Palestinian Youth Groups: British Mandate Era -- Organizations

Figure 1.--Here we see a Jewish youth group in Palestine during 1931. The writing is in Hebrew cursive handwriting. In the first line we can read: 'bet sepher levenim bahaluqqah', i.e. boys' school in the Halukka, that was an organization collecting charity funds for Jews resident in Erez Israel. The second line is cut and it cannot be read. The Halukka tradition dates back to European Jews in the 16th century long before the Jewish project in Palestine began. t was, however, not a youth group until modern times. Notice that some of the boys are wearing Scout uniforms. They may be boys that also were partricipating in Scouting.

We note several youth groups during the British Mandatory period in Palestine. We only note Scouts among the Arabs. We note Boy Scout troops organizing after the British victory in Palestine and the end of World War I. There may have been some during the Ottoman period, but we have found no evidence of them. The Palestinian Scout web site claims that Scouting was founded in 1912, but we have not been able to find any informtion about such early groups. With the arrival of the British we begin to see large numbers of Scout groups, both with the Arabs and the Jews. The Arab groups were organized at the schools. The Ottoman school system was limited. The British began opening many new schools and for the first time, large numbers of Palestinian children attended school, both boys and girls. Under the Ottomans schools were mostly located in the cities. And because most Christian Arabs lived in the cities, Christian Arabs tended to be better educated than Muslims who dminated the larger rural population. As schools began to open in the villges, more Muslim children had access to education. And many of the new schools sponsored Scout troops, especially the secondry schools. As Muslims and Christians generally attened separate school, the Scout Groups were also largely seatate. A factor promoting Arab Scouting was the popularity of youth groups at the Jewish schools. We do not know to what degree the Arab troops were mixed Christian-Muslim units. We note Jewish Scout groups during the Mandatory period. We do not yet, however, have details these troops such as who the sponsoring groups were. We do not know of any mixd Jewish/Arab troops. We have found no information on any umbrella association during the Mandatory era that coordinated Muslim, Jewish, and Christian Scouts. We do note a Jamboree held in 1926. We do not know, however, if there was participation by the different faith groups. which may have include troops of the differented religions. We are still researching this. There were other youth groups orgnized among the Jews.

Boy Scouts

We note several youth groups during the British Mandatory period in Palestine. We only note Scouts among the Arabs. We note Boy Scout troops organizing after the British victory in Palestine and the end of World War I. There may have been some during the Ottoman period, but we have found no evidence of them. The Palestinian Scout web site claims that Scouting was founded in 1912, but we have not been able to find any informtion about such early groups. With the arrival of the British we begin to see large numbers of Scout groups, both with the Arabs and the Jews. The Arab groups were organized at the schools. The Ottoman school system was limited. The British began opening many new schools and for the first time, large numbers of Palestinian children attended school, both boys and girls. Under the Ottomans schools were mostly located in the cities. And because most Christian Arabs lived in the cities, Christian Arabs tended to be better educated than Muslims who dminated the larger rural population. As schools began to open in the villges, more Muslim children had access to education. And many of the new schools sponsored Scout troops, especially the secondry schools. As Muslims and Christians generally attened separate school, the Scout Groups were also largely seatate. A factor promoting Arab Scouting was the popularity of youth groups at the Jewish schools. We do not know to what degree the Arab troops were mixed Christian-Muslim units. We note Jewish Scout groups during the Mandatory period. We do not yet, however, have details these troops such as who the sponsoring groups were. We do not know of any mixd Jewish/Arab troops. We have found no information on any umbrella association during the Mandatory era that coordinated Muslim, Jewish, and Christian Scouts. We do note a Jamboree held in 1926. We do not know, however, if there was participation by the different faith groups. which may have include troops of the differented religions. We are still researching this. The Arab Palestinian Scouts like the state school system in general ecame increasingly politicuzed in the 1930s. The first Jewish Scout and Guide groups were founded after the British seized Palestine. There seems to have been interet erlier, but given the association ofScouting with Britain it probably was not possible durng the Ottoman era. As with Arab Scouting, the schools played an important role in the develoment of Jewish Scouting. The idea of Jewish Scouting appears to have begun during Passover (1918) by some youth and sports associations, including the Meshotetim Association and the Herzliya Aassociation that conducted activities long the lines Baden-Powell's program, but without calling in Scouting. They elected Zvi Nishri to lead the movemet. They did not form a formal associations for some time. [Alon] Jewish Scouting was known as Tzofim and from the beginning was coeducational. As far as we know it was the first coeducational Scout movement. We are not sure that there was an assocition during the Mndate period. The first Scout tribe "Meshotetei BaCarmel" was founded in the Hadar neighborhood in Haifa by the Haifa's Reali School (1925). The funder was a teacher, Aryeh Croch. He would become the head of the Hebrew Scouts Movement. As was the case of the Zionist mivement n general, there was a division between secular and religious Scouts. The religious Scouts or Adat HaTzofim joined to the Hebrew Scout Movement. They were led by Asher Rivlin. As the political situarion worsened in the 1940s, the older Scouts joined the Palmach, the elite fighting force of the Haganah. The Jewish Scouting movement was strongest in the northern Palestine. Palmach recruits were trained on the "Reali" school ground before joining the organization. The Hebrew Scout Movement in Israel also sent its graduates across the country to create Jewish settlements and Hebrew labor, as part of the establishment of Israel.

Girl Guides

The Girl Guides program was founded in the British Mandate of Palestine (1919). The Palestinian Girl Guide program was associated with the Girl Guides Association in England. One reported indicated that Guides had 260 Guides and 10 Ranger troops, most of them Arabs (1927). The Palestinian Director of Education, Humphrey Bowman, described the association as "side by side with the Boy Scouts but under an independent body and organized under strictly 'harim' conditions." Harim refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. Outside te family it refers to oublic stings reserved for women and girls. The Arab guide program was school based and was impacted by the rirish epansion of te school system. Considerable progress was made during the Mndatory program in convincing parents, especially Muslim parents in sending girls to school. This enabled the Guide movemet to grow. Some Girl Guide troops participated in demonstrations against Jews and the British during the 1930s. The Palestinian Boy Scouts were even more politically active. [Fleischmann, p. 111.] There were no Jewish Guides because the Jewish Scout Movement from the beginning was coeducational. .

Other Groups

There were other youth groups orgnized among the Jews. Founded in 1919, the Tzofim was the first Zionist youth movement in Israel.

Sources

Alon, Hemda. היֵה נכון"- חמישים שנות צופיות עברית בארץ ישראל 1919 – 1969. (Tel Aviv: עם הספר בע"מ 1976).

Degani, Arnon. "They Were Prepared: The Palestinian Arab Scout Movement 1920–1948," British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (April 2014), pp. 200-18.

Fleischmann, Elen (2003). The Nation and Its 'New' Women: The Palestinian Women's Movement, 1920-1948 (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2003).