Meir Har-Zion
Encyclopedia
Meir Har-Zion is a former Israel
i military commando.
As a key member of Unit 101
he was highly praised by Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan
who described him as "the finest of our commando soldiers, the best soldier ever to emerge in the IDF." His three-year military career was ended by injuries sustained in battle.
, to second generation Sabra
, Har-Zion and his father moved to Ein Harod
in 1947. In 1949 he was briefly detained with his 13-year-old sister, Shoshana, after being caught in Syrian territory east of Beisan. Two years later they were both captured by a shepherd while on the Syrian side of the border. This time they were held prisoner in Damascus for three weeks.
During his first year in the army he made the trek to Petra
, 40 km inside Jordan
. During the 1950s around a dozen Israeli teenagers were killed on trips to Petra. It was a elite rite of passage. The song "HaSela HaAdom" (The Red Rock), which praised a group killed attempting the trek, was banned.
. He took part in the unit's first operation at the end of August 1953. Sixteen men with two jeeps, two command cars and a reconnaissance aircraft attacked the 'Azazme
bedouin camps around the wells at al Auja. Their tents were burnt and anything attempting to reach the water was shot at.
On the night of 14/15 October 1953 around 65 men from Unit 101 joined a larger IDF force in an attack on the village of Qibya
. Har-Zion commanded one of three squads sent to ambush any reinforcements coming from Ni'lin
, Budrus
, and Shuqba
. In another night time attack, 18/19 December 1953, two Unit 101 squads led by Har-Zion ambushed a car on the Bethlehem
to Hebron
road. A Lebanese-born doctor serving in the Arab Legion
, Mansour Awad, was killed. The Israeli Prime Minister Moshe Sharett
was annoyed that he had not been informed about the attack beforehand. Three nights later Har-Zion led a four man squad on a 21-kilometre march to the outskirts of Hebron where they placed a bomb outside a house chosen at random. Two men and a pregnant women were killed.
had not been consulted either.
On 27/28 June 1954 Har-Zion was in a seven man squad led by Major Aharon Davidi that launched a surprise attack on an Arab Legion camp at Azzun
, 13 km east of Qalqilya. Three Legionnaires were killed as well as a farmer, Rafi'a Abdel Aziz Omar, who was stabbed to death by Har-Zion to prevent him raising the alarm. On their return to Israeli lines one of the team who had been wounded, Sergeant Yitzhak Jibli, was left behind. On discovering that Sergeant Jibli had been taken prisoner Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan approved a series hostage taking raids.
On 31 July/1 August 1954 Har-Zion led a group of ten raiders who attacked two policemen near Jenin
, taking one of them prisoner. On their way back they killed a farmer watching his fields. On the 30/31 August 1954 Har-Zion took part in Operation Binyamin 2. This operation was approved by Prime Minister Moshe Sharett and was commanded by Ariel Sharon. The attackers were divided into four groups. The first attacked a school building in the village of Beit Liqya
. The other three set ambushes for the expected arrival of reinforcements. Only Har-Zion's group were successful. They had strung a wire across the road with cans of petrol at each end. A car full of soldiers from the Arab Legion drove into the trap. Two were killed, one wounded and three taken prisoner. Jibli was released on 29 October 1954.
whilst on an illegal cross-border hike. Har-Zion and three members of the 890th Battalion resigned from the army. On 4 March, supplied with arms and food, Ariel Sharon drove them to the Armistice Line with Jordan
. In Wadi al Ghar, 9 km from the border, they captured six bedouin from the Jahaleen and 'Azazme
tribes. The prisoners were interrogated and five of them killed, four with knives and the fifth was shot. One of the dead was 16 years old. The sixth was sent back to his tribe to tell what happened. The men probably had nothing to do with the killing of Har-Zion's sister. David Ben Gurion told the cabinet that the Israelis did not know enough Arabic to understand what their prisoners were saying.
On their return Har-Zion was held in custody for 20 days, but, despite giving a full confession to the military police, he was released without charge and soon rejoined the army. Sharett, who suspected that Dayan had advanced knowledge of the raid, noted in his diary: "The dark soul of the Bible has come alive among the sons of Nahalal
and 'Ein Harod
".
road, in which over 20 Jordanian soldiers and policemen were killed. During the fighting Har-Zion was wounded in the throat and arm. His life was saved by an army doctor who performed a tracheotomy
whilst still on the battlefield.
His injuries left him unable to continue his army career. He was awarded Medal of Courage
. He had attained the rank of Captain.
In 1969 he published his diaries which gave an account of his time as a paratrooper.
Of one of the early attacks he wrote:
"Once again I am beset by this strong feeling of discord... the feel of battle, the will to victory, the hatred towards one who wishes to take from you what is most precious of all – your life. These first victories have been too easy."
He also gives an account of the killing of Rafia Abdul Aziz Omar:
".... A telephone line blocks our way. We cut it and continue. A narrow path leads along the slope of a hill. The column marches forward in silence. Stop! A few rocks roll down the hill. I catch sight of a man surveying the silence. I cock my rifle. Gibly crawls over to me, "Har, for God's sake, a knife!!" His clenched teeth glitter in the dark and his whole body is tight, his mind alert, "For God's sake," ... I put my tommy down and unsheath my machete. We crawl towards the lone figure as he begins to sing a trilled Arab tune. Soon the singing will turn into a death moan. I am shaking, every muscle in my body is tense. This is my first experience with this type of weapon. Will I be able to do it?"
We draw closer. There he stands, only a few meters in front of us. We leap. Gibly grabs him and I plunge the knife deep into his back. The blood pours over his striped cotton shirt. With not a second to lose, I react instinctively and stab him again. The body groans, struggles and then becomes quiet and still.
In 2005, he was voted the 15th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet
to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.
Currently, he lives in "Ahuzat Shoshana," a farm built on land on a mountaintop above the Jordan Valley. The farm is named after his sister.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i military commando.
As a key member of Unit 101
Unit 101
Unit 101 was a special forces unit of the Israeli Defense Forces , founded and commanded by Ariel Sharon on orders from Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion in August 1953...
he was highly praised by Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan
Moshe Dayan
Moshe Dayan was an Israeli military leader and politician. The fourth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces , he became a fighting symbol to the world of the new State of Israel...
who described him as "the finest of our commando soldiers, the best soldier ever to emerge in the IDF." His three-year military career was ended by injuries sustained in battle.
Youth
Born in 1934 in HerzliyaHerzliya
Herzliya is a city in the central coast of Israel, at the western part of the Tel Aviv District. It has a population of 87,000 residents. Named after Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, Herzliya covers an area of 26 km²...
, to second generation Sabra
Sabra
Sabra may refer to:*Sabra and Shatila massacre, a 1982 massacre in Lebanon**Sabra refugee camp, former Palestinian refugee camp, part of the scene of the above massacre*Sabra , a native-born Israeli JewSABRA...
, Har-Zion and his father moved to Ein Harod
Ein Harod
Ein Harod was a kibbutz in Israel. It was located in northern Israel near Mount Gilboa. It is notable for being built near the battlefield of Ayn Jalut , a battle of huge macro-historical importance where the Mongols were defeated for the first time, in 1260.-History:The kibbutz was founded by...
in 1947. In 1949 he was briefly detained with his 13-year-old sister, Shoshana, after being caught in Syrian territory east of Beisan. Two years later they were both captured by a shepherd while on the Syrian side of the border. This time they were held prisoner in Damascus for three weeks.
During his first year in the army he made the trek to Petra
Petra
Petra is a historical and archaeological city in the Jordanian governorate of Ma'an that is famous for its rock cut architecture and water conduits system. Established sometime around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited...
, 40 km inside Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
. During the 1950s around a dozen Israeli teenagers were killed on trips to Petra. It was a elite rite of passage. The song "HaSela HaAdom" (The Red Rock), which praised a group killed attempting the trek, was banned.
Unit 101
In 1953 he was one of the founding members of Unit 101Unit 101
Unit 101 was a special forces unit of the Israeli Defense Forces , founded and commanded by Ariel Sharon on orders from Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion in August 1953...
. He took part in the unit's first operation at the end of August 1953. Sixteen men with two jeeps, two command cars and a reconnaissance aircraft attacked the 'Azazme
'Azazme
A Bedouin tribe whose grazing territory used to be the desert around the wells at El Auja and Bir Ain on the border between Israel and Egypt.In 1948 the 'Azazme numbered around 3,500. During 1950 the entire tribe was driven from the area around El Auja. In a series of raids the IDF burnt tents and...
bedouin camps around the wells at al Auja. Their tents were burnt and anything attempting to reach the water was shot at.
On the night of 14/15 October 1953 around 65 men from Unit 101 joined a larger IDF force in an attack on the village of Qibya
Qibya
Qibya is a Palestinian village in the West Bank, located northwest of Ramallah and exactly north of the large Israeli city of Modi'in. It is part of the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, and according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, it had a population of approximately 4,901 in...
. Har-Zion commanded one of three squads sent to ambush any reinforcements coming from Ni'lin
Ni'lin
Ni'lin is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the central West Bank, located west of Ramallah. Ni'lin is about east of the 1949 Armistice Line bordered by Deir Qaddis, the Israeli settlements of Nili and Na'ale to the northeast, the village of al-Midya and Modi'in...
, Budrus
Budrus
Budrus is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located 31 kilometers Northwest of Ramallah in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , the town had a population of 1,399 inhabitants in 2007."Budrus" is Arabic for "Peter" and in...
, and Shuqba
Shuqba
Shuqba is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located 17.71 kilometers northwest of the city of Ramallah in Palestine...
. In another night time attack, 18/19 December 1953, two Unit 101 squads led by Har-Zion ambushed a car on the Bethlehem
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...
to Hebron
Hebron
Hebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...
road. A Lebanese-born doctor serving in the Arab Legion
Arab Legion
The Arab Legion was the regular army of Transjordan and then Jordan in the early part of the 20th century.-Creation:...
, Mansour Awad, was killed. The Israeli Prime Minister Moshe Sharett
Moshe Sharett
Moshe Sharett on 15 October 1894, died 7 July 1965) was the second Prime Minister of Israel , serving for a little under two years between David Ben-Gurion's two terms.-Early life:...
was annoyed that he had not been informed about the attack beforehand. Three nights later Har-Zion led a four man squad on a 21-kilometre march to the outskirts of Hebron where they placed a bomb outside a house chosen at random. Two men and a pregnant women were killed.
890th Paratroop Battalion
The following year, 26 May 1954, Har-Zion was amongst a ten-man squad from the newly formed 890th Paratroop Battalion, led by its commander Arik Sharon, which carried out a raid near Khirbet Jinba, south west of Hebron. Two National Guardsmen were killed in an ambush as well as two farmers and two camels. Sharett once again complained about not being informed and suspected that Minister of Defence Pinhas LavonPinhas Lavon
Pinhas Lavon was an Israeli politician, minister and labor leader, best known for the Lavon Affair.-Early life:Lavon was born as Pinhas Lubianiker in Kopychyntsi in what was previously Galicia in Austria-Hungary . He studied law at the University of Lviv, where he organized Histadrut organizations...
had not been consulted either.
On 27/28 June 1954 Har-Zion was in a seven man squad led by Major Aharon Davidi that launched a surprise attack on an Arab Legion camp at Azzun
Azzun
Azzoun is a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank, located 24 kilometers south of Tulkarm and is a part of the Qalqilya Governorate. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Azzoun had a population of approximately 8,300 in mid-year 2006...
, 13 km east of Qalqilya. Three Legionnaires were killed as well as a farmer, Rafi'a Abdel Aziz Omar, who was stabbed to death by Har-Zion to prevent him raising the alarm. On their return to Israeli lines one of the team who had been wounded, Sergeant Yitzhak Jibli, was left behind. On discovering that Sergeant Jibli had been taken prisoner Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan approved a series hostage taking raids.
On 31 July/1 August 1954 Har-Zion led a group of ten raiders who attacked two policemen near Jenin
Jenin
Jenin is the largest town in the Northern West Bank, and the third largest city overall. It serves as the administrative center of the Jenin Governorate and is a major agricultural center for the surrounding towns. In 2007, the city had a population of 120,004 not including the adjacent refugee...
, taking one of them prisoner. On their way back they killed a farmer watching his fields. On the 30/31 August 1954 Har-Zion took part in Operation Binyamin 2. This operation was approved by Prime Minister Moshe Sharett and was commanded by Ariel Sharon. The attackers were divided into four groups. The first attacked a school building in the village of Beit Liqya
Beit Liqya
Beit Liqya is a Palestinian town located in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the northern West Bank, 21 kilometers Southwest of Ramallah...
. The other three set ambushes for the expected arrival of reinforcements. Only Har-Zion's group were successful. They had strung a wire across the road with cans of petrol at each end. A car full of soldiers from the Arab Legion drove into the trap. Two were killed, one wounded and three taken prisoner. Jibli was released on 29 October 1954.
The Har-Zion Affair
In the middle of February 1955 Har-Zion's sister, Shoshana, along with her boyfriend Oded Wagmeister, both 18, were murdered at Wadi al GharEin Gedi
Ein Gedi is an oasis in Israel, located west of the Dead Sea, near Masada and the caves of Qumran.-Etymology:The name En-gedi is composed of two Hebrew words: ein means spring and gdi means goat-kid. En Gedi thus means "Kid spring."...
whilst on an illegal cross-border hike. Har-Zion and three members of the 890th Battalion resigned from the army. On 4 March, supplied with arms and food, Ariel Sharon drove them to the Armistice Line with Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
. In Wadi al Ghar, 9 km from the border, they captured six bedouin from the Jahaleen and 'Azazme
'Azazme
A Bedouin tribe whose grazing territory used to be the desert around the wells at El Auja and Bir Ain on the border between Israel and Egypt.In 1948 the 'Azazme numbered around 3,500. During 1950 the entire tribe was driven from the area around El Auja. In a series of raids the IDF burnt tents and...
tribes. The prisoners were interrogated and five of them killed, four with knives and the fifth was shot. One of the dead was 16 years old. The sixth was sent back to his tribe to tell what happened. The men probably had nothing to do with the killing of Har-Zion's sister. David Ben Gurion told the cabinet that the Israelis did not know enough Arabic to understand what their prisoners were saying.
On their return Har-Zion was held in custody for 20 days, but, despite giving a full confession to the military police, he was released without charge and soon rejoined the army. Sharett, who suspected that Dayan had advanced knowledge of the raid, noted in his diary: "The dark soul of the Bible has come alive among the sons of Nahalal
Nahalal
-External links:** UNESCO* Jewish Agency for Israel*, "Jews made a garden" - aerial photo of Nahalal , and a girl from Girls' Agricultural Training Farm , at Google Books....
and 'Ein Harod
Ein Harod
Ein Harod was a kibbutz in Israel. It was located in northern Israel near Mount Gilboa. It is notable for being built near the battlefield of Ayn Jalut , a battle of huge macro-historical importance where the Mongols were defeated for the first time, in 1260.-History:The kibbutz was founded by...
".
End of career
Operation Jonathon, 11/12 September 1955, was an attack by two paratroop companies on Khirbet al Rahwa police fort, on the Hebron-BeershebaBeersheba
Beersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 194,300....
road, in which over 20 Jordanian soldiers and policemen were killed. During the fighting Har-Zion was wounded in the throat and arm. His life was saved by an army doctor who performed a tracheotomy
Tracheotomy
Among the oldest described surgical procedures, tracheotomy consists of making an incision on the anterior aspect of the neck and opening a direct airway through an incision in the trachea...
whilst still on the battlefield.
His injuries left him unable to continue his army career. He was awarded Medal of Courage
Medal of Courage
The Medal of Courage is an Israeli military decoration. The medal is awarded for carrying out acts of gallantry at the risk of life, during combat duty. The medal was established in 1970 by act of law in the Knesset....
. He had attained the rank of Captain.
In 1969 he published his diaries which gave an account of his time as a paratrooper.
Of one of the early attacks he wrote:
"Once again I am beset by this strong feeling of discord... the feel of battle, the will to victory, the hatred towards one who wishes to take from you what is most precious of all – your life. These first victories have been too easy."
He also gives an account of the killing of Rafia Abdul Aziz Omar:
".... A telephone line blocks our way. We cut it and continue. A narrow path leads along the slope of a hill. The column marches forward in silence. Stop! A few rocks roll down the hill. I catch sight of a man surveying the silence. I cock my rifle. Gibly crawls over to me, "Har, for God's sake, a knife!!" His clenched teeth glitter in the dark and his whole body is tight, his mind alert, "For God's sake," ... I put my tommy down and unsheath my machete. We crawl towards the lone figure as he begins to sing a trilled Arab tune. Soon the singing will turn into a death moan. I am shaking, every muscle in my body is tense. This is my first experience with this type of weapon. Will I be able to do it?"
We draw closer. There he stands, only a few meters in front of us. We leap. Gibly grabs him and I plunge the knife deep into his back. The blood pours over his striped cotton shirt. With not a second to lose, I react instinctively and stab him again. The body groans, struggles and then becomes quiet and still.
In 2005, he was voted the 15th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet
Ynet
Ynet is the most popular Israeli news and general content website. It is owned by the same conglomerate that operates Yediot Ahronot, the country's secondleading daily newspaper...
to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.
Currently, he lives in "Ahuzat Shoshana," a farm built on land on a mountaintop above the Jordan Valley. The farm is named after his sister.