Nahal

Nahal (Hebrew: נח"ל‎) (acronym of Noar Halutzi Lohem, lit. Fighting Pioneer Youth) refers to a paramilitary Israel Defense Forces program that combines military service and the establishment of agricultural settlements, often in peripheral areas. In later years, the program expanded to include volunteering and social welfare projects. Its groups of soldiers formed the core of the Nahal Infantry Brigade.

History

In 1948, a gar'in (core group) of Jewish pioneers wrote to Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion requesting that members be allowed to do their military service as a group rather than being split up into different units at random. In response to this letter, Ben-Gurion created the Nahal program, which combined military service and farming.

Some 108 kibbutzim and agricultural settlements were established by the Nahal, many of them on Israel's borders. Nahal settlements in the Jordan Valley and the Arabah played an important role in Jordan's decision not to join the other Arab countries in attacking Israel during the Yom Kippur War.