Israel. Tseva haganah le-Yiśraʼel - The sword and the olive a critical history of the Israeli defense force

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Table of Contents

ALSO BY MARTIN VAN CREVELD

Men, Women and War

The Art of War: War and Military Thought

The Rise and Decline of the State

Airpower and Maneuver Warfare

Nuclear Proliferation and the Future of Conflict

The Transformation of War

The Training of Officers: From Military Professionalism to Irrelevance

Technology and War: From 2000 B.C. to the Present

Command in War

Fighting Power: German and U.S. Army Performance, 1939-1945

Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton

Hitlers Strategy, 1940-41: The Balkan Clue

In memory of Miki Levanon (1971-1992),
who died by friendly fire.

NOTE ON SOURCES, TRANSLATIONS, TRANSLITERATIONS, AND ACRONYMS

AS NECESSARILY follows from the nature of the subject, the great majority of sources used in this study are in Hebrew. Some of them, notably the memoirs of such famous personalities as Moshe Dayan, Yitschak Rabin, and Ariel Sharon, have been translated into English. Nevertheless I have normally made use of, and referred to, the Hebrew originalsthe reason being that they are often much more detailed and contain important documentary material that has been omitted from the English editions. To give the non-Israeli reader at least an idea of the nature of the source in question I have quoted each Hebrew title and provided it with a translation. Those translations are my own and by no means always correspond to the official English titles that are carried on the front pages and that all too often sacrifice accuracy for literary effect. It is my hope that this system will enable the non-Israeli reader, if not to check on my facts, then at least to obtain some kind of feel for the sources that I have used.

As foreigners driving around Israel and trying to read the road signs will note, transliteration represents a problem; occasionally it seems there are as many transliterations as there are people, if not more. I tried to be as simple, consistent, and phonetically correct as I could, even if this meant ignoring the normal system (e.g., kibbuts instead of kibbutz, Chayim instead of Haim) and substituting one of my own.

Finally, and for consistencys sake, I have treated Hebrew acronyms as I would English ones: for example, in writing TSAHAL (for Tsva-Hagana Leyisrael) rather than the more normal Tsahal (let alone Zahal, which does not correspond to the way in which the word is pronounced); and PALMACH (for Plugot Machats) rather than Palmach. The reason for this is to make the informed reader, who may well have heard these terms before, aware that they do in fact represent acronyms. And indeed acronyms are something that the Israeli armed forces, like their opposite numbers in other countries, have been spouting forth in prodigious numbers.

Still there is no denying that, for all but Hebrew-speakers, access both to the numerous Hebrew terms and to the sources remains difficult if not impossible. Therefore, as in any good restaurant, please feel free to ignore the kitchen and enjoy the meal.

GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS AND HEBREW TERMS USED IN THE TEXT

Achdut Ha-avoda Unity of Labor; a left-wing activist party led by Yisrael Galili and Yigal Allon

AEW airborne electronic warfare

AFV armored fighting vehicle

aluf, alufim(pl.) brigadier (later major) general

APC armored personnel carrier

APSDFS armor-piercing, sabbot-discarding, fin-stabilized ammunition

BAKUM (Basis Klita U-miyun) Recruit Absorption and Classification Base

Bar Giora first Jewish self-defense organization in Palestine (1907)

Betar right-wing nationalist organization founded in 1925

chalutsim pioneers

chared, charedim(pl.) the anxious ones; non-Zionist orthodox Jews

chatatsit gravel thrower; a contraption dreamed up by TAAS for combating Palestinian demonstrators

CHEN (Chel Nashim) Womens Army Corps

Cherut Freedom; a right-wing political party, the ancestor of the modern Likud Party

Chets Arrow: (1) type of elongated, armor-piercing ammunition developed for the Merkava tank; (2) antiballistic missile developed by IAI

CHIM (Chel Mishmar) Garrison Force; Haganas stationary force

CHISH (Chel Sadeh) Field Force; one of Haganas strike forces

Chok Sherut Bitachon National Service Law of 1949

CIC commander in chief

CO comanding officer

COS chief of staff

dunam a parcel of land measuring 1,000 square meters

en brera no choice; the ideological justification for Israeli wars until 1973

ECM electronic countermeasures

ETSEL (Irgun Tsvai Leumi) National Military Organization; pre-1948 right-wing terrorist organization

fashla, fashlot(pl.) slang for blunder

FLIR forward-looking infrared; a night-vision system for aircraft and helicopters

FOSH (Plugot Sadeh) Field Companies; organized by Hagana in 1937-1938

GADNA (Gdudei Noar) Youth Battalions; a paramilitary organization for youths run by the IDF

gafir, gafirim(pl.) Jewish police officer working for the British authorities

Galil Israeli-made assault rifle

garin, garinim(pl.) cores of NACHAL youths earmarked for new settlements

gesher ha-glilim roller bridge used in the 1973 October War to cross the Suez Canal

GHQ general headquarters

Gush Emunim Bloc of the Faith; a group of extreme right-wing nationalist Jews in the Occupied Territories

hachshara, hachsharot(pl.) PALMACH training group

HAGA (Hagana Ezrachit) Civil Defense Organization

Hagana Defense; the Jewish self-defense force in Palestine before 1948

hagana merchavit territorial defense

Ha-shomer The Guard; the second Jewish self-defense organization in Palestine after Bar Giora

Histadrut Labor Federation

IAF Israel Air Force

IAI Israel Aircraft Industries

IDF Israeli Defense Force

KABA (Kvutsat-echut) Quality Group; a system of classifying recruits by quality

KABAN, KABANIM(pl.)(ktsin beriut nefesh) mental health officer

Kfir Lion Cub; the Israeli-built light fighter-bomber

kibbuts, kibbutsim(pl.) communal settlement where all property is held in common

kippot sruggot literally, knitted yarmulkes; the nickname for right-wing nationalist orthodox Jews

Knesset the Israeli parliament

kofer ha-yishuv the Yishuvs ransom; the tax imposed by the Jewish community in Palestine in 1929

Lavi Young Lion; the Israeli-built fighter-bomber that never flew

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