Historical Background

After the Balfour Declaration in 1917, in which Great Britain stated that it viewed the establishment of a home for the Jewish people as a positive, the Mandate for the Land of Israel was given to Great Britain by the "League of Nations" in 1923. Even before this date, a "White Book" was issued (Description of a political document submitted to the British Parliament), which demanded a reduction in Jewish immigration to Israel so as not to harm the Arab residents. Later (in the years 1930, 1939), additional "white books" were published that severely limited immigration to the Land of Israel.
In light of this, the aliyah permits provided by the British (certificates) were in very limited numbers, and did not meet the demand, in particular during World War II and after, when the number of Jewish refugees reached huge numbers.

The immigration, which was also called "Aliya B" (as opposed to the legal immigration), was mainly managed by the national institutions, through the Mossad for Aliya B of the " Haganah" organization , but also through the Aliya Center of the Revisionist movement. (Aliyat "Nevertheless")

The ways of Ha’apala
Usually the immigration was done by sea, in ships, boats, and even in sailing ships , this is mainly because most of the immigrants came from European countries, and this was the most accessible way. Emigrants also arrived by land, through Syria and Lebanon to the northern border, mainly before WWII , By air, mostly refugees from Iraq arrived .

Deportation of illegal immigrants
The illegal immigrants caught by the British were initially placed in detention camps in Israel (Atlit). After these camps were full, detention camps were established in nearby Cyprus where many refugees were transferred. Illegal immigrants were even sent to detention camps on the island of Mauritius , and in some cases were even returned to their country of origin, including Germany

The Ha’apala periods
First period
Between the years 1930-1936, in these years about 20,000 illegal immigrants arrived in Israel. (Between the years 1934-1936, 3 ships arrived in Israel with about 800 immigrants on them).

Second period
Between the years 1937-1945, before and during World War II. During this period, mainly refugees from the Nazi regime who escaped from Europe arrived. During this period, 47 ships and approximately 34,000 illegal immigrants arrived in the Land of Israel.

Third period
At the end of the Second World War, immigration mainly included Holocaust survivors. During this period between the years 1945-1948, 68 refugee ships arrived in Israel, with 70,000 refugees on them.

An expansion on the periods can be seen on the next sign , and the names of all the ships and the number of immigrants can be seen here

Selected ships and events
Tiger Hill A train in Romania with pioneers from Poland was stopped in 1939 and the passengers were arrested, after appealing to the King of Romania the people were released and boarded the ship "Tiger Hill" which left the port of Constanta. Close to the shores of Israel, the ship was asked to pick up passengers from another ship that refused to approach the shore. The ship encountered the fire of a British guard ship, killing 3 migrants. In light of this, an order was given to the ship to reach the shores of Tel Aviv and run aground as a demonstrative measure. 250 of the passengers managed to get to the beach, and meet the local population.

Patria Two immigrants ships (out of 3) that arrived in Israel in 1940 from a port in Romania arrived in Haifa where they were stopped by British ships. The British put the 1771 migrants on a deportation ship called Patria to transfer them to the island of Mauritius. In an effort to prevent the deportation, the "Haganah" organization blew up the ship, but a mistake in calculating the amount of explosives caused the ship to sink and the death of 270 refugees

Salvador A sailing ship without an engine that arrived from Bulgaria in 1940. Arrived in Istanbul and was towed by the Turks to the Sea of Marmara. In a storm the ship sank, 202 immigrants drowned in the sea

Kladovo-Šabac 1,200 concentration camp refugees tried to immigrate to Israel and got stuck in the village of Kladovo and another in the town of Sabac, in Yugoslavia, for a year and a half. Later the area was occupied by the Germans who killed almost everyone

Mafkura A sailing ship that sailed from Romania in 1944, on its way to Turkey, was accidentally bombed by a Soviet submarine, 315 refugees drowned in the sea ,

Struma In 1942, a ship left Romania with 769 asylum seekers on board who fled from fascist Romania. The ship arrived in Turkey where it was detained. After two months, the ship was towed to the Black Sea, where it was hit by a missile from a Soviet submarine and all but one of its passengers drowned in the sea. ,

La Spezia In 1946, immigrants detained in Italy at the port of La Spezia organized a hunger strike, which revealed the problem of immigration to the world. As a result of world pressure, the British allowed the immigrants to come to Israel. | 2418|
The organizer of the hunger strike was the head of the Mossad in Italy - Yehuda Arazi .

Exodus "Leaving Europe 1947" The ship left France with 4,500 Holocaust survivors on board. The British stopped the ship, after resistance and a struggle by the illegal immigrants, the British took control of the ship, and moved it to the port of Haifa. The immigrants were transferred to deportation ships and returned to France. In France, the immigrants refused to disembark, so they were transported to the port of Hamburg and placed in British detention camps. The return of Holocaust survivors to Germany caused a wide international response, and support for the establishment of a Jewish state in the Land of Israel.