At 'Camp Palmach,' kids relive militia's glory days
The activities centered on the experiences of the fighters of the Palmach, who struggled against the British to found the State of Israel.
By Eli AshkenaziA group of youngsters with British accents emerged from the thicket of old eucalyptus trees along the banks of Nahal Hashiva, an area that sits between Kfar Tavor and Kfar Shibli. Erel Moatti, a fourth grader from Kfar Tavor, and his fellow classmates waited for them to begin moving away from the thicket - this was their signal.
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Children at “Camp Palmach,” near Kfar Tavor. |
| Photo by: Yaron Kaminsky |
Moatti, outfitted with green camouflage and face-paint, explained the reasoning behind his appearance. "I'm a spy," he said. "This means we're battling the British. If we manage to infiltrate the British camp, then we win. They taught us how to break in during the day, quietly."
Moatti and 70 other third and fourth grade students participated last week in "Palmach Week," staged by Kfar Tavor's branch of Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed, a youth organization founded by the Labor Zionist movement. The culmination of the event, "Camp Palmach," took place over the weekend.
The activities centered on the experiences of the fighters of the Palmach - the elite strike force of the Haganah, the prestate underground Jewish militia - who struggled against the British to found the State of Israel.
"The campers complete a variety of tasks, including acting as brigade commanders, forming factions and serving as go-betweens," said Hadar Saks, a youth group coordinator and counselor. "During the week we inculcate the Palmach values - which are geared toward developing a good and model society, and not just creating a soldier who is an effective fighter."
"The children of Kfar Tavor grow up on the legend of Yigal Allon, who was a native son of the village and a Palmach commander, but they don't know much about that period of time or the values of the Palmach," Saks said.
In the three days leading up to the camp, the children studied the history of the Palmach. They were given quizzes and held campfires that hearkened back to the days of the Palmach, during which they sang songs and told stories that glorified the kibbutz movement.
Some children were initially unsure of whether they wanted to attend the camp. "I had to decide between going to camp or staying in front of the television, going to the pool and playing with friends," Moatti said.
This past weekend, though, there was Moatti: on the ground, near the thicket on Nahal Hashiva, which is named after the seven Palmach members killed in the battle for Beit Keshet. The eucalyptus trees stand adjacent to the Kadoorie Agricultural High School, many of whose graduates enlisted in the Palmach - including Yigal Allon, Eli Ben-Zvi (the son of former president Yitzhak Ben-Zvi ), Yitzhak Rabin, Haim Gouri and others.
"We're proud to be from the town where Yigal Allon was born," said one camper, Noah Pivnik. "It's really cool."
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These children are learning to glorify Israel's struggle for independence, they are not brainwashed by religious fanatics, taught to despise Palestinians, and do not learn the art of suicide bombing. I can't believe some of you idiots actually compare the two.
Israel and the Israelis have always been complaining about the Palestinians teaching their kids hate and war games. Israel is doing worst than that by taking these little angels to Camp Palmach for what ? to teach them Palmach values ? oh yeah, then these Palestinians are guests from neighbouring countries who came to this country few decades ago and sooner or later we are going to expell them to their countries of origin .
The description makes it sound similar to the Hamas camps that we denounce. It is important to remember our history and role playing is an excellent way to do it. I hope that part of the camp is discussions and role playing of the present and future as well. It is very importance to remember the greatness of the Palmach, without it we would not have our state now, Along with it's victories we must also remember some it's mistakes and try to learn how not to repeat them.
This "camp" is absolutely disgusting. Teaching kids to glorify an organization that murdered innocent civilians, committed terrorist attacks and other atrocities is simply sick. Parents who send their kids to this abomination should be ashamed that they are teaching their kids the same kind of hatred that fuels the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is no better than the indoctrination in hatred that Israel often accuses the Palestinians of providing to their own children. Grow up and learn to reject terrorism in all its forms, especially that perpetrated by your own countrymen and co-religionists.
You are absolutely right.
complains about terrorists, sends its 3rd and 4th graders off to camp to pretend to be terrorists. I guess that Israel thinks Arab terrorism is bad but somehow Jewish terrorism is somehow righteous? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmach
I associate the Palmach with the expulsion of Arabs in 1948. The kids should be told about this 'less heroic' part of the Palmach's history, but I fear they aren't..
also when it is Israeli. Stop brainwashing these kids. The Haganah also did terrible things.
These kids should be taught about the massacres and atrocities committed against the indigenous Palestinian population instead of glorifying murder and destruction. They should learn the truth about the curfews, imprisonment and restrictions imposed on the native inhabitants at the time and for many years afterwards. They should learn about how the remaining Palestinians are still treated and discriminated against.
just another act of jewish betrayl
This comment probably refers to the bombing of the King David Hotel of 1948. However, this bombing was not performed by the Palmach, but by the Revisionist-Zionist Irgun movement that was led by future PM Menachem Begin. A bit more historical accuracy, please...
The bombing of the King David Hotel didn't take place in 1948 but in 1946 - my apologies for my previous mistake. Nevertheless, it was committed by the Irgun, not by the Palmach.
Does it really matter if it was Irgun or the Palmach who committeed the bombing? In the end, the mainstream Zionist movement benefitted from the bombing and the political consequences it created -- Zionism would impose its own settlement of the conflict and Britain and anyone associated with supporting a different version would be eliminated and resisted. Also, it is not as if the Chaim Weismann or David Ben Gurion ever rejected the Irgun during the years of fighting Palestinian civilians or the British. Many times their militant activities were coordinated, or, at least, mainstream Zionists quietly tolerated the Revisionists and their actions. Of course, Begin became PM and many other members of the Revisionists were seamleslly incorporated into the new state of Israel, without any consequences to what they did. Begin/Jabotinsky/Ben Gurion...they're all the same, they want an ethnically pure Israel with as few Arabs as possible.
As a former chaver of Beit Keshet, there when our kibbutz was under attack and we lost our seven chaverim on the "Sheb", and among the first chaverim to move into our new homes when we started building on the Sheb, through all the years since then my longing for the kibbutz, for the closenss of our small society, has never dimmed and has always been a factor in my life, as is perhaps evident in my book "This One" in the Palmach Museum. Camp Palmach, with its special activity at Nahal Hashiva, is, I hope, something that will be repeated every year to keep alive the history of those days when we struggled to found our own state among nations. That the Beit Keshet of those days has followed the path of so many other kibbutzim is but a microcosm of the way our country is developing. That is the way it was, this is the way it is. Who can say today that this is the way it should be?