ABSTRACT
Following the State’s establishment, the IDF became involved in settlement undertakings throughout the country. This development was anchored in a conception which linked settlement with defence and, by extension, with national security considerations. Traces of this type of linkage can be found as far back as the second wave of Jewish immigration to Palestine, before the First World War (19051914). Members of the HaShomer (the Watchman) spoke in these terms even before they became firmly organized as a guardian body in 1909, and continued to espouse this orientation throughout their 11 years of existence. However, it appears that the first significant expression of this outlook occurred midway through the First World War. In 1916 a group of HaShomer members, upon hearing that the British army was about to cross the Sinai desert on its way to Palestine, set out for Upper Galilee and founded the village of BarGiora (today, Kfar Giladi). This pioneering group operated on the basic assumption that their dedication to guarding the Yishuv obligated them to assist in establishing facts, in anticipation of political decisions that were likely to occur at the conclusion of the war – and establishing facts meant settlement as a demonstration of holding the land.
