Hiram Commander Moshe Carmel Dies

Major General (res.) Moshe Carmel, commander of the northern front in the War of Independence and former transport minister, died in Tel Aviv yesterday, aged 92.

His funeral will be held at noon today at the Kiryat Shaul cemetery in Tel Aviv.

Carmel was born in January 1911 in Minsk, Poland (today in Belarus), immigrated to Palestine in 1924 and was among the founders of Kibbutz Na'an. As a member of the Haganah he was imprisoned in Acre prison from 1939 to 1941.

In the War of Independence, Carmel's troops conquered Haifa, Acre and the Galilee. He commanded the combined Hiram Operation at the end of October 1948, in which four brigades acted in coordination. The operation brought a turning point in the battles in the north and led to Israel's victory.

Carmel left the army in 1958 and settled in Tel Aviv. He served as transport minister in four governments and was a member of seven Knesset terms. Carmel wrote books and political essays.