Tegart fort

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A Tegart fort is a style of militarized police "fortress" constructed throughout Palestine during the British Mandatory period.

The forts are named after British police officer and engineer Sir Charles Tegart, who designed them in 1938 based on his experiences in the Indian insurgency. Tens of the reinforced concrete block structures were built to the same basic plan, both along the so-called "Tegart's wall" of the northern border with Lebanon and Syria, and at strategic intersections in the interior of Palestine. Many of them stand to this day, and some continue to be used as jails.^[1]

[edit] Alternate name

In Israel, Tegart is commonly misspelled as Taggart. ^[2] This is probably from the compound transliteration of an English name into Hebrew and then back into English.

[edit] Existing examples of Tegart forts

• Latrun museum
• The Mukataa in Ramallah
• Jericho jail
• Kfar Saba Police station
• Metzudat Koach (Nebi Yusha fortress)

[edit] References

1. ^ Anton La Guardia, Jericho Jail Creates Own Modern History, LA Times, reproduced in Arab News, March 24, 2006 accessed at [1] 2007-02-28
2. ^ A typical example of the misspelling of the name is: "The village [of Salha] was known for its Taggart [emphasis added] fort, which was built by the British in 1938 as a garrison fort at the height of the Arab rebellion, as part of the plan for building the "northern fence" to separate Eretz Israel from Lebanon. The fortress - like those in Nebi Yusha and in other locations in the Galilee - was named after British police officer and engineer Sir Charles Taggart, [emphasis added] who initiated their construction after have [sic] acquired experience in suppressing insurgencies in India." taken from Rubinstein, Danny. "The seven lost villages", Haaretz, 2006-08-06. Retrieved on 2007-02-28.