The
Palmach (
HebrewHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Culturally, it is considered a Jewish language. Hebrew in its modern form is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel while Classical Hebrew has been used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world for over...
: , acronym for
Plugot Maḥatz (Hebrew: ), lit. "strike force") was the regular fighting force of the
HaganahHaganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
, the unofficial army of the
YishuvYishuv or Ha-Yishuv Yishuv or Ha-Yishuv Yishuv or Ha-Yishuv (the Yishuv, , or the full term הישוב היהודי בארץ ישראל Hayishuv Hayehudi b'Eretz Yisrael ("The Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel") is the term used in Hebrew referring to the...
(Jewish community) during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palmach was established on May 15, 1941. By the outbreak of the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, it consisted of three fighting
brigadeA brigade is a military unit that is typically composed of two to five regiments or battalions, depending on the era and nationality of a given army. Usually, a brigade is a sub-component of a division, a larger unit consisting of two or more brigades; however, some brigades are classified as a...
s and auxiliary aerial, naval and intelligence units.
The Palmach contributed significantly to Israeli culture and ethos, well beyond its military contribution. Its members formed the backbone of the
Israel Defense ForcesThe Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are Israel's military forces, comprising the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
high command for many years, and were prominent in Israeli politics, literature and culture.
History
The Palmach was established by the British military and
HaganahHaganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
on May 15, 1941 to help the British protect Palestine from the
NaziNazism, known officially in German as National Socialism , is the totalitarian ideology and practices of the Nazi Party or National Socialist German Workers’ Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.Nazism is often considered...
German threat. They were also to assist
AlliedThe Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . The involvement of the Allies in World War II was either natural and inevitable they were invaded or under the direct threat of invasion by the Axis or compelled by concerns that the Axis powers...
forces with the planned invasion of
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
and
LebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon
[Republic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies...]
, then held by Vichy French forces. British experts trained the Palmach special soldiers and equipped them with small arms and explosives. However, after the Allied victory at the
Second Battle of El AlameinThe Second Battle of El Alamein marked a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign of World War II. The battle lasted from 23 October to 5 November 1942. The First Battle of El Alamein had stalled the Axis advance...
in 1943, the British ordered the dismantling of Palmach. The whole organization went underground instead.
Since British funding had stopped,
Yitzhak TabenkinYitzhak Tabenkin was a Zionist activist and Israeli politician. He was one of the founders of the Kibbutz Movement and the Movement for Greater Israel.-Biography:...
, head of the
KibbutzimA kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
union suggested the Palmach could be self-funding by having the warriors work in the Kibbutzim. Each Kibbutz would host a Palmach
platoonA platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or squads and containing about 30 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organised into a company, which typically consists of three, four or five platoons. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer...
and supply them with food, homes and resources. In return the platoon would safeguard the kibbutz and carry out work such as
agriculturalAgriculture is the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of human civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and...
work. The proposal was accepted in August 1942, when it was also decided that each month Palmach members would have eight training days, 14 work days and seven days off.
Combining military training with agricultural work meant:
- Maintenance of an independent, easily mobilized military force.
- A force in which members' labor funded 80% of Palmach's budget. Money from Haganah was dedicated to weapons and training.
- The force would be hard to track down.
- Easier recruitment of people from Kibbutzim and Moshav
Moshav is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists during the second aliyah...
im.
- The creation of groups of settlers, who could form the base for future settlements.
- Education of soldiers in Zionist values.
The program of combined
militaryA military is an organization authorized by its nation to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. As an adjective the term "military" is also used to refer to any property or aspect of a military...
training,
agriculturalAgriculture is the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of human civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and...
work and Zionist education was called "Hach'shara Meguyeset" הכשרה מגויסת (meaning "Drafted/Recruited Training").
Later on, it was agreed with the Zionist youth movements that each person from the ages of 18-20 ("
Gar'eenNahal is an Israel Defense Forces infantry brigade. Historically, it refers to a program that combines military service and establishment of new agricultural settlements, often in outlying areas...
" meaning "nucleus" or "core group") would undergo training. This was the base for the
NahalNahal is an Israel Defense Forces infantry brigade. Historically, it refers to a program that combines military service and establishment of new agricultural settlements, often in outlying areas...
settlements. The training enabled Palmach to expand its numbers and recruit more people.
Basic training included
physical fitnessPhysical fitness comprises two related concepts: general fitness and specific fitness ....
,
small armsSmall arms is a term of art used by armed forces to denote infantry weapons an individual soldier may carry. The description is usually limited to revolvers, pistols, submachine guns, carbines, assault rifles, rifles, sniper rifles, squad automatic weapons, light machine guns, and sometimes hand...
,
mêléeMelee generally refers to disorganized close combat involving a group of fighters. A melee ensues when groups become locked together in combat with no regard to group tactics or fighting as an organized unit; each participant fights as an individual.-Origin of the term:The French term is the...
and
KapapKapap , short for Krav Panim el Panim, translated as "face to face combat", is a combat system of defensive tactics, hand-to-hand combat and self defense, which was further developed into its modern version of Kapap Combat Concepts.-History:...
, basic marine training,
topographyTopography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
,
first aidFirst aid is the provision of initial care for an illness or injury. It is usually performed by a lay person to a sick or injured casualty until definitive medical treatment can be accessed. Certain self-limiting illnesses or minor injuries may not require further medical care past the first aid...
and squad operations. Most of the Palmach members received advance training in one or more of the following areas:
sabotageSabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions...
and explosives,
reconnaissanceReconnaissance is a military and medical term denoting exploration conducted to gain information. Militarily, its shorthand Canadian and British form is recce , its American usage form is recon...
,
snipingA sniper is a highly trained marksman who shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles...
,
communication Communication is a process of transferring information from one entity to another. Communication processes are sign-mediated interactions between at least two agents which share a repertoire of signs and semiotic rules. Communication is commonly defined as "the imparting or interchange of...
s and
radioRadio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, light and medium
machine gunA machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rifle bullets in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute...
s, and operating
2-inch and 3-inch mortarsA mortar is a muzzle-loading indirect fire weapon that fires shells at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It typically has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber.- Function :...
. Platoon training included long marches, combined live-fire drills with artillery support and machine guns and mortars.
The Palmach put great emphasis on training independent and broadminded field commanders who would take the initiative and set an example for their troops. It trained squad commanders and company commanders. The major commanders training course was in the Palmach and many
HaganahHaganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
commanders were sent to be trained in the Palmach. The Palmach commanders' course was the source for many field commanders which were the backbone of
HaganahHaganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
, and, later, the Israeli Defense Forces.
Between 1945 and 1946, Palmach units carried out attacks against British infrastructure such as
bridgeA bridge is a structure built to span a valley, road, body of water, or other physical obstacle, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle. Designs of bridges vary depending on the function of the bridge and the nature of the terrain where the bridge is constructed.-History:The first...
s, railways,
radarRadar is an object detection system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify the range, altitude, direction, or speed of both moving and fixed objects such as aircraft, ships, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The term RADAR was coined in 1941 as an acronym for RAdio Detection And...
stations and
police stationA police station or station house is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, along with locker rooms, temporary holding cells and interview/interrogation rooms.-Regional...
s. Such activities ceased, however, after "
Black SabbathOperation Agatha sometimes called Black Shabbat or Black Saturday because it began on the Jewish sabbath, was a police and military operation conducted by the British authorities in the British Mandate of Palestine...
" (June 29, 1946), when British forces carried out mass arrests of Palmach and Haganah leaders.
Palmach units took a major part in the
1948 Arab-Israeli warThe 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known by Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation and by Palestinians as the Catastrophe , was the first in a series of wars fought between the newly declared State of Israel and its Arab neighbours in the long-running Arab-Israeli conflict.The war...
. At the beginning of the war, Palmach units were responsible for holding Jewish settlements (such as
Gush EtzionGush Etzion refers to a group of Jewish villages established from the 1920s south of Jerusalem on the northern part of Mount Hebron in the southern West Bank, and destroyed during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War: Kfar Etzion, Massu'ot, Ein Tzurim and Revadim...
,
Kfar DaromKfar Darom was a kibbutz and Israeli settlement within the Gush Katif bloc in the Gaza Strip.-Original kibbutz:Kfar Darom was founded on 250 dunams of land purchased in 1930 by Tuvia Miller for a fruit orchard on the site of an ancient Jewish settlement of the same name mentioned in the Talmud...
and
RevivimRevivim is a kibbutz in the Negev desert in southern Israel. Located around half an hour south of Beersheba, it falls under the jurisdiction of Ramat HaNegev Regional Council...
) against Arab militias. Although inferior in numbers and arms, Palmach soldiers held out long enough to allow the Haganah to mobilise the Jewish population and prepare for war.
After the establishment of the Israeli Defence Forces, the Palmach was dissolved into two IDF brigades - the
Negev BrigadeThe 12th Negev Brigade was an Israeli infantry brigade that served in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. It was commanded by Nahum "Sergei" Sarig and consisted of four Palmach battalions...
and
Yiftach BrigadeThe Yiftach Brigade was an Israeli infantry brigade...
. The Negev and Yiftah Brigades fought in the
NegevThe Negev is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The indigenous Bedouin inhabitants of the region refer to the desert as al-Naqab . The origin of the word Negev is from the Hebrew root denoting 'dry'...
against the
Egyptian armyThe Egyptian Army is the largest service branch within the Egyptian military establishment. It is estimated to number around 340,000, plus around 375,000 reservists for a total of 655-715,000....
and managed to stop and later repulse it into the
Gaza StripThe Gaza Strip lies on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Egypt on the south-west and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometers wide, with a total area of . The area is recognized internationally as part of the Palestinian territories...
and Sinai. The Yiftah Brigade later was transferred to the north.
Military organization
The Palmach was organised into regular companies (six in 1943), and five or six special units.
Palmach special units included:
- Ha-Machlaka Ha-Germanit: the "German Department", (aka the Middle East Commando) it performed covert operations and sabotage operations against Nazi
Nazism, known officially in German as National Socialism , is the totalitarian ideology and practices of the Nazi Party or National Socialist German Workers’ Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.Nazism is often considered...
infrastructure in the Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and the BalkansThe Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
.
- Ha-Machlaka Ha-Aravit: the "Arab Department", it performed covert operations and espionage missions against Arab militias, which frequently attacked Jewish settlements. It was the base for the Israeli Defense Forces's and the Border Police
The Israel Border Police is the military branch of the Israeli Police. It is also commonly known by its Hebrew abbreviation Magav , meaning border guard, whilst its members are colloquially known as Magavnikim...
's "Mistaarvim" units.
- Palyam
Palyam was the sea force of the Palmach.-History:Palyam was set up in April 1945 as the Palmach's tenth company which originated from the Palmach's Naval Platoon. The Company's first commander was Abraham Zakai...
(Sea Companies): the naval force of the Palmach was formed in 1943, attached to the Palmach's Staff Battalion (the 4th Battalion). They were in charge of underwater demolition and maritime activity units. The majority of their activities were related to the escorting of ships of Aliyah Bet, immigration ships (66 of them in all) bringing Jewish refugees from EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
by boat, despite the British White Paper of 1939The White Paper of 1939, also known as the MacDonald White Paper after Malcolm MacDonald, the British Colonial Secretary who presided over it, was a policy paper issued by the British government under Neville Chamberlain in which the idea of partitioning the Mandate for Palestine, as recommended in...
which introduced restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine.
- Palavir
The Palavir, an acronym for Plugat HaAvir was the air force for the Palmach, based in Tel Aviv. Little is known about the Palmach's flying platoon due to its short life and its secrecy during the British Mandate. Like the rest of the Palmach it was made up entirely of Jewish fighters.-History:In...
(The Air Companies): made up of Jewish pilots, the Palmach air force was incorporated into the Sherut AvirSherut Avir was the air force of the Haganah and the forerunner of the Israeli Air Force.-Founding:...
(predecessor of the Israeli Air ForceThe Israeli Air Force is the air force of the Israel Defense Forces...
) upon the Sherut's foundation in late 1947.
- Sabotage Units: explosives experts who became the basis for the Israeli Engineering Corps
The Israeli Combat Engineering Corps is the combat engineering forces of the Israel Defense Forces.The Combat Engineering Corps beret's color is silver and their symbol features a sword on a defensive tower with a blast halo on the background...
in the IDF.
The Palmach put an emphasis on training field commanders (מפקדי שטח) and formed the basis for the Israeli army.
During the 1948-49
War of IndependenceThe 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known by Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation and by Palestinians as the Catastrophe , was the first in a series of wars fought between the newly declared State of Israel and its Arab neighbours in the long-running Arab-Israeli conflict.The war...
the Palmach was expanded to form three infantry brigades commanded by Yigal Allon:
- Yiftach, with three battalions operating in Eastern Galilee
- Harel, with three battalions operating in the Jerusalem area. Yitzhak Rabin
' was an Israeli politician and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995. In 1994, Rabin won the Nobel Peace Prize together with Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat...
(then age 26) commanded the Harel Brigade.
- HaNegev, with four battalions, one of which was the jeep mounted "Negev Beasts"
There was also the Headquarters Battalion which controlled naval, air and commando companies.
The battlecry of the Palmach commander was "!אחרי" (
Aharai), which literally means "after me!" or "follow me!". It refers to the commander leading his troops instead of sending them out and staying behind.
In politics and culture
The Palmach was a
left-wing nationalistLeft-wing nationalism refers to any political movement that combines left-wing politics with nationalism....
organisation, associated with socialist parties. Its members trained and lived in
KibbutzA kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
im, which were generally left-sympathetic. The political tendencies of its leaders such as
Yigal AllonYigal Allon was an Israeli politician, a commander of the Palmach, and a general in the IDF. He served as one of the leaders of Ahdut HaAvoda party and the Israeli Labor party, acting Prime Minister of Israel, as well as being a member of Knesset and government minister from the tenth through the...
and
Yitzhak SadehYitzhak Sadeh , was the commander of the Palmach, one of the founders of the Israel Defense Forces at the time of the establishment of the State of Israel and a cousin of British philosopher Isaiah Berlin.He was honored with a medal from the Russian army for his bravery during World War I...
was towards
MapamMapam was a political party in Israel and is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Meretz party.-History:...
, a left-wing party in opposition to
David Ben-Gurion' was the first Prime Minister of Israel. Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, culminated in his instrumental role in the founding of the state of Israel...
and the
MapaiMapai was a left-wing political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the Israeli Labor Party in 1968.-Background:...
ruling party. Those tendencies caused Ben-Gurion to order the dissolving of Palmach in 1948.
Palmach members were not, however, a unified, homogeneous collective with a single ideology. In the early years of the state of Israel they could be found in all political parties.
Yigal Allon, considered by many to be the representative of the Palmach generation, never properly reached a position of national leadership, although he was Prime Minister for a few days between
Eshkol's' served as the third Prime Minister of Israel from 1963 until his death from a heart attack in 1969. He was the first Israeli Prime Minister to die in office.-Early life:...
death and
Meir'sGolda Meir was the fourth prime minister of the State of Israel....
appointment in 1969. He died in 1980.
Besides military contributions, the Palmach had great influence over the Israeli "Tzabar" culture. Palmach activities included "Kumzitz" (sitting around a fire at night, eating, talking and having fun), public singing and cross-country walking trips. These often took on mythical proportions and have become favorite activities for Israelis.
The Palmach also contributed many anecdotes, jokes, "chizbat" (short funny tales, often based on exaggerations), songs and even books and stories.
Notable Palmach cultural figures include:
- Netiva Ben Yehuda - journalist, writer, radio
Radio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
host
- Haim Hefer
Haim Hefer is an Israeli songwriter, poet and writer.-Biography:Hefer was born in Sosnowiec, Poland in 1925 to Issachar Feiner, a chocolate salesman, and Rivka Herzberg, a housewife. He had a private Hebrew tutor. His family immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1936 and settled in...
- poet, writer
- Haim Guri - poet, writer
- Moshe Shamir
Moshe Shamir was an Israeli author, playwright, opinion writer, and public figure. He was one of the most important Israeli writers of modern times.-Biography:Moshe Shamir was born in Safed...
- writer, playwright
- Hannah Szenes
Hannah Szenes was a Hungarian Jew, one of 37 Jews living in Palestine, now Israel, who were trained by the British army to parachute into Yugoslavia during the Second World War in order to help save the Jews of Hungary, who were about to be deported to the German death camp at Auschwitz.Szenes...
(Senesh) - poet
- Dahn Ben Amotz - writer, journalist
- Shaike Ofir
Shaike Ophir was an Israeli film actor, mime and comedian, considered one of the most important entertainers in Israel from the fifties up to the eighties....
- actor
Notable Palmachniks
- High command:
- Eliyahu Golumb - general commander of Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
- Yitzhak Sadeh
Yitzhak Sadeh , was the commander of the Palmach, one of the founders of the Israel Defense Forces at the time of the establishment of the State of Israel and a cousin of British philosopher Isaiah Berlin.He was honored with a medal from the Russian army for his bravery during World War I...
- first general commander of Palmach
- Yigal Allon
Yigal Allon was an Israeli politician, a commander of the Palmach, and a general in the IDF. He served as one of the leaders of Ahdut HaAvoda party and the Israeli Labor party, acting Prime Minister of Israel, as well as being a member of Knesset and government minister from the tenth through the...
- second general commander of Palmach (1945-1948)
- Giora Shanan
Giora Shanan b. 5 May 1908 d 9 November 2001, Palmach member from 1941. Served in the Palmach Headquarters as Deputy Palmach Commander....
- lieutenant general deputy commander of the Palmach
- David Nammeri - lieutenant general commander of the Palmach
- Yohanan Retner - strategy officer
- Moshe Bar-Tikva - training officer
- Yitzhak Rabin
' was an Israeli politician and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995. In 1994, Rabin won the Nobel Peace Prize together with Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat...
-- brigade commander; Allon's second in command
- Special units commanders:
- Shimon Koch Avidan - commander of the "German Department"
- Israel Ben-Yehuda - commander of the "Arab Department"
- Yigal Allon
Yigal Allon was an Israeli politician, a commander of the Palmach, and a general in the IDF. He served as one of the leaders of Ahdut HaAvoda party and the Israeli Labor party, acting Prime Minister of Israel, as well as being a member of Knesset and government minister from the tenth through the...
- commander of the "Syrian Department"
- Company
A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 75-200 soldiers. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure...
commanders (as of 1943):
- Yigal Allon
Yigal Allon was an Israeli politician, a commander of the Palmach, and a general in the IDF. He served as one of the leaders of Ahdut HaAvoda party and the Israeli Labor party, acting Prime Minister of Israel, as well as being a member of Knesset and government minister from the tenth through the...
, Zalman Mars - Pluga Aleph commanders
- Moshe Dayan
Moshe Dayan, was an Israeli military leader and politician. The fourth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces , he became a fighting symbol to the world of the new State of Israel...
, Meir Davidson, Uri Brener - Pluga Beth commanders
- Uri Yafeh - Pluga Gimel commander
- Benjamin Goldstein Tzur - Pluga Dalet commander
- Abraham Negev - Pluga Hey commander
- Israel Livertovski, Shinon Koch Avidan - Pluga Vav commander
- Yehuda. L. Ben-Tzur - Palyam commander
- Shmuel Tankus
Aluf Shmuel "Shmulik" Tankus was the fifth commander of the Israeli Sea Corps, serving from 30 June 1954 until 1960.Tankus was born in 1914 in the Neve Shalom district of Jaffa...
- Shmuel Yanai
Shmuel "Samek" Yanai is a former Israeli naval commander and today chair of the Atlit Museum of Illegal Immigration.-Biography:Born Shmuel Poznanski in Warsaw, he came to Mandate Palestine, by himself as a fourteen year old, in 1935...
- Palyam commander
Palmach Museum
The Palmach museum is located on Chaim Lavon street in Tel Aviv, Israel. It is an experiential museum that covers the Palmach legacy through the stories of individuals and groups. Visitors to the museum join the group of young Palmach recruits from its establishment, and advanced through the story of the Palmach until the end of the War of Independence.
The manner of presentation is extremely innovative. There are no displays or documents, but rather an account of a fascinating personal story accompanied by three-dimensional decor, films and various effects incorporating documentary materials.
The visit, which is conducted in groups, correlates with the structure of the presentation, set out as a series of events, and symbolizing the Palmach team spirit.
The tour commences and ends in the memorial hall for Palmach warriors who died fighting for establishment of the state of Israel.
External links