View source for Meir Pa'il

{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = PikiWiki Israel 28630 Art of Israel (cropped).jpg
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1926|6|19|df=y}}
| birth_place         = {{nowrap|[[Jerusalem]], [[Mandatory Palestine]]}}
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|2015|9|15|1926|6|19|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Tel Aviv]], Israel
| suboffice1          = [[Moked]]
| office1             = Faction represented in the [[Knesset]]
| subterm1            = 1974–1977
| suboffice2          = [[Left Camp of Israel]]
| subterm2            = 1977–1980
| native_name         = מאיר פעיל
| native_name_lang    = he
}}
'''Meir Pa'il''' ({{langx|he|מאיר פעיל}}&lrm;; 19 June 1926 &ndash; 15 September 2015) was an Israeli politician, military historian and a former colonel in the [[Israel Defense Forces]].

==Biography==
Meir Pilevsky (later Pa'il) was born in [[Jerusalem]] during the [[Mandatory Palestine|Mandate era]]. His parents, Nahum and Bracha Pilevsky, were pioneers of the [[Third Aliyah]]. Pa'il studied at the Tahkemoni school in Jerusalem, a school for laborers' children in [[Holon]], and at Balfour high school in [[Tel Aviv]]. He joined the "Working Youth" movement in 1937 and served in an active signal unit for the [[Haganah]].

Pa'il served in the [[Palmach]] from 1943 to 1948. He participated in a series of operations, including the smuggling of illegal Jewish immigrants from Syria and Lebanon, the [[The Hunting Season|Saison]], the [[Night of the Bridges]], and an attack on a British police position on Mount Canaan. During the [[1948 Arab-Israeli War]], Pa'il served in the [[Negev Brigade]]. Pa'il served as a career officer in the IDF, commanding the 51st Battalion during the [[Suez Crisis]], the Bahad-1 officers school from 1964 to 1966, and the Department of Military Theory for the General Staff. He left the IDF in 1971.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/israel/.premium-1.676088|title=Veteran Israeli Politician and Career Soldier, Meir Pa'il, Dies at 89|first=Ofer|last=Aderet|date=16 September 2015|publisher=|newspaper=Haaretz}}</ref>

Pa'il studied history and Middle Eastern studies at [[Tel Aviv University]], later gaining a doctorate in military and general history.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}} In 1973, he was among the founders of the [[Blue-Red Movement]], which merged with [[Maki (political party)|Maki]] to form [[Moked]], which Pa'il headed.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}

He was elected to the Knesset in the [[1973 Israeli legislative election|1973 elections]] on the [[Moked]] list, and was the party's only representative in the [[Knesset]]. The party merged with several others to form the [[Left Camp of Israel]] prior to the [[1977 Israeli legislative election|1977 elections]]. The new party won two seats, which were rotated between five party members including Pa'il. However, they failed to win any seats in the [[1981 Israeli legislative election|1981 elections]] and Pa'il did not reappear in the Knesset. He died on September 15, 2015, due to complications of [[Alzheimer's disease]].<ref name="YNN">{{cite news|url=https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4700597,00.html|title=Former MK Meir Pa'il passes away at 89|date=15 September 2015|publisher=[[Ynetnews]]|accessdate=15 September 2015}}</ref>

==Published works==
*''Political and Military Reflections in the Wake of the War of October 1973''. Tel Aviv: Israel Peace Research Society, 1974. {{OCLC|3560340}}
*''From the Hagana to the IDF'' (1979) (Hebrew)
*''The West Bank and Gaza: A Strategic Analysis for Peace''. Tel-Aviv: New Outlook, 1981. {{OCLC|7899345}}
*''Development of Jewish Defense Capabilities, 1907–1948'' (1987) (Hebrew)
*''Independence 1948'' (1990) (Hebrew)
*''Rift in 1948'' (1990)
*''The Palmach'' (1995) (Hebrew)
*'' From Hashomer to the Israel Defence Forces: Armed Jewish Defense in Palestine''. Jerusalem: Israel Information Center, 1997. {{OCLC|751545036}}
*''The Commander: Temperate Military Leadership'' (2003) (Hebrew) <ref>{{cite news
| last         = Dromi
| first        = Uri
| date         = 3 October 2003
| title        = No Longer Pure and Simple - review of "The Commander: Temperate Military Leadership" by Meir Pa'il
| url          = https://www.haaretz.com/life/books/no-longer-pure-and-simple-1.101786
| newspaper    = Haaretz
| location     = Israel
| access-date  = 15 September 2015
}}</ref>
*''Meirke - Meir Pa'il: Commander, Educator, Historian, Politician - Autobiography and Selected Texts''. (2014) (Hebrew)  {{OCLC| 891845270}}

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*{{MKlink|id=572}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pa'il, Meir}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2015 deaths]]
[[Category:Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in Israel]]
[[Category:Israeli colonels]]
[[Category:Israeli historians]]
[[Category:Jewish Israeli politicians]]
[[Category:Israeli military historians]]
[[Category:Jewish historians]]
[[Category:Left Camp of Israel politicians]]
[[Category:Members of the 8th Knesset (1974–1977)]]
[[Category:Members of the 9th Knesset (1977–1981)]]
[[Category:Moked politicians]]
[[Category:Palmach members]]
[[Category:Politicians from Jerusalem]]
[[Category:Tel Aviv University alumni]]
[[Category:Jewish socialists]]
[[Category:Burials at Menucha Nechona Cemetery]]
[[Category:20th-century Israeli Jews]]
[[Category:21st-century Israeli Jews]]

{{Israel-politician-stub}}
[[Category:Israeli military personnel of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War]]