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Around Our Town: Vestiges of British Rehovot
By Michele Klein
Have you noticed the red pillar box next to the lottery kiosk on the comer of Ehad Ha'am and Yaakov Streets? It was made in London and was placed there during the British Mandate by English speakers who lived in Rehovot long before most of the readers of The Reporter were here.
In October 2002, the British declared such pillar-boxes to be "national icons" and put a preservation order on them. I doubt that this order extends to those standing in our area, but the Israel mail service looks after it. Repeated applications of "pillar-box red" enamel paint have almost obliterated the crown. I couldn't see a royal cipher but I would guess that this mail box dates to the reign of George VI (1936-1952) and not to that of George V (1910-1936); very few pillar-boxes were manufactured during the short reign of Edward VIII.
I guess that the mail-box dates to the second half of the Mandate period because the British left us another relic from the late 1930s—our police station. The Rehovot municipality has put up a wooden sign outside the station telling passers-by that our police station was built at the end of the '30s by order of Tegart (see below). I have walked past this building countless times in the 30 years that I've lived in Rehovot, but I had to go to Gedera before I noticed this local landmark.
Looking for a site to open a hostel for rehabilitating 15-17-year-old boys, somebody told me that the police station in Gedera is empty and might be a good place for my purpose. That building is the first edifice on the right when you reach Gedera from Rehovot. I gained permission to visit the site, but was warned by the officer that it is in ruins. I turned off the road and found the gates unlocked. I was struck by the fact that it is identical to the police station in Rehovot, but our local one has flowers in its windows, a new sign (now without any Arabic on it), and plenty of people hanging around. In Gedera, I watched out for snakes as I wandered around before the winter rains began. I was careful not to fall into the sewer holes that had no covers on them. There was a toilet and toilet paper, but no water. Every window had been torn out, every electric plug had been ripped out, every room had been looted and smashed. I could see it would cost millions to redo the place. There was nothing I could do there, but it led me to an interest in its better-kept sister in Rehovot.
Who was this Tegart, after whom our police station is named? He was Sir Charles Tegart K.C.I.E., C.S.I, M.V.O. no less, and had been attached to the Palestine Government in 1937-1938 to advise and assist in combating terrorism. What terrorism? In 1936 there had been a major Arab uprising all over the area, protesting Jewish immigration and Zionist settlement. In our little corner, there were Arabs living in Akir (Kiryat Ekron of today), Zarnukah, and EI-Kubeibeh (Kfar Gvirol today). Zeev Vilnay's encyclopedia tells us that in 1931 there were 103 Moslems and 15 Christians living among the 3,000 Jews of Rehovot. But Arab terrorism was a problem throughout the Yishuv, not just in our area. The 1929 and the 1936 Arab riots undermined British control and even their whole foreign policy. In 1937, the British decided to send in reinforcements from overseas—two regiments of cavalry, an armored car regiment, two RAF squadrons, 18 infantry battalions and they determined also to increase the police force, to equip them to deal with the Arab terrorists.
In 1938 Tegart was appointed by the High Commissioner to create accommodation for the District Administration and housing for the Palestine Police force, not just for the British personnel, in rural police stations—and the sign outside our police station tells us that the top two floors of the building housed the police officers. Tegart advised that all stations of police garrisons should be easily defendable and that the role of these garrisons should be to maintain law and order in the vicinity, including keeping open lines of communication, such as the railway, and trying to prevent illegal arms acquisition. His scheme was approved in 1940 and immediately 54 police stations were built around the country - including in Rehovot and Gedera.
In 1948 the stations passed over to the Israel police and ours in Rehovot has remained fully functional ever since. (In Gedera, however, the building was used by the intelligence service of the army and its doghouse is still standing in the corner of the plot; you can see it from the highway. With the outbreak of the war in Lebanon, the army moved that intelligence unit elsewhere and the former British police station became an absorption center for Ethiopian immigrants. When the Absorption Ministry moved out, the place fell derelict.)
What about our hostel for young offenders? Luckily we (Kanaf shel Ahavah, Wing of Love, a registered non-profit organization) found a better location to house the boys, who are now learning to become productive and responsible members of society. To help us help these boys, please email us at: wingoflove [at] rehovot [dot] org
Source: Michele Klein. Around our town: Vesiges of British Rehovot. The Rehovot Reporter (Rosh Hashanah 2006 issue). Digitalization by My Rehovot (ISSN 1817-101x). The condition of re-use of this material is a hyperlink quotation of My Rehovot using the following style: www.myrehovot.info
Have you noticed the red pillar box next to the lottery kiosk on the comer of Ehad Ha'am and Yaakov Streets? It was made in London and was placed there during the British Mandate by English speakers who lived in Rehovot long before most of the readers of The Reporter were here.
In October 2002, the British declared such pillar-boxes to be "national icons" and put a preservation order on them. I doubt that this order extends to those standing in our area, but the Israel mail service looks after it. Repeated applications of "pillar-box red" enamel paint have almost obliterated the crown. I couldn't see a royal cipher but I would guess that this mail box dates to the reign of George VI (1936-1952) and not to that of George V (1910-1936); very few pillar-boxes were manufactured during the short reign of Edward VIII.
I guess that the mail-box dates to the second half of the Mandate period because the British left us another relic from the late 1930s—our police station. The Rehovot municipality has put up a wooden sign outside the station telling passers-by that our police station was built at the end of the '30s by order of Tegart (see below). I have walked past this building countless times in the 30 years that I've lived in Rehovot, but I had to go to Gedera before I noticed this local landmark.
Looking for a site to open a hostel for rehabilitating 15-17-year-old boys, somebody told me that the police station in Gedera is empty and might be a good place for my purpose. That building is the first edifice on the right when you reach Gedera from Rehovot. I gained permission to visit the site, but was warned by the officer that it is in ruins. I turned off the road and found the gates unlocked. I was struck by the fact that it is identical to the police station in Rehovot, but our local one has flowers in its windows, a new sign (now without any Arabic on it), and plenty of people hanging around. In Gedera, I watched out for snakes as I wandered around before the winter rains began. I was careful not to fall into the sewer holes that had no covers on them. There was a toilet and toilet paper, but no water. Every window had been torn out, every electric plug had been ripped out, every room had been looted and smashed. I could see it would cost millions to redo the place. There was nothing I could do there, but it led me to an interest in its better-kept sister in Rehovot.
Who was this Tegart, after whom our police station is named? He was Sir Charles Tegart K.C.I.E., C.S.I, M.V.O. no less, and had been attached to the Palestine Government in 1937-1938 to advise and assist in combating terrorism. What terrorism? In 1936 there had been a major Arab uprising all over the area, protesting Jewish immigration and Zionist settlement. In our little corner, there were Arabs living in Akir (Kiryat Ekron of today), Zarnukah, and EI-Kubeibeh (Kfar Gvirol today). Zeev Vilnay's encyclopedia tells us that in 1931 there were 103 Moslems and 15 Christians living among the 3,000 Jews of Rehovot. But Arab terrorism was a problem throughout the Yishuv, not just in our area. The 1929 and the 1936 Arab riots undermined British control and even their whole foreign policy. In 1937, the British decided to send in reinforcements from overseas—two regiments of cavalry, an armored car regiment, two RAF squadrons, 18 infantry battalions and they determined also to increase the police force, to equip them to deal with the Arab terrorists.
In 1938 Tegart was appointed by the High Commissioner to create accommodation for the District Administration and housing for the Palestine Police force, not just for the British personnel, in rural police stations—and the sign outside our police station tells us that the top two floors of the building housed the police officers. Tegart advised that all stations of police garrisons should be easily defendable and that the role of these garrisons should be to maintain law and order in the vicinity, including keeping open lines of communication, such as the railway, and trying to prevent illegal arms acquisition. His scheme was approved in 1940 and immediately 54 police stations were built around the country - including in Rehovot and Gedera.
In 1948 the stations passed over to the Israel police and ours in Rehovot has remained fully functional ever since. (In Gedera, however, the building was used by the intelligence service of the army and its doghouse is still standing in the corner of the plot; you can see it from the highway. With the outbreak of the war in Lebanon, the army moved that intelligence unit elsewhere and the former British police station became an absorption center for Ethiopian immigrants. When the Absorption Ministry moved out, the place fell derelict.)
What about our hostel for young offenders? Luckily we (Kanaf shel Ahavah, Wing of Love, a registered non-profit organization) found a better location to house the boys, who are now learning to become productive and responsible members of society. To help us help these boys, please email us at: wingoflove [at] rehovot [dot] org
Source: Michele Klein. Around our town: Vesiges of British Rehovot. The Rehovot Reporter (Rosh Hashanah 2006 issue). Digitalization by My Rehovot (ISSN 1817-101x). The condition of re-use of this material is a hyperlink quotation of My Rehovot using the following style: www.myrehovot.info
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