Atlit Detainee Camp

Museum · Clandestine immigration (ha'apala) · The British detention camp · An immigrant ship · Immigration over land from Muslim countries · 20-33 ₪

By the coastal road, north of Atlit, Atlit

The British detention camp north of Atlit where Jewish immigrants caught arriving without permits were held, restored as a national heritage site and education centre on the story of clandestine immigration

The Atlit detainee camp stands by the coastal road north of Atlit. Its page says it is a national site and an education centre for the heritage of clandestine immigration (ha'apala), where immigrants caught after struggles with the British were held. On the site are the restored and rebuilt British camp with its barbed-wire fences, watchtowers, sorting hut, disinfection hut and living hut; a film on the Palmach's break-in to the camp in October 1945; "In the Paths of Ha'apala", a database of the names of immigrants, activists and volunteers; and a ship where a simulated sea voyage shows what the immigrants went through on their way. Newer additions are a show inside a Curtiss C-46 aircraft like the one that brought immigrants from Iraq in Operation Michaelberg in 1947, and an exhibition on immigration over land from Muslim countries. Visits are guided tours between the camp's huts, all booked ahead, with special tours and night activities for children, and tours adapted for visitors with different disabilities.