Avram Akavia moved to Palestine with his family at an early age from a small town in western Poland.

In 1933 he joined the Haganah and began translating British military documents into Hebrew. He joined the Jewish Brigade after serving as a military trainer in the British Army, and eventually achieved the rank of Major. Following World War II he served as a liason between the British and Jewish units and later published the first Military Dictionary in Hebrew.

Akavia has written a number of books about his military experiences, including a volume on the development of Hebrew Military Terminology. Avram Akavia lives in Haifa.