In Modern Hebrew, the terms tzabar or tzabarim refer to Israeli-born Jew. Derived from the Hebrew name for the prickly pear cactus, which is commonly spelled sabra in English, the words had come into widespread use by the 1930s, when they were used to designate a Jewish person whose place of birth was located within the Land of Israel—corresponding with Ottoman Syria until 1918 and with the British Mandate of Palestine until 1948 —though it may have appeared earlier. From Wikipedia