Soldier's Story

by Raful Eitan

Book Overview

Cornerstones of Freedom, Third Series --Bringing History to Life Even before the first glorious ring of the Liberty Bell, America was a land of freedom and promise. Read about what makes our country... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1561710946
• ISBN13: 9781561710942
• Release Date: March 1992
• Publisher: S.P.I. Books
• Length: 388 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.3" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

A Hero of Biblical Proportions

Raful Eitan was one of Israel's greatest sons, taking part in all of Israel's wars of defence from the 1948 War of Independence to the 1982 Peace for Galilee War. He was also a farmer and later a member of the Knesset and a leader of great vision. Raful Eitan died under strange circumstances off the port of Ashdod in a drowning incident on 23 November 2004. In this book Raful tells of his life from his birth into poverty at Moshav Tel Adashim. Eitan describes life on the Moshav where he was born during the 1929 Arab pogroms against Jewish communities in the Land of Israel, and witnessed the 1936 pogroms at the age of seven, witnessing murder and the burning of fields and Jewish houses by Arab mobs. The book is written with great humour, passion and love of his people and homeland. In 1939, at the age of ten, he joined the Gadna, the youth wing of the Hagannah Jewish Defence organization. In 1947 he joined the Palmach, the Haganah's elite striking force and describes the Arab atrocities he witnessed, after Arab armies and terror bands had attacked the Jews of Palestine, after the UN voted for the creation of a tiny Jewish State. A convoy bringing supplies to troops and Jewish civilians came under fire from an Arab ambush near the village of Hulda on the road to Jerusalem. "It was a terrible slaughter. We were not organized for a counter attack and could not even rescue our wounded. During the day and most of the night the wounded were abandoned to our attackers.Once the attackers had left, we went to retrieve the bodies of our beloved compatriots and discovered their burned and mutilated bodies. One of the drivers, who managed to hide from the Arabs, told us that the Arabs had abused the wounded and then poured fuel on them and burned them alive. This was the first time I had been exposed to this type of atrocity and it taught me that the Arab soldier came from a different culture, with a different fighting ethic". Eitan describes how the Israeli army always does all they can to avoid the loss of the lives of enemy civilians, even risking the lives of their own soldiers to do this. Never has any army, in any conflict, been so scrupulous in trying to avoid the spilling of the blood of noncombatants as the Israelis. Eitan candidly describes the feelings and opinons about various Israeli millitary leaders such as Moshe Dayan, David 'Dado' Eleazar, and Ariel 'Arik' Sharon. He makes no bones about his dislike for Moshe Dayan. Eitan descibes his anger at a foreign camera crew that taunted the Israeli forces at the beginning of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, at a particularly difficult phase of the war for the Israelis. The Syrians had attacked the Jews on the holiest day of the Jewish Calendar, and the Israelis had done nothing to deserve the foreign crews spiteful laughter. This is a clear example of the unethical and vicious prejudice of the world media towards Israel and her people. He expresses his anger and pain at what he witnessed of the Arab t

He?s Swartzkopf, Patton, and Biblical David Rolled In One!

Raful Eitan is a name that anyone who has read the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict should know. He has lived through the entire history from British Mandate Palestine to the modern State of Israel. His autobiography chronicles his life and opinions from his days in pre-1948 Palmach (Israeli Shock Troopers and Pioneers), to being a highly decorated and combat experienced paratrooper, to his days as Minister of Defense, to his service during the highly controversial Operation Peace for Galilee (the 1982 Lebanon-Syria-PLO-Israel War). He minces not one of his words and tells the entire tale in this 1992 paperback book's 388 pages. Every word of the book is exciting or engaging from moments of intense action to moments of intense reflection. Perhaps, one of the most interesting aspects of Eitan's outlook is that he bears the Palestinian-Arabs and other Arabs no animus or hate. He grew up with them as a Sabra (native-born Israeli) and feels sympathy towards them for the way that tyrannical Arab governments have manipulated the refugees without helping them. He hopes and prays to one day live in peace with all of the Arabs.Perhaps most revealing are Eitan's parting words (Page 388):-------------------------------"Most importantly, in our struggle for survival we must not grow impatient. We must remain strong and steadfast. We must wait until the winds of change that are sweeping through Eastern Europe bring similar changes to our region. We must wait until our Arab neighbors see the advantages of peace and give up their campaign to destroy us. Only through strength can peace be achieved."-------------------------------His words seem almost prophetic in these days of change in the Middle East. Arab governments are slowly seeing their governments change through death of the previous strong man (Syria) to an aging king that will soon see a change of power in his country (Jordan) to a radical government that pushed a superpower too far (Iraq). Those winds of change that transformed Eastern Europe that Eitan prophesized certainly seem to have arrived in the Middle East. We can only hope and pray that peace will finally come to stay in the troubled Middle East. And until that day arrives, we can hope and pray that Israel remains strong waiting for the arrival of peace. I highly recommend this excellent autobiography of one of Israel's most distinguished soldiers, farmers, leaders, and citizens.Review by: Maximillian Ben Hanan