Free Republic

Rafael Eitan, who died this morning, rarely gave interviews of late. One of these – with the "Iton Tel Aviv" newspaper in January of this year – were reprinted by Ynet today. Excerpts: "My opinion is that all these efforts [referring to Sharon's disengagement plan – ed.] are for naught. With the Arabs, we will never be able to make peace... This is a struggle between civilizations. We are a foreign culture, and in my opinion, Islam will never make peace with our foreign entity, and with the fact that it has political independence and even defeats them in wars....

Rafael Eitan was born in Tel Adashim in the Jezreel Valley in 1929. He served as the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff from 1978 through 1983, following 37 years of military service in the pre-state Palmah strike force and in the IDF. Eitan commanded the 890th Paratroop Battalion, the Paratroop Brigade and the Beka'a Brigade. He was involved in the IDF's sole combat parachute jump into the Mitla Pass during the 1956 Sinai campaign. Eitan, who was wounded in the 1948 War of Independence and on three other occasions, served the IDF as a paratrooper, armored corpsman and pilot....

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. According to preliminary findings, police said, Eitan apparently tripped and fell into the water at around 8:00 a.m. when the pier on which he stood was hit by a giant wave. He may have sustained a head injury. Yair, a Magen David Adom paramedic who was...