Rafael (Raful) Eitan

11th Chief of Staff of the IDF and leader of Tzomet party

(1929 - 2004)

Rafael Eitan was born in 1929 at Moshav Tel Adashim in the Jezre'el Valley, where he has continued to live throughout his military and public careers.

Beginning as a teenage member of Palmach, he served in the IDF since its establishment in 1948. He graduated the National Defence College, and served as a paratrooper officer in 1956 Sinai Campaign and the 1967 Six Day War. He was a divisional commander on the Golan Heights in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Rafael Eitan was IDF Chief of Staff from 1978-1983. As Chief of Staff, he initiated a program to enable underprivileged youth to enlist in the IDF and integrate into Israeli society.

Eitan led the Tzomet Party since its foundation in 1983. Elected to the 11th Knesset in 1984, he has been a member of the Knesset State Control Committee, the Knesset House Committee and the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee. He has also served as chairman of the Anti-Drug Abuse Committee and chairman of the Israel-Russian Federation Parliamentary Friendship League.

From 1990-1991, Eitan served as Minister of Agriculture. He later served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and the Environment from June 1996-July 1999.

Eitan published an autobiography, "A Soldier's Story". On 23 November 2004, while working in Ashdod on a port renewal project, he drowned. Eitan is survived by his wife, and his three children and several grandchildren.

(Source: Jewish Virtual Library)