1919

December 19
The S.S. "Ruslan" reaches the Jaffa shore. On board are 671 returnees and olim from Russia. This is considered the beginning of the Third Aliyah - sometimes compared to the American "Mayflower" because it is comprised mainly of public figures, scholars, doctors and artists.

Throughout December 1919 the security situation in four Jewish settlements in the Upper Galilee - Metulla, Kfar Giladi, Tel Hai and Hamara - deteriorates. Trumpeldor is sent to the Galilee and is appointed commander of Tel Hai. In 1919, the British military regime forbids large-scale Jewish aliyah to Palestine. The Jewish leadership also has concerns regarding such an aliyah until the conditions in Palestine improve. An announcement, circulated by the Zionist Executive in the summer of 1919, reads: "Uncontrolled and incompletely prepared immigration will be the greatest calamity for the immigrants and for our renascent land." Despite all the warnings and fears, some 2,000 olim make aliyah in 1919.