A Police Officer from Calcutta Designed Israel's Security Landscape

Nir Topper
4 hours ago
4 min read

They are everywhere. We pass them on Highway 4, see their silhouette dominating the Latrun intersection, or gaze at them on the northern border. Huge, brutalist concrete structures, with narrow firing slits and turrets looking out in every direction. These are the "Tegart Forts," and their story is much more than a history of concrete and cement; it is a story of an empire in distress, of existential fear of the Nazis, and of a historical paradox in which the Jewish Yishuv built with its own hands the very fortresses that were later used to imprison its members, and finally became the backbone of the State of Israel's security.

It all began at a breaking point. The year is 1937, and the Great Arab Revolt is making waves. Not many know—the Arab Revolt was directed against the British, not the Jewish community. The Mandate Police, situated in rented and dilapidated buildings, found themselves besieged and helpless against terrorism and guerrilla warfare. The British Empire, realizing it was losing control over a strategic asset, summoned Sir Charles Tegart—a counter-terrorism expert who had gained his tough experience in the Calcutta Police in India. Tegart did not believe in classic policing; he believed in a paramilitary force, mobile and well-protected. He brought with him a revolutionary concept: no longer police stations in the heart of the population, but dominating, closed, and self-sufficient fortresses.

The first step was dramatic: "Tegart's Wall" (the Northern Fence). In 1938, to stop the smuggling of weapons and fighters from Lebanon and Syria, Tegart initiated the construction of a fortified physical barrier along the northern border, accompanied by a chain of concrete pillboxes and outposts. The historical irony began even then—the British were forced to purchase the barbed wire from Fascist Italy, and the work was carried out by the Jewish "Solel Boneh" company, which recruited thousands of workers for an unprecedented logistical operation in the difficult mountains of the Galilee.

But the truly massive project, the PBP (Police Building Programme), was launched due to a much greater threat. While we tend to think that the forts were built solely because of the Arab Revolt, research shows that the real drive for the massive construction during 1940-1943 was World War II. The fear of an invasion by Rommel's "Afrika Korps" from the south, or Vichy forces from the north, turned the police stations into military strongholds designed to stop tanks.

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This is exactly where the answer lies as to why we encounter these concrete monsters even in the heart of peaceful cities in the center of the country, like Petah Tikva, Hadera, and Kfar Saba. Their location was not accidental and was not intended merely for local policing; it was part of a comprehensive imperial defense array designed to protect the country's "narrow waist" and vital longitudinal axes (such as the old coastal road). These forts were positioned precisely at strategic intersections to serve as "plugs" that would block invading armored forces on their way to government centers or the Suez Canal. About 62 such concrete monsters were erected at record speed across the country, using local cement from the "Nesher" factory, designed to withstand a siege of up to three months without external dependence, thanks to huge water reservoirs dug beneath them.

The architectural genius of the forts lay in their lethal simplicity. The most prominent feature is the two watchtowers (turrets) located at diagonally opposite corners. This design allowed for 360-degree fire coverage and the elimination of any "dead zone" around the walls. Any attempt to approach the fort's wall was met with crossfire. The structures were divided into separate wings with protected inner courtyards, allowing for living, sleeping, interrogation, and incarceration within a fortified bubble detached from the hostile environment.

With the end of the Mandate, history turned on its head. The forts built with the help of Hebrew labor became the young IDF's most difficult obstacles in 1948. The battles for the Iraq Suwaydan police station ("The Monster on the Hill" – today Yoav Fortress), Nabi Yusha (Koach Fortress), and Latrun exacted a terrible toll in blood. The structures built to protect the Empire became death traps and symbols of heroism in the War of Independence.

Today, eighty years later, Tegart's legacy is still alive and kicking. Very few colonial projects survived and continued to function as efficiently as these forts. Some have become heritage sites and museums (like at Latrun and Yoav), others were converted into prisons (Ramla Prison, Megiddo Prison), and many are still used today by the Israel Police and the IDF. Tegart's concrete proved to be stronger than any political upheaval, and the forts remain silent, forceful witnesses to the complex history of this land.

Image 1: Sir Charles Tegart. Image Source: Wikipedia