Rafael Eitan

Rafael Eitan
Rafael Eitan, Commander Company A, 4th Battalion, Harel Brigade (1948)
Date of birth	11 January 1929
Place of birth	Afula, Mandatory Palestine
Date of death	23 November 2004(2004-11-23) (aged 75)
Knessets	11, 12, 13, 14
Faction represented in Knesset
1984–1987	Tehiya
1987	Independent
1987–1999	Tzomet
Ministerial roles
1990–1991	Minister of Agriculture
1996–1999	Deputy Prime Minister
1996–1999	Minister of Agriculture
1996–1999	Minister of the Environment

Rafael "Raful" Eitan (Hebrew: רפאל "רפול" איתן‎‎, born 11 January 1929 – 23 November 2004) was an Israeli general, former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and later a politician, a Knesset member government minister. He was born in Tel Adashim during the Mandate era.

Rafael Eitan was born in Afula, a city in the North District of Israel, in 1929. His father, Eliyahu Eitan, was one of the founders of the Jewish defense organization Hashomer. Rafael was raised in the community of Tel Adashim. Zvi Nishri (Orloff), a pioneer in modern physical education in Israel, was his uncle. His mother was descended from a Subbotnik family, who had arrived as part of the First Aliyah.

His father gave Rafael and his brothers and sisters a strict education. Rafael married Miriam, an ethnic Jewish woman. They had five children together. They later divorced and he married Ofra Meirson.

Eitan was a junior officer in the Palmach, the Haganah's elite strike force, and took part in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. He fought in Jerusalem and received a head wound in the battle for the San Simon Monastery in April 1948. Later he served with the 10th Infantry Battalion in the Lachish-Negev region.

In 1954, Captain Eitan became commander of a Paratroops company in Unit 101. During Operation Kinereth in 1955 he received a machine gun wound to his chest, while participating in a military raid into Syria. For this action he was decorated with the Medal of Courage.