Carmel (Zalizky), Moshe
CARMEL (Zalizky), MOSHE
CARMEL (Zalizky), MOSHE (1911–2003), Israel military commander and Labor Party leader. Carmel was born in Minsk Mazowiecki, Poland, and went to Palestine with his parents in 1924. There he worked as a typesetter and was active in the labor youth movement Ha-No'ar ha-Oved, of whose kibbutz, Na'an, he became a member in 1937. Joining the Haganah, Carmel rose from section commander to commanding officer of the Central Officers' School, and later to commanding officer of the Haganah Youth Battalions. In 1939 he was sentenced by the British Mandatory government to ten years' imprisonment in Acre Fort prison for illegally carrying arms. He served 18 months of his sentence and during this time wrote Mi-Bein ha-Homot ("From Within the Walls," 19656), which contains a vivid description of life in prison. During the War of Independence, 1948, as brigadier-general (aluf) of the Israel Army, he became commanding officer of the Northern District and directed operations which brought Haifa, Acre, and most of Galilee under Jewish control. In 1949 he published Ma'arkhot Ẓafon ("Battles of the North"). During the 1950s Carmel studied history and philosophy at the universities of Jerusalem and Paris. He served as editor in chief of La-Merḥav, the *Aḥdut ha-Avodah daily newspaper, from 1960 to 1965. Carmel was a member of Knesset for Aḥdut ha-Avodah (later the Israel Labor Party) from 1955, and served as minister of transport in 1955–56 and again from 1965 to 1969. He continued to serve in the Knesset until 1977 and subsequently became director of El Al.
bibliography:
D. Lazar, Rashim be-Yisrael, 2 (1955), 74–79. add. bibliography: L. Joffe, in: The Guardian (Oct. 17, 2003).
[Netanel Lorch /
Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.)]