Birya Fortress is a

fortress A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

built during the British Mandate near

Birya Birya ( he, בִּירִיָּה, 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 exist ...

. In 1946 the

Birya affair The Birya affair ( he, העלייה לביריה, ''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 sol ...

took place here. Today the fortress operates as a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

History

The fortress was built by the

Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Companies") was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine. The Palmach ...

in 1946 as a base for the defense of

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

in nearby

Safed Safed (known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as Tzfat; Sephardi Hebrew, Sephardic Hebrew & Modern Hebrew: צְפַת ''Tsfat'', Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation, Ashkenazi Hebrew: ''Tzfas'', Biblical Hebrew: ''Ṣǝp̄aṯ''; ar, صفد, ''Ṣafad''), i ...

and as a way-station for Jewish immigrants arriving from

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. 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 ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the ...

Kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

Ayelet HaShahar Ayelet HaShahar ( he, אַיֶּלֶת הַשַּׁחַר) 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 Kiryat S ...

.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 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

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