Rafael Eitan
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- For the Mossad operative in-charge of capturing Adolf Eichmann, former Director of the Israeli Bureau of Scientific Relations and current leader of Gimla'ey Yisrael, see Rafi Eitan
Rafael Eitan (Hebrew: רפאל איתן) (January 11, 1929 – November 23, 2004) was an Israeli general, former Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defence Forces and later a politician, a Knesset member, and Minister of Agriculture. He was known by the nickname of "Raful" (רפול). Rafael Eitan was born in 1929 in Afula, in the British Mandate of Palestine and was raised in Moshav Tel Adashim, where he spent most of his life.
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[edit] Military career
[edit] Early battles
Eitan was a junior officer in the Palmach, the Haganah's elite strike force and took part in the Israel's War of Independence. He fought in Jerusalem and received a head wound in the battle for the San Simon Monastery in April 1948. Later he served with the 10th Infantry Battalion in the Lachish-Negev region.
In 1954, Captain Eitan became commander of a Paratroops company in Unit 101. During Operation Kinereth in 1955 he received a machine gun wound to his chest, while participating in a military raid into Syria.
In the 1956 Sinai war, Major Eitan was the commander of the 890 Paratroopers battalion and participated in the October 29 parachute attack on the Mitla Pass.
During the Six Day War in early June 1967, as a Colonel he commanded the Paratroopers Brigade on the Gaza front, and received a severe head wound in combat while approaching the Suez Canal.
In 1969 he was appointed head of infantry forces and later served as a division commander. As a division commander, Brig. General Eitan stopped the Syrian attack into the Golan Heights during the October 1973 Yom Kippur War. He personally used a bazooka to destroy several advancing Syrian tanks. After the war he was appointed to commander of the northern command and promoted to the rank of Major General.
[edit] Chief of Staff
On April 1, 1978, Eitan was promoted to the rank of General and was appointed by Ezer Weizman to be the Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.
Eitan opened his term with symbolic steps to increase discipline and efficiency in the IDF. Two of these orders were requirements to wear the military beret and collect empty ammunition cases after rifle range practice. Eitan also cut the size of the military.
Eitan oversaw the redeployment of the IDF outside Sinai after the Sinai peninsula was handed back to Egypt. He and Sharon demolished the Israeli city of Yamit in Sinai in April 1982 after the Egyptians refused to pay for its infrastructure.
As Chief of Staff, Eitan was best known for the "Raful Youth" project, in which young persons from low socio-economic background and poor neigbourhoods were integrated into the IDF and were trained for professions that allowed them to stay out of crime, poverty, and other troubles. The IDF also helped those youth to graduate their highschool studies.
He approved the Israeli air attack on Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor complex on June 7, 1981.
[edit] Lebanon War
On June 3, 1982, Abu Nidal's militant group gravely wounded Israel's ambassador in London, Shlomo Argov as a result of an assassination attempt. In response, the Israeli Air Force bombed Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. The bombing caused Palestinian militants to shell Israel's northern settlements and resulted in the June 4th order to begin the 1982 Lebanon War. The operation was launched on June 6 and soon became a full-scale invasion. The Israeli plan was to drive the PLO away from the Israeli border and help Bachir Gemayel's Phalangist militia take control of south Lebanon. During the war, the IDF faced the Syrian military, Palestinian militants and various militias, such as Hezbollah. The IDF engaged in urban warfare and shelled Beirut to hit PLO headquarters.
The IDF achieved some impressive military results - such as wiping out the entire Syrian air defense system in the first days of the war, under the command of IAF Major general David Ivri. But it also had some failures, such as the battle of Sultan Yaakov.
The operation was designed to be limited - both in time and area - but the IDF advanced far beyond the planned "40 kilometers" under the command of Defense Minister Ariel Sharon. The mounting Israeli casualties in Lebanon, combined with the Sabra and Shatila Massacre, resulted in mass protests by the Israeli public against the war - which resulted in a cease-fire agreements and the establishment of the Kahan Commission to investigate the massacre. The commission concluded that Israel was not directly responsible for the massacre but that senior Israeli officials such as Sharon and Eitan were culpable in part. Although Sharon was removed as Minister of Defense, the committee recommended no sanctions against Eitan.
Nevertheless, Eitan's reputation became identified with the failed Lebanon War.
[edit] Political career
After his retirement from the army, on April 1983, Eitan entered politics. He had the image of the sabra Israeli who connected to his roots and to the land. His background in agriculture and hobbies such as wood work and flight contributed to this image, which attracted many in the Israeli public.
Eitan was considered to be a conservative advocating repressive policies toward the Palestinians. On April 12, 1983 Eitan said in a Knesset committee meeting: "The Arabs will never defeat us by throwing stones. Our answer will be a nationalist Zionist solution. For every stone throwing - we'll establish ten settlements. If there will be - and there will be - a hundred settlements between Nablus and Jerusalem, no stones will be thrown. If that shall be the case, the Arabs could only run around like cockroaches in a bottle, like drugged cockroaches inside a bottle".[1] Eitan initially joined the "Tehiyah Party" and was first elected to the Knesset in 1984. Later he established an ultra-nationalist party called "Tzomet" which had conservative views on defense and foreign policy but a liberal domestic platform. He was elected to the 11th assembly of the Knesset and served as Agriculture Minister between 1988 and 1991. In the 12nd assembly of the Knesset, Tzomet achieved a record of eight seats. Eitan refused to join Yitzhak Rabin's coalition.
However, Eitan had troubles in controlling his party, resulting in some Knesset members splitting from Tzomet to join other parties. When Rabin presented the Oslo II Accords to the Knesset, it managed to pass only with the support of Alex Goldfrev and Gonnen Segev - two Tzomet members who were promised ministries by Rabin in return for their support. They were later indicted for unrelated crimes.
On 1996, Tzomet joined the Likud and Gesher parties to win the national election making Benjamin Netanyahu prime minister. Eitan was promised the ministry of internal security, but a criminal investigation against him blocked his nomination. The investigation eventually cleared Eitan and the case was closed on 1998 due to "lack of evidence". In the meantime, Eitan served as agriculture and environment minister and also as a deputy prime minister (1998-1999).
In 1999 Tzomet failed to win any Knesset seats and Eitan retired from politics.
[edit] Death
On November 23, 2004, Eitan arrived at the Mediterranean sea port of Ashdod, where he was overseeing a port expansion project. A large wave swept him from a breakwater into the sea and he was lost in rough waters for over an hour. Eitan's body was recovered by the Israeli Navy and he was pronounced dead after efforts to revive him failed. [2] [3]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Haaretz - Short Biography
- Rafael Eitan (Israeli Knesset website)
- Biography (Jewish Virtual Library)
[edit] Books
- A Soldier's Story: The Life and Times of an Israeli War Hero by Raful Eitan (ISBN 1-56171-016-4)
- Generals of Israel, by Moshe Ben Shaul, Hadar Pub., 1968.
- Bravery in Battle, by D. Eshel.
| Preceded by: Mordechai Gur |
Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces 1978-1983 |
Succeeded by: Moshe Levi |
![[1]](http://uploaded.fresh.co.il/2004/11/28/27740072.jpg){kind=link}