Summary
Rafael Eitan, Israel’s chief of staff until 1983, who in Lustick integrated West Bank and Gaza settlers into reserve units patrolling Arab areas, founded the secular ultranationalist Tzomet movement, and took the number two place on the joint Tehiya-Tzomet list in 1984 (For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, Chapter 3, lines 3060-3624).
Details
- At Eitan’s behest in 1979, Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were integrated into regular reserve units responsible for patrolling local Arab areas; with weapons, ammunition and training readily available, and a sympathetic climate created by Eitan and Defense Minister Sharon, attacks on Arabs and Arab property became commonplace (For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, Chapter 3, lines 3250-3350).
- Tzomet (the Movement for Zionist Renewal), founded by Eitan in 1983 just after his retirement as chief of staff, drew its 1,300 founding activists from activist Labor collective and cooperative settlements and emphasized Jewish sovereignty over the whole Land of Israel including the Golan Heights and a Spartan philosophy of militarism, discipline and pioneering austerity (For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, Chapter 3, lines 3150-3300).
- In 1984 Eitan was placed second on the joint Tehiya-Tzomet Knesset list, between Yuval Neeman and Geula Cohen, so the list’s first three positions were held by secular ultranationalists (For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, Chapter 3, lines 3150-3300).
- Chapter 3 note 32 records that, mainly from a personal feud with Geula Cohen, Eitan separated from Tehiya in November 1987 to form his own Knesset faction (For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, Chapter 3 notes, lines 3560-3624).
Related pages
For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, Tehiya, Gush Emunim, Arik Sharon