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The Pipe and the Secret: On the Revolutionary Who Decided Water Belongs to the Public and the Man Who Opened the Gates of Europe

The establishment of the State of Israel was achieved through a unique synergy between the development of civil infrastructure and a robust security-operational framework. Alongside the political leadership, key figures worked behind the scenes to shape reality on the ground. Two such figures, whose stories I wish to share here, are Simcha Blass and Shaul Avigur.


Blass, an engineer and water expert, was a founder of "Mekorot" and "Tahal" and the chief designer of the "National Water Carrier," laying the foundations for the national water economy. Avigur, operating in the shadows, established the "Shai" (the precursor to Israel’s intelligence community) and "Taas" (Military Industries), and managed the clandestine immigration (Aliyah Bet) and arms procurement as the head of the Mossad LeAliyah Bet. Each represented a different, yet complementary, facet of the national effort that paved the way for statehood.


Simcha Blass: Water as a Public Trust


Simcha Blass (1897–1982) viewed water as the central component of the Land of Israel's "absorption capacity." As a devoted Zionist activist, he believed that advanced agriculture was the key to absorbing mass immigration; thus, he dedicated his professional life to planning water projects for Jewish settlement.


Recruited by Levi Eshkol, Blass became a co-founder of the Mekorot water company in 1937. He advocated for the centralized national management of water resources and authored the "13 Principles of the Water Law," which served as the basis for the Israeli Water Law of 1959. Among his core tenets was the declaration that all water sources are public property under state control, and that the right to water is tied to its efficient and beneficial use—meaning no individual has the right to waste water, even if it is located on their private land.


His monumental achievements include the design of the "Shiloach Line"—the pipeline that supplied water to besieged Jerusalem during the War of Independence—and the founding of Tahal (Water Planning for Israel) in 1952, the central planning body that designed Israel’s water infrastructure, including the National Water Carrier.


Shaul Avigur: The Architect of Shadows


During the same era, Shaul Avigur (1899–1978) emerged as a pivotal figure in the security community of both the Pre-State Yishuv and the State of Israel. The 1920 events at Tel Hai, in which he participated as a fighter, shaped his lifelong path within the ranks of the Hebrew defense forces.


In 1940, he initiated the establishment of the Shai (Intelligence Service) of the Haganah—the intelligence body that would later become the foundation for the state’s intelligence agencies, including Aman (Military Intelligence), the Shin Bet, and the Mossad. He also founded the Ran (Counter-Intelligence) and Taas (Israel Military Industries).


Avigur headed the Mossad LeAliyah Bet throughout most of its existence, managing the clandestine immigration of Holocaust survivors, the "Bricha" movement from Europe, and the procurement of weapons for the Haganah and the IDF. After the War of Independence, he served as Deputy Minister of Defense, and in 1953, he founded the "Netiv" organization, which maintained secret ties with Jews in Eastern Europe, particularly those behind the Iron Curtain in the Soviet Union.


The 11 Points in the Negev: Engineering Meets Strategy


One of the most significant expressions of Blass’s contribution to Zionist settlement was the "11 Points" operation in the Negev. On the night following Yom Kippur in 1946, under the initiative of Levi Eshkol and the command of Yosef Avidar, eleven new settlements were established overnight in the northern Negev. The goal was to create "facts on the ground" to ensure the inclusion of the Negev within the borders of the future Jewish state.


However, these settlements could not survive without a permanent water source. Blass, who had previously submitted a plan titled "A Fantasy for Irrigating the Negev," provided the engineering solution. Following the discovery of groundwater near Kibbutz Nir Am, he initiated the purchase of six-inch diameter pipes remaining in London from the fire-extinguishing and smoke-screen systems used during the German Blitz in World War II.


In December 1946, the laying of the pipes began, and by the summer of 1947, water began flowing from Nir Am to the Negev settlements through three lines—Eastern, Western, and Central—covering a total of 200 kilometers. This infrastructure allowed the continued existence of the Negev settlements and played a decisive role in the region's inclusion in the UN Partition Plan.


A Shared Legacy


Beyond these operations, both men belonged to the Labor Movement and worked in close coordination with David Ben-Gurion. Blass, a staunch supporter of Ben-Gurion, joined him in 1965 to establish the Rafi party. Avigur served as Ben-Gurion’s deputy in the Ministry of Defense during the War of Independence and remained a close confidant for many years, though as a security and intelligence figure, he largely avoided overt partisan activity.


The legacy of Blass and Avigur remains a pillar of Israel’s establishment—a rare combination of engineering vision and strategic security necessity. While Blass sparked global agricultural revolutions (including drip irrigation), Avigur laid the foundations for Israel’s intelligence and procurement capabilities. Together, they represent the fusion of national vision and uncompromising technological and organizational execution that turned Jewish sovereignty into a sustainable reality.


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Photo 1: Simcha Blass (right) with Eric Johnston, President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s "Water Ambassador," overlooking the Jordan Valley. Source: Wikipedia, Simcha Blass.


Photo 2: Water line plans for the "11 Points." An early 1939 plan (Simcha Blass’s "Fantasy" submitted to Arthur Ruppin) and the operational plan for 1946/47. Source: Simcha Blass, "Water in Strife and Action," GFDL. https://he.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=934912

Photo 3: Shaul Avigur. Source: Yigal Allon House, via Harvard University Visual Library, Public Domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15468683


Photo 4: The Defense Ribbon (Ot HaHaganah) Award Ceremony, 1958. From right to left: Matti Peled, Yisrael Amir, Meir Amit, Shimon Peres, Yisrael Galili, President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, David Ben-Gurion, Yaakov Dori, Shaul Avigur, Chaim Laskov. Source: Moshe Pridan, National Photo Collection, GPO, ID: D358-063. Public Domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65171017



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