IMRA Newsletter
Former IDF Chief Rafael Eitan drowns [while working] in Ashdod Port
The Jerusalem Post
Nov. 23, 2004
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=110118 3312098&p=1078027574097
[IMRA: Eitan is also known for his revolutionary IDF educational program to take kids who would normally not be drafted by the IDF, turning the kids not only into productive soldiers but more importantly, give them the opportunity to literally change the rest of their lives. The "Naarei Raful" (Raful's kids) program continues to this day in various forms, providing a last chance for kids who the educational system failed.]
Rafael "Raful" Eitan, died as he lived, literally fighting against the current of a giant wave that swept him out to sea as he worked in the Ashdod port Tuesday morning.
Eitan, 75, was a former deputy prime minister as leader of the maverick nationalist Tzomet Party and served as agriculture and environment minister.
He was pulled out of the water after he disappeared for over an hour. Attempts by Magen David Adom paramedics to revive him failed and his death was announced around 9:30 a.m.
Army Radio reported that Eitan was hit by a large wave as he stood on a pier and spoke on his cellular phone.
Police helicopters and navy vessels were called to the scene to search for his body, which was located one hour after his disappearance.
But a life-long soldier, "Raful" was a legendary IDF paratrooper and the 11th chief of staff during the Lebanon War. In many ways, he personified the gruff, almost boorish Sabra character of the new state.
He was born in the Jezerel Valley moshav of Tel Adashim in 1929. He fought in the Palmach during the 1948 War of Independence was severely wounded in the battle for Jerusalem.
In 1956, he commanded the 890th battalion and was the first to parachute into the Mitla Pass during the Sinai Campaign. He later held key combat roles in subsequent wars and in 1978 was named the 11th chief of general staff.
He was the mastermind behind the 1982 Peace for the Galilee, a war to oust the PLO from Lebanon that later led to an 18-year presence in that country. Eitan was reprimanded by the Khan Commission for not preventing the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps in Beirut by Phalangist Christian militias.
After retiring from military service, Eitan returned to his farm, but later founded the Techiya movement, which became the Tzomet political party. He served as agriculture minister from 1988-1991. In 1996, his Tzomet Party merged with Likud and he served as minister of agriculture and environment and was deputy prime minister to Binyamin Netanyahu.
After retiring from the Knesset, Eitan refused to cease work and took up a position to oversea the construction of a new breakwater in the port of Ashdod, where he drowned.