jan 1, 1941 - Palmach

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The Palmach is established in 1941 as the Haganah's permanent mobilized strike force, created in cooperation with the British when a German advance through North Africa toward British Palestine appears likely. Because the Yishuv cannot fund a standing army, its fighters live and train on kibbutzim, working part of each month to pay for their own service, which gives the force an unusually egalitarian and ideologically socialist character. It develops the Yishuv's elite capabilities — commando raids, sabotage, the naval and aerial units, and the Arabists of the Mista'arvim — and plays the decisive role in the critical battles of 1948, including opening the road to Jerusalem. Ben-Gurion dissolves its independent command in late 1948, unwilling to allow a politically distinct force inside the national army, and the decision remains one of the era's rawest controversies.

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