Palyam
Encyclopedia
Palyam was the sea force of the Palmach
.
The division was 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 Europe by boat, despite the British White Paper of 1939
limiting Jewish immigration
into Mandate Palestine
.
From August 1945 to May 1948, approximately seventy Palyamniks escorted close to 70,000 immigrants in 66 sea voyages, from Sweden
in the north to Algeria
in the south, France
in the west to Romania
in the east. They also escorted the arms ships that brought vital arms during the war.
On the eve of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
, approximately four hundred marines, eighty of them were graduates of the marine officers course which was held in the Marine School near the Technion, and seventy of them graduates of the ship commanders course at kibbutz Sdot Yam
.
Headquarters of Palyam was located in kibbutz Sdot Yam, but the unit had installations in kibbutz Neve Yam
, Ma'abarot
, Giv'at HaShlosha, Shefayim
and Yagur
.
On March 17, 1948, the Naval Service (the precursor of the Israeli Sea Corps
) was formed, and the Palyam were ordered to join. Many of the Palyam members formed the core personnel and command of the Naval Service, in fact, most ship commanders during the first years of the Navy, and up to 1975, most of the Navy's commander-in-chiefs, were Palyam veterans.
Palyam members who specialized in maritime sabotage formed Shayetet 13
, the IDF Naval Commando unit.
Palmach
The Palmach was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palmach was established on May 15, 1941...
.
History
Palyam was set up in April 1945 as the Palmach's tenth company (Pluga Yud) which originated from the Palmach's Naval Platoon. The Company's first commander was Abraham Zakai. It belonged to the Fourth Battalion which was the Palmach's Staff Battalion, attached to the Palmach's Staff Battalion (the 4th Battalion).The division was 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 Europe by boat, despite the British White Paper of 1939
White Paper of 1939
The 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...
limiting Jewish immigration
Aliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
into Mandate Palestine
Mandate Palestine
Mandate Palestine existed while the British Mandate for Palestine, which formally began in September 1923 and terminated in May 1948, was in effect...
.
From August 1945 to May 1948, approximately seventy Palyamniks escorted close to 70,000 immigrants in 66 sea voyages, from Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
in the north to Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
in the south, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in the west to Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
in the east. They also escorted the arms ships that brought vital arms during the war.
On the eve of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...
, approximately four hundred marines, eighty of them were graduates of the marine officers course which was held in the Marine School near the Technion, and seventy of them graduates of the ship commanders course at kibbutz Sdot Yam
Sdot Yam
Sdot Yam is a kibbutz in the Haifa District of Israel on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.It was founded in 1936 and moved to its present site at the southern border of the ancient city and archeological ruins of Caesarea, in 1940...
.
Headquarters of Palyam was located in kibbutz Sdot Yam, but the unit had installations in kibbutz Neve Yam
Neve Yam
Neve Yam is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located around twenty kilometres south of Haifa, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council. In 2006, it had a population of 206....
, Ma'abarot
Ma'abarot
The Ma'abarot were refugee absorption camps in Israel in the 1950s. The Ma'abarot were meant to provide accommodation for the large influx of Jewish refugees and new Olim arriving to the newly independent State of Israel, replacing the less habitable immigrant camps or tent cities...
, Giv'at HaShlosha, Shefayim
Shefayim
Shefayim is a kibbutz in central Israel. Located 17 km north of Tel Aviv along the Mediterranean coast, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaSharon Regional Council...
and Yagur
Yagur
Yagur is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located on the slopes of Mount Carmel about 9 km southeast of Haifa, it is one of the two largest kibbutzim in the country, with a population of 1,124 in 2008. It falls under the jurisdiction of Zevulun Regional Council....
.
On March 17, 1948, the Naval Service (the precursor of the Israeli Sea Corps
Israeli Sea Corps
The Israeli Navy is the naval arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in the Mediterranean Sea theater as well as the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea theater. The current commander in chief of the Israeli Navy is Aluf Ram Rothberg.-History:...
) was formed, and the Palyam were ordered to join. Many of the Palyam members formed the core personnel and command of the Naval Service, in fact, most ship commanders during the first years of the Navy, and up to 1975, most of the Navy's commander-in-chiefs, were Palyam veterans.
Palyam members who specialized in maritime sabotage formed Shayetet 13
Shayetet 13
Shayetet 13 is the elite naval commando unit of the Israeli Navy. The unit is considered one of the primary Special Forces units of the Israel Defense Forces . S'13 specializes in sea-to-land incursions, counter-terrorism, sabotage, maritime intelligence gathering, maritime hostage rescue, and...
, the IDF Naval Commando unit.
Notable Palyamniks
- Yohai Ben-NunYohai Ben-Nun- Biography :Yohai Ben-Nun was born in Haifa and raised in Jerusalem. His parents were members of the First Aliyah.Ben-Nun joined the Palmach in 1941 and spent three years training and eventually rising to the rank of a squad leader. In 1944, he joined the Pal-Yam, the sea corps of the Palmach...
– Commander of 'Plugot HaNamal' - Yehuda. L. Ben-Tzur – Palyam Commander
- Arieh Kaplan – Palyam Commander. Arieh (Kipi) was chosen as the first commander of the immigrant camps on CyprusCyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
. He established a defense unit from among the immigrants, who intended to enlist in the PalmachPalmachThe Palmach was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palmach was established on May 15, 1941...
, designed to deal with internal security needs, and help PalmachPalmachThe Palmach was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palmach was established on May 15, 1941...
members to keep control over the camp. - Yossi HarelYossi HarelYossi Harel , born Yosef Hamburger was the supervisor of the Exodus 1947 operation and a leading member of the Israeli intelligence community.-Biography:...
, commander of four expeditions between 1946 and 1948, including the boat, 'President Warfield', better known as 'Exodus 1947' - Dov Magen
- Zalman Perach – Palyam Commander. Zalman commanded the Haapala ship "Enzo Sereny" that sailed from north of Savona, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. On January 9, 1946, with 908 immigrants on board. British destroyers forced the ship to sail to Haifa port, where it arrived on January 17. The immigrants were unloaded and taken to detention at Atlit camp. - Les Solomon – served with U.S. Army Rangers who landed at NormandyNormandyNormandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
beaches, sailed on Altalena, and served on a Palyam ship. He worked with Bill GatesBill GatesWilliam Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
before MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
was formed and was the technical editor of “Popular Electronics” magazine. - Shmuel TankusShmuel TankusAluf Shmuel "Shmulik" Tankus was the fifth commander of the Israeli Navy, serving from 30 June 1954 until 1960.Tankus was born in 1914 in the Neve Shalom district of Jaffa...
– became Head of the Navy - Emmanuel Weinstein (later called Lukas Vongard) – served in the Royal Canadian Navy, helped prepare the 'President Warfield' as the HaganahHaganahHaganah 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 :...
Ship Exodus 1947Exodus (ship)Exodus 1947 was a ship that carried Jewish emigrants, that left France on July 11, 1947, with the intent of taking its passengers to the British mandate for Palestine. Most of the emigrants were Holocaust survivor refugees, who had no legal immigration certificates to Palestine...
, joined the crew of the Tradewinds (Hatikvah), served in HaganahHaganahHaganah 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 :...
's maritime sabotage unit and then to the "HaPortzim" unit fighting for Jerusalem. In June 1948, he was transferred to the nascent Israeli navy. - Shmuel YanaiShmuel YanaiShmuel "Samek" Yanai is a former Israeli naval commander and chair of the Atlit Museum of Illegal Immigration at the Atlit detainee camp.-Biography:...
– Palyam Commander - Yoska Yariv – Palyam Commander
- Avraham Zakai – First Commander of Palyam
External links
- Official Website of the Palyam
- Grapevine: Honoring the past by celebrating in the present Article written by Greer Fay Cashman, The Jerusalem Post,