestinian Rural History Project, which specializes in the history of the Palestinian countryside during the Ottoman and British Mandate periods. ...

, "Fluent in colloquial Arabic from childhood, and versed in Arabic culture and lore, Ezra Danin had no difficulty communicating with Arabs. During the Revolt, Ezra used his family’s extensive connections in order to recruit, train and operate dozens of informants. ..Danin’s intelligence enabled British troops to locate and expel the rebel commander

Fawzi al-Qawuqji Fawzi al-Qawuqji (, ; 19 January 1890 – 5 June 1977) was a Lebanese-born Arab nationalist military figure in the interwar period.The Arabs and the Holocaust: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives, by Gilbert Achcar, (NY: Henry Holt and Co.; 2009 ...

from Samaria". In 1940, he formed the Arab section of the

and remained there until 1948. He was instrumental in the formation of the "Syrian Platoon" of the

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 ...

in 1940–41, whose goal was to infiltrate

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 ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

who were under French Vichy rule. Danin accompanied

Golda Meir Golda Meir (; 3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978) was the prime minister of Israel, serving from 1969 to 1974. She was Israel's first and only female head of government. Born into a Jewish family in Kyiv, Kiev, Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine) ...

, the

Jewish Agency The Jewish Agency for Israel (), formerly known as the Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. It was established in 1929 as the operative branch of the World Zionist Organization (WZO). As an ...

representative, in her meetings with King Abdullah of Trans-Jordan, in the months leading to the establishment of the

State of Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Together with Eliahu Sasson they participated in the 17 November 1947 meeting at

Naharayim Naharayim ( literally "Two rivers"), historically the Jisr Majami area ( literally "Meeting bridge" area), is the area where the Yarmouk River flows into the Jordan River. It was the site of the "First Jordan Hydro-Electric Power House", con ...

on the river Jordan. The Danin-Sasson reports were then produced based on this meeting. On May 11, 1948, three days before the proclamation of the independence of Israel Danin again accompanied Meir to

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

, trying to persuade Abdullah not to join the coming Arab-Israeli war of 1948. According to

Nur Masalha Nur ad-Din Masalha (, ; born 4 January 1957) is a Palestinian writer, historian, and academic. His work focuses on the history, politics, and theology of Palestine, including themes such as the Palestinian Nakba, Zionism, and liberation theolog ...

and

Benny Morris Benny Morris (; born 8 December 1948) is an Israeli historian. He was a professor of history in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Beersheba, Israel. Morris was initially associated with the ...

Danin was a member of the various unofficial Transfer Committees, from May to August 1948.Masalha, (1992), p. 188 According to Roy Marom,

Danin was a prime instigator of the
Nakba The Nakba () is the ethnic cleansing; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; of Palestinian Arabs through their violent displacement and dispossession of land, property, and belongings, along with the destruction of their s ...
, the Palestinian Exodus, around Hadera. ..On 6 April 1948, however, Danin’s committee ordered the evacuation (pinuy) of all Arabs in the Jewish zone of control ..Danin’s order resulted in the eviction and demolition of all but two Palestinian villages along the country’s coastal plain between Haifa and Jaffa. ..Israeli authorities appropriated Arab lands, and partitioned them among Jewish settlements. Danin was responsible for allocating Arab properties around Hadera. ..In the summer of 1948, Danin was a member of the Foreign Ministry committee to formulating a final ‘Settlement of the Arab Refugee Problem’.

Danin then served as a Director of the Foreign Ministry's Middle East Department under Golda Meir. Danin published two books: a collection of documents captured from Arab gangs in the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939 and an Autobiography titled "Unconditional Zionist" (written with Yaakov Sharet).

Footnotes

Bibliography

Efraim Karsh Efraim Karsh (; born 6 September 1953) is an Israeli and British historian who is the founding director and emeritus professor of Middle East and Mediterranean Studies at King's College London. Since 2013, he has served as professor of political ...

(2000) ''Fabricating Israeli History: The new Historians'' Routledge * Nur-eldeen Masalha, (1992), ''Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of 'Transfer' in Zionist Political Thought 1882-1948'' Institute for Palestine Studies *

(2004) ''Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited'', Cambridge University Press, *

Ilan Pappé Ilan Pappé ( ; born 7 November 1954) is an Israeli historian, political scientist, and former politician. He is a professor with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, director ...

(2006) ''The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine'' Oneworld publications * Selwyn Ilan Troen, Noah Lucas (1995) ''Israel: The First Decade of Independence'' SUNY Press *

Avi Shlaim Avi Shlaim (, ; born 31 October 1945) is an Israeli and British historian of Iraqi Jewish descent. He is one of Israel's " New Historians", a group of Israeli scholars who put forward critical interpretations of the history of Zionism and Isr ...

(1988 reprinted 2004) ''The Politics of Partition; King Abdullah, The Zionists, and Palestine 1921-1951'' Oxford University Press {{DEFAULTSORT:Danin, Ezra Israeli people of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Haganah members Jews from Mandatory Palestine 1903 births 1984 deaths People from Jaffa