Historical Background and Interviews
III. A New Beginning A New Beginning
Harod, which became the center for HaKibbutz HaMeuchad. A strong populist and advocate of kibbutz living, he helped found the AchdutHaAvodah (United Labor Party), Mapai, and Mapam move- ments. After the War of Independence, he was an esteemed mem- ber of the Knesset, where he spoke out on behalf of labor and the kibbutzim. Until his death in the early 1970s, he continued to make impassioned speeches and publish papers on those subjects. His son, Josef Tabenkin, was a leader in the Palmach during the War of Independence, serving as the brigade commander of the Harel Brigade (also called the Tenth Armored Brigade), to which many Yagur members belonged. Yitzchak Sadeh was also a familiar face at Yagur. A charismatic and colorful figure, Sadeh was bom in Russia in 1891, arrived in Palestine in 1932 and “seemed to have spent the years 1914 to 1919 successively fighting for the Czar, serving in the St. Petersburg po - lice, and doing hatchet jobs for various White and Red organiza - tions.” 7 He has been described as a former circus wrestler, foreman of a rock quariy, art dealer, journalist, and doctor of philosophy and, later, a hopeless administrator and born leader. 8 Sadeh was involved in several early efforts to organize Jewish self-defense and active resistance to Arab attacks, coordinated re- sistance to the British as acting chief of the Haganah general staff, and later took part in numerous important operations during the War of Independence, including the battle for Jerusalem and Oper- ation Horev. With two exceptions, he trained all of the later chiefs of staff of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and many of its generals, including Moshe Dayan, Yigal Yadin, and Yigal Allon, in Fosh or the Palmach. In the Palmach, they called him HaZaken, the Old Man. Sadeh was also in charge of Poum, which during World War II occasionally cooperated with the British to supply skilled per- sonnel for commando raids against Axis forces. It also gathered intelligence and conducted special operations, operated a police force, smuggled arms, photographed targets, located Arab terror- ists and Jewish informers — and attacked British boats preventing quarry,
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