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Rehavam (Gandhi) Zeevi (רחבעם זאבי-גנדי) (June 20, 1926 - October 17 2001) was an Israeli general, politician and historian who founded the right-wing nationalist Moledet party. He was assassinated by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), becoming the only Israeli politician to be assassinated during the Al-Aqsa intifada.

Early life and military career

Rehavam Zeevi was born in 1926 in Jerusalem. He joined the Palmach in 1942, and served in the Israeli Defence Forces after the creation of Israel. From 1964 to 1968 he carried out the duties of the Chief of the Department of Staff in the Israeli General staff. The next 5 years he served as the Commander of the Central Military District (Hebrew: אלוף פיקוד המרכז). He retired in September 1973, only to rejoin the army at the beginning of the Yom Kippur War (October 6, 1973). He then served for several more months as the Chief of the Department of Staff. He finally retired, with the rank of major-general (אלוף) in 1974.

Political career

In 1974 he became Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's consultant on combatting terrorism. The following year he was appointed as the prime minister's adviser on matters of intelligence. Zeevi resigned from this position in 1977, when Likud's Menachem Begin became prime minister. In 1981, Zeevi was appointed the director of the Israel Museum in Tel-Aviv. In 1987, he co-edited a series of books describing various aspects of the Land of Israel, based on artifacts from the museum. Zeevi is famous for having one the largest collection of books about Israel and its history.

In 1988, Zeevi established Moledet (Homeland). His movement's platform consisted mainly in the population transfer of Palestinian Arabs from the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the neighboring Arab countries. Zeevi was greatly disappointed by the Madrid Conference of 1991, and consequently withdrew from the Likud government of Yitzhak Shamir. He stayed in opposition for the following ten years. He disagreed strongly with the Avoda governments of 1992-1996 (led by Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres) and 1999-2001 (Ehud Barak), however, he looked favourably on the Netanyahu government of 1996-1999 and supported it from the outside.

In 1999, his Moledet movement united with Herut and Tkuma into a single fraction — the National Union. Following the election of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in February 2001, Zeevi joined the governing coalition and was made the tourism minister on March 7, 2001. On October 14 Zeevi declared that his party would quit the government following the withdrawal of the Israeli Defence Forces from the Abu-Sneina neighborhood in Hebron. His resignation was to become active on October 17, 2001, at 11 a.m.

Death

Zeevi was shot in the Jerusalem Hyatt hotel on Mount Scopus on Wednesday, October 17, 2001 by four gunmen. He was rushed to the Hadassah hospital where he died before 10 a.m. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine took responsibility for the killing and stated that it was in revenge for the assassination by Israel of Abu Ali Mustafa, killed by Israel in August that year. Israel alleges that Ahmed Saadat ordered Zeevi's assassination.

In his funeral took part thousands of citizens and friends. Even though he was politically controvesial, he was known for his integrity, his dedication for Israel, and his many friends from all parties. One of the eulogies was done by Mati Peled who is regarded as an extreme leftist activist. Zeevi was also known for his concern for Israel's captured or missing soldiers which is the reason he always wore a military identity disc with their names on his neck.

Controversy

Zeevi publicly advocated the population transfer by agreement of 3.3 million Palestinians from the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza to Arab nations. According to Zeevi, this could be accomplished by making the lives of Palestinians so miserable they would relocate, by use of military force during wartime, or through an agreement with Arab nations. Zeevi first called for the expulsion speaking to the Moshe Dayan Political and Social Forum in Tel Aviv in July 1987, stating then it would be a voluntary transfer and that it was the only way to make peace with the Arabs. After the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Zeevi advocated the expulsion of Palestinians to the east side of the Jordan River, where they could serve as a human shield should the Iraqi Army seek to attack Israel.

In a radio interview in July, 2001, Zeevi claimed that 180.000 Palestinians worked and lived illegally in Israel, then referred to them as "a cancer" and said that "We should get rid of the ones who are not Israeli citizens the same way you get rid of lice"

Zeevi believed that Israel's more than 1 million citizens of Arab ethnicities should not be allowed to vote because they do not serve in the army. He also wanted Israel to lay claim to the country Jordan because it historically belonged to the Tribes of Israel - Gad, Reuven, and Menashe, and believed visitors to Israel must speak Hebrew.

Binyamin Elon, who has been leading the Moledet party ever since Zeevi's murder, has argued that Zeevi did not hate Arabs.

Zeevi himself often explained, since 1987 when he first announced the plan and onwards, that he only intended to promote voluntary transfer of the Arab population in Judea and Samaria, not forced actions. Zeevi believed that this was the only way to promote peace with the Arab nations and to spare further bloodsheed. He propsed to provide money incentives for the Palestinians to leave.

Diplomatic tension

Zeevi was also the cause of diplomatic rows. Serving as Minister without Portfolio, he called US President George H. W. Bush an "anti-Semite" during a Cabinet meeting in September 1991. In 1997 he called US Ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, who is Jewish, a "Jewboy", and challenged him to a fistfight.

Organized crime allegation

Zeevi's most significant political rival was Ehud Olmert, elected Prime Minister of Israel in 2006, though their mutual distaste had no connection with their views on state policy. In 1975, the young Olmert called a press conference declaring that he had a list of organized crime figures in the capital that he would recommend for investigation. One was businessman Betzalel Mizrahi, who had been under Zeevi's command during his military service. Allegations soon included a literal accusation of Zeevi's protection of Mizrahi and other criminals. Zeevi sued Olmert for libel.

Gandhi Nickname

During his youth, Ze'evi went to school in kibbutz Givat HaShlosha. One night he shaved his head, wrapped a towel round his waist and entered the food hall. The similarity to Mohandas Gandhi earned him Gandhi as his nickname, which stuck with him for the rest of his life. The nickname is also attributed to a long Arab dress he wore during his underground days in Palmach. The nickname is regarded ironic for a person considered one of the least conciliatory in Israeli-Arab affairs.

Legacy

As a soldier, Zeevi's name was connected to the era in the 1960's-70's known as HaMerdafim (The Incursions/Pursuances). As Commander of the Central Military District, Zeevi was tasked with defending the new Jordan Valley settlements from PLO guerrilla activities and pacifying the newly occupied Arab-Palestinian population. In the late 1960's Zeevi formed the elite Sayeret Kharuv, an anti-terror company sized battalion, at the time when Bar-Lev, IDF Chief of Staff Chaim, had begun to focus IDF manpower and budget on armoured tank units, resulting in huge cutbacks in infantry forces.

Moledet never realized the vision Zeevi had for the party. Instead of drawing masses away from the centre-right Likud, Zeevi's party was seen as just another military personality party, just as Shlomzion (Ariel Sharon), Telem (Moshe Dayan), and Yahad (Ezer Weizman) before it, and Tzomet (Rafael Eitan) and others after it. The factionalization of Israel's extreme right as a result of small ideological differences was not helped by Zeevi's defection from Tehiya.

In July 2005 the Knesset passed a law to commemorate Zeevi's memory and educate future generations with his legacy . The highway Gandhi's Road in the Jordan Valley is named after him in honour of his service to the region, an honour resented by Palestinian and Bedouin residents of the Valley. A statue of him is erected in Eilat's promenade, named after Zeevi.

See also

• Arab-Israeli conflict
• History of Israel
• Israel Defense Forces
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• List of assassinated people
• Moledet
• Palestinian political violence
• Politics of Israel
• Zionism
• Assassinations of politicians in Israel's history

References

1. ^ Rehavam Ze'evi: A controversial figure, CNN (April 28, 2002)
2. Rehavam Zeevi Obituary, The Guardian (October 18, 2001)
3. Israel mints ultranationalist hero, Christian Science Monitor (October 10, 2002)
4. ^ "A man who loved his country", Obituary, Jerusalem Post, (October 18, 2001)
5. "Israel's tourism minister calls Palestinians 'lice'", Associated Press (July 2, 2001)
6. Sharon's "guard dog" bares his teeth The Guardian (March 7, 2001)
7. "Israeli Loan Dispute Turns Ugly; Rightist Calls Bush 'Anti-Semite'", New York Times (September 16, 1991)
8. Avneri, Ariel.The Route. Tel Aviv, 1992. (An in-depth account of the gradual corruption of Israeli governments after the 1977 electoral revolution, includes details of the Zeevi-Olmert fued).
9. Rechavam (Gandhi) Ze'evi (1926-2001) Knesset biography (retrieved August 8, 2006)

External links

• PM Ariel Sharon's remarks on the 3rd Anniversary of the Assassination of Minister Rehavam Ze'evi z"l an address before the Knesset on October 19, 2004
• Knesset commemorates Ze'evi by Sheera Claire Frenkel and Ron Littman, published in the Jerusalem Post November 2, 2005

• 1926 births
• 2001 deaths
• Assassinated Israeli politicians
• Israeli casualties during the Al-Aqsa Intifada
• Israeli generals
• Members of the Knesset
• Israeli politicians
• Israeli party leaders
• People from Jerusalem