Rafael Eitan

For the former Mossad operative and director of the Israeli Bureau of Scientific Relations, and current leader of Gil, see Rafi Eitan.

Rafael "Raful" Eitan (Hebrew: רפאל "רפול" איתן, born 11 January 1929, died 23 November, 2004) was an Israeli general, former Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defence Forces and later a politician, a Knesset member government minister. Born in Afula during the Mandate era, Eitan was raised in Moshav Tel Adashim, where he spent most of his life.

Early life

He was born in Afula in 1929 to Subbotnik parents, originally of Russian ethnicity. His father Eliyahu was one of the founders of Hashomer.

Rafael was raised in the Tel Adashim Moshav. His father gave him, and his brothers and sisters a strict education.

Rafael himself married Miriam, and together they had five children (he will divorce her a few years before his tragic death and marrie Ofra Meirson).

Military career

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, for this action he was decorated with the Medal of Courage.

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. After the war he was appointed to commander of the northern command and promoted to the rank of Major General,

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" (Na'arei Raful) project, in which young persons from low socio-economic background and poor neighbourhoods 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 complete their high school studies successfully.

He approved the Israeli air attack on Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor complex on June 7, 1981.

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.

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".

Eitan initially joined the Tehiya 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 and secular domestic platform. He was elected to the 11th Knesset and served as Minister of Agriculture between 1988 and 1991, when Tzomet left the government. In the 1992 elections, Tzomet achieved a record of eight seats, but 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 Goldfarb and Gonen Segev - two Tzomet members who were promised ministries by Rabin in return for their support.

On 1996, Tzomet joined an alliance of Likud and Gesher headed by Benjamin Netanyahu. Although the triumvarate lost the Knesset election to Labour, Netanyahu won the election for Prime Minister, allowing him to form the government. 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.

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.

Bibliography

• A Soldier's Story: The Life and Times of an Israeli War Hero by Raful Eitan (ISBN 1-56171-016-4)

See also

• List of Israel's Chiefs of the General Staff
• Eitan (disambiguation)

External links

• Rafael Eitan on the Knesset website (in English)
• Rafael "Raful" Eitan Jewish Virtual Library