Meir Har-Zion
| Meir Har-Zion | |
|---|---|
Meir Har-Zion, 1955
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| Born | 25 February 1934 |
| Died | 14 March 2014 (aged 80) |
| Allegiance | Israel |
| Unit | Unit 101; 890th Paratroop Battalion |
Meir Har-Zion (Hebrew: מאיר הר ציון; February 25, 1934 – March 14, 2014) was an Israeli 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".Ariel Sharon described him as "the elite of the elite." His three-year military career was ended by injuries sustained in battle.
Born in 1934 in Herzliya, to second generation Sabra, Har-Zion and his father moved to Ein Harod in 1947.
In 1949 he was briefly detained by Syrian authorities together with his 13-year-old sister, Shoshana, after being caught in Syrian territory east of Beit She'an.
In 1951, 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, and the two children were only released by the Syrian government after a month of negotiation by the UN and the governments of both countries, making international headlines.
Being the children of divorced parents, Meir and his younger sister Shoshana had developed a deep emotional bond with each other, and had become extremely close, often illegally crossing into neighbouring Arab countries together.
During the 1950s around a dozen Israeli teenagers were killed attempting to illegally reach the ancient city of Petra, which is located 40 km inside Jordan. Such cross-border treks were considered a rite of passage for elite youth. The song "HaSela HaAdom" (The Red Rock), which praised a group killed attempting the trek, was banned.
At the age of 18, Meir and his girlfriend managed to reach Petra at night, after three days of hiking, and crossing the Wadi Musa and climbing Mount Hor and bypassing an unpassable waterfall: they apparently slipped into the ancient city unnoticed, under the cover of darkness, before exploring the Nabatean palaces. This feat made them legendary figures amongst the Israeli youth of the time, for whom Petra had represented an impenetrable citadel. "We had only a compass and a map on a small scale, but that was definitely enough to find our way to Petra," Har-Zion recalled.
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