Shochat returned to Palestine in 1906 to further pursue her Hauran plan. Towards the end of the year, she travelled to the United States to raise funds for that and for arms for Russian Jews. The idea of collective settlements in general, and the Hauran scheme in particular, received no support. She realised that the only way to convince people that it could work was by putting it into practice, so she returned to Palestine in 1907. Shochat shared her idea with members of "Poalei Tzion" and "Hapoel Hatzair". Hankin convinced Eliahu Krauze to give them stewardship over a failing agricultural experiment in Sejera for a year. A group of eighteen young men and women, mainly friends of Israel Shochat, went on to establish the first ideological cooperative. The project succeeded and lent credence to the idea of collectives. In 1908, with Israel Shochat, she helped found the HaShomer, a guard organization, which evolved into the basis of Jewish self-defense. Its goal was to put the responsibility of guarding settlements in Jewish hands.