Day 90: Palmach Museum

Palmach at Kibbutz Beit Oren 1942

Yesterday, I picked up my son from his Civil Patrol Boot Camp.  It was a hot, windy, and dusty day in the Nevada Desert. When I saw where he'd been all week, I really was amazed that he survived the experience.  This would be a hard place to be up at the crack of dawn and doing PT.  My son's military endurance must be in his genes, because he loved the entire experience.  So to wrap up my son's Boot Camp week, this is final IDF related post.  

The Palmach Museum, located in Tel Aviv, is dedicated to the brave men and women of the Palmach, who played an important role in the birth of Israel.  Palmach is a Hebrew acronym for the word "strike force".  

The Palmach were an elite fighting force that arose during the period of the Britsih Mandate of Palestine.  Established in 1941, the Palmach was founded to help the British defend Israel (then called Palestine) against the approaching German armies. In the fall of 1942, as the threat of invasion receded, the British authorities ordered the dismantling of the Palmach,which caused the group to go underground.

Instead of living in barracks, the Palmach units were stationed in Kibbutzim (plural for kibbutz) across the country, where they combined their military training with farm work.  They did this in order to support themselves.  During the outbreak of the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, the group was 2000 strong. Once Israel existed as a country, there was no longer a need for the force, so they disbanded in 1950.  

When you visit the Palmach Museum, the goal is for you to "experience" this part of Israel's history.  Therefore, instead of having displays for you to see, you learn the stories of the people with the aid of 3-D decor, films, and documentary materials.  During your tour, you join a group of young Palmach recruits and learn about the brave freedom fighters.

All visits to the museum must be pre-arranged - there is no "drop-in" option.  Tours are carried out in groups of up to 25 people.  For anyone who visits on their own, they are teamed up with another tour group.  The tour is about 90 minutes long and is presented in five languages simultaneoulsy:  English, French, Spanish, Russian, and Hebrew.  Translations are provided by headsets.  

I really don't know much about the Palmach, except for the fact that - Yitzach Rabin who was Israel's 5th Prime Minister was one of the first recruits to join the group.  Rabin was Israel's first native-born Prime Minister, won the Nobel Peace Prize with Yasser Arafat, and was later assassinated by a radical Jewish Israeli.