In June 1937, the Peel Committee published its conclusions, which included, among other things, a recommendation to establish a limited Jewish state in the northern region and the coastal plain. The Western Galilee was indeed included in the territory proposed for the Jewish state, but almost no Jews lived there – it was far from the concentrations of Jewish settlement, the mountainous terrain was difficult for agriculture, and there was little land available for purchase. But now the leadership of the settlement realized that in order to keep the area in their hands, they had to settle Jews in it.
One of the places that was on the agenda was an antiquities site called Hanita. The area was adjacent to the Lebanese border and abutted on the ridge of the Tzur ladder overlooking the western Galilee. The man who led the purchase of the land was Yosef Siniglia, an agronomist and KKL activist born in Italy. Siniglia said that in December 1937 the brothers Avraham and Eliezer Winschel approached him. They asked for his help in purchasing land in the area. In the “Davar” newspaper it was written that Rotenberg was active in the purchase of parking lots and the establishment of the point, But it is not clear what his involvement was in the purchase. It is known that the Winschel brothers were his associates. Dr. Nadav Heidecker from the Electricity Company archives notes that Abraham Winschel, a lawyer by profession and an important revisionist activist in Haifa, provided the Electricity Company with legal advice.
His brother, Eliezer, was the manager of Yarkon Irrigation Company Ltd., the company that handled the company’s rights according to the concession it received to utilize the Yarkon water and supplied electricity to agricultural water pumps in the area. Singilia managed to purchase an area of about 5,000 dunams for about 8,000 Lebanese pounds. b On March 21, 1938, the “Haganah” organization led the Aliyah operation, in which about 400 people participated. Already that night, the camp was attacked and two Hagana men were killed. The attacks continued throughout the following months. Her attack aroused great interest in the Jewish community. The press covered the Aliyah extensively. and what is going on in the camp. Volunteers came from all over the country to help and bring equipment and food.
