The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) came into being with a proclamation by the Provisional Government of Israel, on 28 May 1948, in which it established the creation of land, air and sea forces. The proclamation was published on 31 May, and general officers were sworn into the IDF on 28 June.
The establishment of the IDF occurred about 7 months after the beginning of the War of Independence (unofficially begun with the United Nations resolution to partition Palestine, on 29 November 1947). The formation of a unified armed force for Israel brought together the four main armed Jewish formations of that time: the "Haganah" ('Defense' movement) - the unofficial army of the Provisional Government; the "Etzel" (or "Irgun" - National Military Organization, of Menachem Begin) Revisionist-Zionist underground force; the "Lechi" ('Freedom Fighters for Israel') underground formation; and the "Palmach" (the 'Shock Companies' formed from the Haganah to help the British during the Second World War) soldier-farmer formation aligned with the Kibbutz movement. It took about 6 more months, until the 7th of November (with the dissolution of the independent Palmach units), for the IDF to be a truly integrated military force
The first commanders of the IDF were Chief of Staff Ya'akov Dori (former commander of the 'Haganah'); Yigal Yadin, the Chief of Operations; Aharon Remez, Commander of the Airforce; Gershon Zack, Commander of the Navy; Yosef Avidar, Ordnance Commander; Moshe Zadok, Manpower Commander; Eliyahu Ben-Horin, Commander of Training; Isser Be'eri, Intelligence Commander; Shmuel Admon, Artillery Commander; Emmanuel Shakham, Commander of the Engineers; Yitzhak Almog, Signals Commander
The highest ranking officer in the IDF holds the rank of Lieutenant General ('Rav Aluf'), and is the only serving (i.e. non-reservist) officer to hold this rank; corps commanders (including the Airforce and Navy) and area commanders (North, Central and South) hold the rank of Major General ('Aluf'). Although the Border Guard ("Mishmar Ha'Gvul") fulfills a vital military and anti-terror role, it is part of the Israeli Police force and commanded by the police.
Today the military is comprised of three arms - land, air and sea; four area/district commands - North, Center, South and Rear; seven directorates - the General Staff, operations, planning, intelligence, manpower, logistics and medical, and computers (the General Staff includes also the Judge Advocate General, the Chief Military Rabbinate, the Financial Advisor to the Chief of Staff, and the Chief of Staff's advisor on Womens' Issues); nine corps - infantry, armor, artillery, engineers, ordnance, communications, logistics, medical, and education and youth.
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